Dear comms...

The hardest part of building a high-performing team isn't creating the team... but how you make the change last. 

In the final episode of this series, Imogen and Amanda talk about why improvements unravel (it's usually not about willingness), what structure actually looks like in practice without tipping into bureaucracy, and why leadership behaviour matters far more than any document gathering dust in a shared drive. 

Real high performance, it turns out, is predictable, calm, and a little bit boring. And that's entirely the point.

Imogen Hitchcock and Amanda Pierce have a clear purpose: creating communications (and communicators) that spark action, drive growth, and build lasting influence. Between them, there’s not a question or crisis they haven’t faced. From the everyday “could you just…” to high-stakes challenges, they’re here to share their insights and help you thrive.

They'd love your stars, favourites, and follows. Please, give them the social validation they crave ;) 

Clarity on paper means nothing if it doesn't change how people actually work. Now we've worked through the purpose of the team, let's make it reality. 

In this episode, Imogen and Amanda get into the mechanics of day-to-day performance: why most teams fail not because of strategy but because they don't talk to each other properly, how a simple "now, next, later" rhythm transforms the noise of meetings into something useful, and why healthy challenge in a team is a sign things are working. Bonus tip: how to guarantee a meeting with the Beaumont team.

Imogen Hitchcock and Amanda Pierce have a clear purpose: creating communications (and communicators) that spark action, drive growth, and build lasting influence. Between them, there’s not a question or crisis they haven’t faced. From the everyday “could you just…” to high-stakes challenges, they’re here to share their insights and help you thrive.

They'd love your stars, favourites, and follows. Please, give them the social validation they crave ;) 

Most teams aren't short on motivation. What they're missing is clarity. Clarity on purpose, priorities, roles, and how decisions get made. In this episode, Imogen and Amanda look at what alignment actually means in practice (and no, it's not all about workshops and piles of Post-it notes). 

They cover the difference between a corporate purpose and a team purpose, why implied ownership is the source of more tension than most leaders realise, and how simple tools like priority matrices and decision frameworks can take the friction out of everyday work. When people know what good looks like, they stop hesitating.

Imogen Hitchcock and Amanda Pierce have a clear purpose: creating communications (and communicators) that spark action, drive growth, and build lasting influence. Between them, there’s not a question or crisis they haven’t faced. From the everyday “could you just…” to high-stakes challenges, they’re here to share their insights and help you thrive.

They'd love your stars, favourites, and follows. Please, give them the social validation they crave ;) 

Before you can fix a team, you have to understand it. Not what you assume is happening - what's actually happening. 

In this episode, Imogen and Amanda talk about how to diagnose the real causes of underperformance: why anonymous surveys rarely tell you what you need to know, why leaders say they want honesty but often struggle with what comes back, and why the most revealing answers are often sitting outside your team entirely. 

This isn't about apportioning blame, it's about clarity. And this is how you get it.

Imogen Hitchcock and Amanda Pierce have a clear purpose: creating communications (and communicators) that spark action, drive growth, and build lasting influence. Between them, there’s not a question or crisis they haven’t faced. From the everyday “could you just…” to high-stakes challenges, they’re here to share their insights and help you thrive.

They'd love your stars, favourites, and follows. Please, give them the social validation they crave ;) 

Most teams don't fail dramatically. They fade quietly. Work feels harder than it should, decisions drag on, everyone's busy but nothing's quite moving. In the first episode of our series on high-performing teams, Imogen and Amanda unpick the early warning signs that something's not right - and explain why jumping straight to solutions usually makes things worse. If your team is full of talented, hard-working people but isn't quite clicking, this is where to start.

Imogen Hitchcock and Amanda Pierce have a clear purpose: creating communications (and communicators) that spark action, drive growth, and build lasting influence. Between them, there’s not a question or crisis they haven’t faced. From the everyday “could you just…” to high-stakes challenges, they’re here to share their insights and help you thrive.

