The Internal Comms Podcast

In the final episode of season 6 of The Internal Comms Podcast, host Katie Macaulay speaks to Sally Susman, Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Pfizer.

It has been an extraordinary two years for Pfizer. Like many organisations around the world, the biopharmaceutical company had to adapt to remote working, supporting their staff through the transition. But, of course, that’s not all. In the midst of the pandemic, Pfizer developed and deployed the lifesaving COVID-19 vaccine – a game-changing moment for all of us.

In this fascinating interview, Sally takes us through some key moments that got Pfizer’s workforce through the pandemic, including the incredible moment when the vaccine was approved for use.

Throughout the discussion, Sally tells us about the importance of honesty, both within her current role and throughout her entire career. She also tells us the importance of finding time to pause and reflect, and the role self-identity can play within a career.

In the sixth episode of season 6 of The Internal Comms Podcast, host Katie Macaulay talks to Phil Dobson, founder of BrainWorkshops and author of The Brain Book: How to Think and Work Smarter.

Until 2007, Phil was an aspiring musician working in sales and business development. When an injury forced him to take a step back for 15 weeks, it enabled him to pivot his life towards the world of psychology. Now a psychotherapist, coach, and facilitator, Phil uses insights from neuroscience and psychology to help teams transform productivity and improve wellbeing.

In this riveting interview, Phil shares his tips and exercises for better brain care, and explains how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected how we process time, work and our priorities. He suggests ways to reduce distractions, focus on the tasks that really matter and create positive environments.

Throughout the discussion, Phil emphasises the importance of mental clarity, not just for personal wellbeing, but for teams and leaders seeking to improve the ways they work.

***The content in this episode of The Internal Comms Podcast may be triggering for those who have experience of suicide.***

In the fourth episode of season 6 of The Internal Comms Podcast, host Katie Macaulay speaks to Karen Coleman and Naomi Sutcliffe, architects behind the award-winning ‘Check-in’ campaign which aims to prevent staff suicide across the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership area. The campaign promotes a wellbeing culture by normalising the conversation around suicide and mental health, as well as providing training, resources and signposting for support.

An award-winning communication professional, Karen Coleman, has worked in delivering strategic communication and engagement strategies for CEOs, politicians, executive boards, government departments and business executives for over 25 years. She is now proud to be Associate Director for Communication and Engagement for West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership.

Passionate about suicide prevention, Naomi Sutcliffe is an approved LivingWorks suicide prevention intervention trainer, SafeTALK trainer and leads or supports many projects within her role in the Southwest Yorkshire Patient Safety Support Team. Naomi qualified as a nurse 27 years ago and has amassed a wealth of knowledge in a variety of posts across the health sector.

Even if suicide prevention is not on your comms agenda, this episode provides insightful advice on what IC professionals should be considering when they approach any campaign design, testing and delivering.

In the fourth episode of season 6 of The Internal Comms Podcast, host Katie Macaulay catches up with Maliha Aqeel, Director of Global Communications and Digital Channels at Fix Network World – the global leader in the automotive aftermarket services sector.

A member of the International Association of Business Communicators’ International Executive Board, Maliha has honed her expertise at organisations across the globe, from Dubai to Canada. She applies her analytical problem-solving skills in every context, seeking the most effective and efficient approach to communications. Successful content, she argues, meets the needs of the end consumer, not the communicator.

A ‘life-long learner’, Maliha is always striving to understand more of the ‘business of business’ in order to apply that learning to a communications framework. Soon to begin a doctorate, Maliha is researching how organisations can activate and communicate the tangible impact of purpose on their balance sheet.

Find out more in this fascinating episode of The Internal Comms Podcast.

In the third episode of season 6 of The Internal Comms Podcast, host Katie Macaulay catches up with communications expert and IABC Fellow Jane Mitchell.

Jane began her career with the BBC, before moving into producing award-winning films for corporate clients. In the 1990s, her focus shifted to developing strategic approaches to internal comms and employee engagement, setting up her consulting firm JL&M in 2005.

