The poor mental health experienced by public relations professionals, and by definition, internal communication practitioners isn’t improving, and seems to be getting worse. Much of this could be driven by the behaviour of other colleagues in the organisation and a general lack of investment in the function. Until this changes, should working in PR and IC carry a ‘this profession can damage your mental health’ warning?
Why don’t more internal communicators and PR practitioners get qualified? Is it because we don't understand the personal and professional benefits of doing so, or are we just too distracted by other forms of recognition?
Much of the regular trend tracking and internal communications industry analysis is based on practitioner views, which often feels like IC professionals marking their own homework. So, it’s refreshing to see a new report which is based on the views of employees on internal communication performance and practice in organisations.
Have you fallen out of love with your internal communication role, or did you never love it in the first place? Maybe it's time to 'say goodbye'.
As an internal communicator how can you ignite change in your organisation without burning the house down and creating lots of resistance to it? This starts by adopting a particular mindset in how you think about change, before you try to communicate anything about it.
Urban dictionary: ‘A culture vulture is a person who adopts something from a different community and makes it their own.’ Is internal communication becoming a culture vulture?
There is a midlife crisis in workplaces everywhere. There are millions of over 50s who are economically inactive and are unwilling to return because they are not understood or supported at work. Are internal communicators unwittingly colluding with other organisational functions to create and promote workplace cultures which are toxic for the over 50s, because we don't make the effort to properly understand them?
How can leaders whose lived experience is so different from those they are appointed to lead ever be ‘in touch’ with what those people think and feel? The answer lies in the competence of the people they surround themselves with and the quality of the advice those people dispense. The equation is simple to understand. No good advice = poor leadership.
Some might perceive the servant leader as being an example of a weak and ineffectual management style, and a risk to the organisation achieving its objectives and success, particularly in workplaces where command and control has historically dominated the culture. But, done well, servant leadership is anything but this.
We have barely begun our period of mourning and our grief is raw. There is some comfort to be had.
The IC Citizen 