They'd love your stars, favourites, and follows. Please, give them the social validation they crave ;) 

For the final episode of our storytelling series, we’re pulling everything together into ten practical, no-nonsense tips you can use straight away. Whether you’re trying to spark action, shift behaviour, calm nerves, or get leaders on board, these are the essentials every communicator needs. We’ll even give you tips on how to sell storytelling into even the most sceptical leader. 

Imogen Hitchcock and Amanda Pierce have a clear purpose: creating communications (and communicators) that spark action, drive growth, and build lasting influence. Between them, there’s not a question or crisis they haven’t faced. From the everyday “could you just…” to high-stakes challenges, they’re here to share their insights and help you thrive.

They'd love your stars, favourites, and follows. Please, give them the social validation they crave ;) 

Think your organisation is story-free? Think again! In this episode, we’ll show you where you can find stories and how you can connect them to action. We’ll look at Steve Denning’s eight narrative patterns and look at why your stories aren’t working the way you want. 

By the end of this episode, you’ll know where to look for stories and how to choose one that’ll actually work. 

If you'd like a copy of Steve Denning's narrative patterns, get in touch with [email protected] and we'll send them through.

Imogen Hitchcock and Amanda Pierce have a clear purpose: creating communications (and communicators) that spark action, drive growth, and build lasting influence. Between them, there’s not a question or crisis they haven’t faced. From the everyday “could you just…” to high-stakes challenges, they’re here to share their insights and help you thrive.

They'd love your stars, favourites, and follows. Please, give them the social validation they crave ;) 

You’ve done your prep. You’ve survived the science. Now it’s time to actually build a story. Hoorah! 

In this episode, we break down the six key ingredients every story needs — from characters and conflict to that all-important “secret weapon.” We’ll show you how to use a simple narrative arc that works for any corporate message (yes, even launching a new data management system). An episode which includes lions, Jiminy Cricket, and Gandalf.

If you'd like the full storytelling structure, get in touch with [email protected] and we'll send it your way.

Imogen Hitchcock and Amanda Pierce have a clear purpose: creating communications (and communicators) that spark action, drive growth, and build lasting influence. Between them, there’s not a question or crisis they haven’t faced. From the everyday “could you just…” to high-stakes challenges, they’re here to share their insights and help you thrive.

They'd love your stars, favourites, and follows. Please, give them the social validation they crave ;) 

In the second episode of our storytelling series, we’re still not letting you write anything. Nope, we’re heading into your brain first. 

In this episode, we unpack the science behind why storytelling works — and why facts alone won’t make people care. From cavemen to cortisol, dopamine to data, we explore how stories light up your brain and why numbers need meaning. Motto of the episode: “you can’t bore people into caring.”

Imogen Hitchcock and Amanda Pierce have a clear purpose: creating communications (and communicators) that spark action, drive growth, and build lasting influence. Between them, there’s not a question or crisis they haven’t faced. From the everyday “could you just…” to high-stakes challenges, they’re here to share their insights and help you thrive.

They'd love your stars, favourites, and follows. Please, give them the social validation they crave ;) 

Everyone loves to say “we need a story.” Fewer people stop to ask why. In this first episode of our five-part storytelling series, we take a step back from the shiny stuff — the metaphors, the structure, the hero’s journey — and talk about the prep that actually makes stories work.

We’ll unpack why audience and objective are your storytelling anchors, why content pillars are your secret weapon, and how to make sure your stories don’t just sound good, but do good. Expect cake metaphors, gentle myth-busting, and a few home truths about what most corporate storytelling gets wrong.

Imogen Hitchcock and Amanda Pierce have a clear purpose: creating communications (and communicators) that spark action, drive growth, and build lasting influence. Between them, there’s not a question or crisis they haven’t faced. From the everyday “could you just…” to high-stakes challenges, they’re here to share their insights and help you thrive.

They'd love your stars, favourites, and follows. Please, give them the social validation they crave ;)