What should the priorities for internal communicators really be in 2022? They should not be the point issues which routinely appear in the annual predictions for the profession. It’s time for us to take a step back and get back to basics, or to discover the basics if we don’t know what they are.
Using outputs and proxy measures like employee engagement to judge the success of internal communication are a form of organisational ‘Blind Faith’. What should our measures of success really be?
The job titles for internal communication roles are inconsistent and meaningless when it comes to seniority. This confusion puts candidates for IC job roles at a disadvantage during recruitment, creates frustration and increases the risk of mismatches between successful applicants and roles.
As we continue the unlocking of society in the UK, some are claiming that we stand on the threshold of a revolution in the world of work - hybrid working. Is this really anything new, and if it is, are the right things being put in place in organisations to make the change stick?
Building the business case with leaders and managers for investing in regular and meaningful employee listening, which goes beyond the annual employee survey, has always been challenging for internal communicators. Any research findings which can add to the body of evidence to support this is welcome.
There are many ‘single points of failure’ in internal communication practice, which have the potential to stop us in our tracks and render what we do ineffective. Leaders can be one of them, but properly defining and understanding a SPOF in internal communication is the key to overcoming it.
The debate about the use of coronavirus vaccination passports has begun and some employers will inevitably introduce conditional immunity policies to reduce the risk of infection in the workplace. Internal communicators will need to communicate this to employees in the right way.
Some internal communicators would claim that the rapid adoption of new digital channels and platforms during the pandemic has enabled them to usher in a new transparency and authenticity in how leaders communicate with employees. But has it, really? The rise of the anonymous question in these online encounters has implications for ethical internal communications practice and consequences for organisational cultures everywhere.
As the new year begins the pandemic is far from over and there is a naive and misplaced optimism that there will be some rapid improvement and a return to normality. The cruel reality is that the first nine months of 2021 are likely to be every bit as challenging as the last nine months of 2020. What should internal communicators be planning for and should asking ‘why’ more often be our new year’s resolution?
If the authentic personalities of leaders are a complete turn off for employees, should internal communicators help them to curate a more acceptable online or virtual persona, which may be inauthentic or downright fake? A plastic personality.
The IC Citizen 