Our latest guest blog comes from the inspirational Jane Roques-Shaw, Director of Internal Comms and Culture at Warner Bros. Entertainment and newly appointed board member for the IOIC.
Hi Jane, thanks so much for chatting with us today – and congratulations on your new role, joining the board at the Institute of Internal Communication!
Can you start off by telling us about about yourself and your career to date?
I started my career in TV production…my first ever work experience placement was on Mr. Bean and that week they were filming the classic washing machine episode. That had me hooked on a career in the entertainment industry. I tried my hand working behind the scenes as a Runner then Researcher on The Big Breakfast (which those over 35 will probably remember) and as a Voice Over Agent but finally settled on an HR role at Endemol (which is now Endemol Shine Group).
I spent the majority of my twenties there, working my way up in the HR team as the business grew and grew to become the largest independent production company in the UK (during which time we launched Big Brother). After 8.5 wonderful years (and a 6-month sabbatical to South East Asia in the middle!) I decided it was time to try something new and joined hmv Group as an HR Manager.
About 6 months in to my time there the HR Director asked me what I loved most about working in HR and I started reeling off a list of things that basically fell in to the employee engagement/communications category (although ‘employee engagement’ wasn’t really used as a term then) to which he then announced he had the perfect role for me. That role was as Internal Communications Manager for Waterstones (then owned by hmv Group) and this was my first foray into internal communications. I absolutely loved the role and eventually became the Group Internal Communications Manager covering both Waterstones and hmv.
As you can imagine, the way you might communicate to someone working in a ‘record store’ compared to a book store was incredibly different so this was a really interesting and exciting challenge for me. My experience at hmv Group, stood me in good stead for my next role at NBCUniversal, where I joined as International Internal Communications Manager for the Universal Pictures Home Entertainment group. This was an incredible experience where I built up the skills, confidence, global exposure and knowledge to really progress my career (particularly helped by two really supportive and smart bosses).
About a year into joining, the Home Entertainment function went through a huge restructure which was both painful (as this was a very close-knit team which felt like family) and a huge learning experience for me, as I managed all the employee communications during this period. As part of the restructure I was lucky enough to be asked to move to the Los Angeles office (my office overlooked the Universal Studios Lot!) to set up the Global Internal Communications and Engagement function there. As you can imagine, this was a dream come true for a huge movie buff.
A year later I returned to London for a fabulous newly created role as Director of Employee Engagement for NBCUniversal International, covering all divisions of the business including Film, TV, Parks & Resorts and News – broadening my experience further.
About 1.5 years later I was headhunted to join Visa as Employee Communications and Experience Director for Europe, to set up this new function and team following Visa Inc’s acquisition of Visa Europe. Payment technology was obviously a completely different industry for me but what an opportunity being able to start something from scratch. So, I said yes! And what an experience it was – with my amazing new team we spent 1.5 years building the function up (even winning an Employee Engagement Award for our troubles) and really making sure that employees where having the best experience possible working there.
Although I was incredibly sad to leave my team, the entertainment industry lured me back and I joined Warner Bros. Entertainment in January 2019 in the newly created role of Director, Internal Communications and Culture. And as if that wasn’t enough, I was elected to the IoIC Board of Directors in May. So, I think 2019 is going to be a busy year!
It’s really interesting to hear about the different roles you’ve had, covering Employee Engagement, Employee Experience, Internal Communications and Culture. Do you think these roles were similar roles but with different job titles – same wine different bottle, or were there differences in each of the roles you’ve had – I guess what we’re asking is did the job role title make a difference to the focus of the work?
I find it fascinating when talking to people who work in similar roles to find out where they report in to the business.
I’ve reported in to HR, Marketing, Corporate Communications and directly in to the President!
I’ve found the most affinity with HR and leadership, as they are most focused on the people and culture of the business, whereas Marketing and Corporate Communications can tend to prioritise the external customer or consumer. Saying that, it’s really dependant on the leaders of those functions.
Having ‘Culture’, ‘Engagement’ or ‘Experience’ in my title hasn’t really made a difference – each role has had a similar focus and purpose. My preference is Employee Experience because that’s the broadest term and feels like everyone’s responsibility. The outcome of a good experience is better engagement and a strong and happier culture.
I believe that the key to good employee experience / culture / engagement (whatever you want to call it) is having leaders and functions working collaboratively to make that happen.
At Warner Bros. I report in to Marketing and HR but physically sit with the Executive Office team, which I think really positions my role well across the whole business.
Employee Experience is something we are talking to a lot more clients about and there is a lot of conversation about the differences between Engagement and Experience, I’d be really interested to hear your views on this?
In the simplest terms – without a good employee experience you won’t have good employee engagement! Which in turn means your business performance won’t be as strong as it could be.
What do you think is involved in a team that are successful in designing and facilitating’ delivering a brilliant employee experience? – what lessons have been most valuable to you in your experience?
First of all, having a team!
I’ve been a one-woman band in a couple of my roles and that’s really challenging as you know there are all these amazing things you could be doing but don’t have the resources (headcount or budget) to manage all of them.
Convincing leaders of the importance of creating a great employee experience is your first challenge. With my team at Visa (there were 5 of us) we built up the strategy together – everyone was part of that journey and everyone’s voices and ideas were heard, which just made us stronger and more engaged ourselves, as we had such diversity of thought between us.
Having that collaborative approach to how you work is so important – for the outcome of the work you do and on the morale of the team. The other area to focus on is making sure you and your team really get to know the business – from a strategic standpoint, but also really making sure you know what people are saying and how they are feeling.
Anyone working in Employee Engagement (or IC or HR) should be encouraging their teams to be out there spending time with people across the business and bringing that back to the day job. Without that you are just pulling ideas out of thin air, or focusing on a ‘one size fits all’ approach.
This is particularly integral when you’re in a global role – what lands well in France but not land at all well in Japan for example.
And tell us a little more about your role with the IOIC – what does it mean to be on the board?
I am delighted to have been elected to be a board member of the IoIC. I think it’s an incredible organisation and, having been to my first board meeting recently, I am incredibly excited about the plans for the next 3 years.
As a board member I get to be part of shaping what the future of internal comms and employee experience looks like.
I want to make sure that we are listening to our members across the country, giving them the right opportunities to develop (I’ve recently been on two IoIC masterclasses, which were lightbulb moment for me), giving them the chance to network with other IC professionals, sharing best practice and future trends and making them all feel proud to work in the field they do.
Anyone who isn’t already an IoIC member should join up now!
That’s great – do you think IC Pros need to get more involved with employee engagement/experience and what do you think this could look like?
Absolutely 100%. The focus areas for IC, employee engagement and experience are so inter-twined it makes no sense at all not to be collaborating. Let’s work together better so that we are providing the best experience possible for our employees. It’s a no-brainer for me.
And finally, back to day job, what would be your top tip for creating a fantastic culture, or things to avoid?
Listen to what your employees are saying and work with leadership and managers to really help them understand their impact on the culture of a business.
Thank you so much Jane – we’re looking forward to seeing you again soon!
