As internal communicators what stops us shutting down channels which don’t work anymore? I think there are three main barriers which we must overcome to be more comfortable with switching off a dying channel’s life support and pulling the plug on it once and for all.
Volunteers are the real powerhouse of a professional body like CIPR, and are fundamental to changing the perceptions of IC amongst employers, recruiters and leaders. This is why I am a CIPR volunteer helping to take IC towards a better place.
What was the point of the CIPR Inside ‘Changing The Conversation’ internal communications conference in Birmingham on 8 October 2019? As a CIPR Inside Committee member, I think this was about internal communicators finally taking control of their destiny.
Why is everyone who works in internal communications so busy? Productive reflection is a skill which all internal communicators could usefully learn to help them create better organisational outcomes.
As internal communicators we are often asked or instructed to do communications which have no clear objective or a demonstrable return on the investment of our time. We should never be doing 'owt for nowt'.
There aren’t enough ‘real’ internal communicators practicing in the public relations and communications industry. It’s symptomatic of the chicken and egg conundrum of imbalance in the supply of and demand for properly qualified professionals. In the absence of industry regulation and barriers to entry into the profession, how can you find a real internal communicator?
You’re an internal communications genius, right? So why is it that leaders sometimes don’t listen to your ideas? Maybe it’s because you’re having the wrong sort of conversation with them, at the wrong time and in the wrong places. Here are four ideas to help you change the conversation with leaders to gain their active support.
The IC Citizen movement needs a manifesto. A statement of intent which sets out what the movement stands for and what those who follow can do to support it. I invited other internal communicators to have their say about what should go into the manifesto in a short survey. Here are the results.
Are your internal communications more like the howl of a cat’s choir than the harmonies of a symphony? Are employees saying they are overloaded with irrelevant information and your data telling you that hardly anyone is receiving or acting on the important messages? If so, it’s time to ‘Be more Beethoven’ and implement a channel strategy to create an internal communications symphony.
It’s just two weeks since I unleashed The IC Citizen and it seems that there’s a lot of enthusiasm for the movement within the internal communications community. A movement needs a manifesto, so Phase 2 of The IC Citizen will be about asking internal communicators what they think should be in our manifesto. The link to the manifesto survey is included at the end of this blog.
The IC Citizen 