In this wide-ranging episode, Jane joins the dots between public broadcasting and corporate values, considers the role of singular thinking in organisational ethical failure, and explains why, as communicators, our job is sometimes to push back on ‘the next big thing’.

Whatever the topic, Jane’s fundamental philosophy when it comes to comms is clear: think smarter – and utilise what’s already there.

In the second episode of season 6 of The Internal Comms Podcast, host Katie Macaulay talks to Brian Landau, an authority in podcasting and expert on all things audio content creation and distribution.

Brian was the executive vice president of strategy at the podcast network, Cadence 13, senior director of corporate development at the influencer marketing company, IZA and spent nearly five years at Westwood One, the largest audio broadcast network in America. Today, Brian is co-founder and CEO of Vennly, an audio platform that enables businesses to share their audio content seamlessly and securely across their existing internal and external channels.

In this informative episode, Brian schools us on the shift from measuring listens per content to actions per content. He also breaks down, step by step, how to create a successful internal comms podcast for employees and empower the storytellers amongst you.

In this first episode of season 6 of The Internal Comms Podcast, host Katie Macaulay talks to the father of employee engagement, organisational psychologist Professor William Kahn.

With the publication of his paper ‘Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work’ in 1990, the concept of engagement at work was born. Now a professor of management and organisations at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, his vast array of academic research explores the relationship between individuals and organisations.

In this fascinating conversation, William explains the conditions needed to drive meaningful engagement, and unpacks the differences between ‘personal’ and ‘employee’ engagement.

He also dives into what organisations truly want when they talk about engagement and speaks about the danger of not allowing people the space to have chaotic conversations. True engagement – he says – is messy, and without an emphasis on workplace relationships, communications professionals are missing the point.

The curtain is about to go up on the new season of The Internal Comms Podcast, with some fantastic guests joining host Katie Macaulay to talk about all things communication.

For this special compilation episode, we give you a taste of what’s to come with some of our best bits from Season 5. Katie has picked her favourite moments from seven fascinating conversations with communications experts from across the spectrum, from corporate Australia to construction and the charity sector.

Season 6 launches on 8 September with another fantastic line up of guests, including the organisational psychologist Professor William Kahn, who created the concept of engagement at work 31 years ago.

It has always been Katie Macaulay’s goal for The Internal Comms Podcast to help improve the way organisations communicate with their people, and this week she does so by exploring how behavioural science can influence our thinking as internal comms pros.

In recent years, this fascinating field has given our friends in marketing a better understanding of what drives decision-making. This knowledge has, in turn, heavily influenced the approach to customer experience, product design, and all aspects of marketing comms.

Guiding us through how all of this works, and how it can be applied to our work in IC, is one of the world’s leading behavioural science experts: Will Leach.

Will has more than 25 years’ experience of applying behavioural design to marketing, including running PepsiCo’s behavioural research lab.

He is the author of the best-selling book Marketing to Mindstates: a practical guide to applying behavioural design to research and marketing, and a two-time winner of the EXPLOR Award for behavioural science research.

Will is also the founder and CEO of two businesses: The Mindstate Group and TriggerPoint, both of which use behavioural science to create marketing that drives people to act.

In this thought-provoking episode, Will gives a beginner’s guide to behavioural sciences, bringing the subject to life with great passion, energy and enthusiasm.

Along with plenty of personal insight and experience, he explains how we can tap into the underlying goals and motivation of our employees and connect with them in a more fundamental and meaningful way.

Katie Macaulay’s guest this week is a leading light in efforts to advance the careers of under-represented groups in IC.

Advita Patel is a qualified coach, mentor, public speaker and owner of her own consultancy firm, CommsRebel.

She is also one of a trio of women who host the Calm Edged Rebels podcast, a board director for the Chartered Institute for Public Relations (CIPR) and co-founder (with previous guest Priya Bates) of A Leader Like Me – a global initiative to assist people from minority groups within our industry.

While Advita’s passion is helping organisations become more aware of diversity, belonging and inclusivity issues, she is also focused on the perennial challenge of identifying measurable outcomes for internal comms.

These are just two of the subjects tackled in a wide-ranging, open and honest conversation.