The Internal Comms Podcast

Katie’s guest this week is Keith Lewis, UK Social Media and Social Business Manager for Zurich Insurance – one of the world’s largest insurance groups with 55,000 employees in more than 170 countries – who is well placed to talk about employee advocacy and empowering people to tell their own stories.

Earlier this year, the Edelman Trust Barometer asked 33,000 people around the word how credible they would view information from a series of different people when forming an opinion of a company. Those answering said the most credible would be the company’s technical expert, while fourth on the list was a regular employee. In eighth place was the CEO. Edelman’s advice to organisations is to activate our employee voices – not just official spokespeople, but our specialists and regular employees.

In the course of their conversation, Keith tells Katie about the strategies he has employed to encourage employees to open up about their experiences and expertise, as well as the value of internal social networks such as Workplace by Facebook and Yammer.

Katie Macaulay’s guest this week is a neuroscientist with extensive experience in the field of organisational change.

Hilary Scarlett began studying the brain in 2009 after reading an inspiring article about how this relatively new discipline can be used to help organisations better understand and guide their people through change.

She went on to write a book – Neuroscience for Organizational Change – in which she explains what happens inside our brains when change is announced, and the change process begins. Her fascinating insight explains why people think and behave the way they do, enabling internal communicators to design change programmes that work with our brains rather than against them.

During the course of their conversation, Katie and Hilary address a number of perennial IC questions, like when and how to communicate difficult news and the role of leaders during change. They also address some more personal concerns, such as the difference between having a fixed and a growth mindset, why most neuroscientists practise mindfulness, and what’s happening inside our brains when we tick something off our to-do list.

In this episode we get up close and personal with someone who helps improve the way we communicate at work.

Mike Klein worked as a political consultant in the US, but for the past two decades has devoted his time – and his thinking – to internal communications.

A global IC advocate, strategist and public speaker, Mike is based in the Netherlands, where he runs his communications firm Changing the Terms. It’s an apt name given his own bold vision for what internal communications can achieve.

‘We don’t edit copy’, he tells Katie, ‘we edit organisations’.

Mike shares his views on the importance of influencers inside organisations and the role we, as internal communicators, can play in creating differentiation for our organisations in an increasingly crowded and competitive marketplace.

If we can create a truly compelling narrative – a rallying cry maybe – that power can be used to mobilise an entire workforce.

Mike’s advice is both highly courageous and highly commercial. He also has an interesting perspective on the difference between internal and external comms… The answer lies, perhaps quite surprisingly, in Kentucky Fried Chicken. Listen to the episode to find out how!

As individuals, this week’s guests have impressive CVs.

Sue Dewhurst is an experienced internal communicator who, for many years, has been training and coaching thousands of leaders and professional communicators. Her models and frameworks are used by organisations worldwide.

Liam FitzPatrick has spent three decades working in communications, both in-house and for major consultancies. He also lectures on developing teams, research and planning, and serves as an external examiner for UK universities.

But, put them together, and they are an even more formidable force.

It’s estimated that around 50% of UK IC practitioners have been through their Melcrum Black Belt training programme.

And now they have co-authored a book – Successful Employee Communications: A Practitioner’s Guide to Tools, Models and Best Practice for Internal Communication.

The book, which is full of real-world case studies demonstrating IC best practice, is an extension of Liam and Sue’s warm, honest and genuine personalities.

This hour-long conversation with Kate Macaulay – full of their ideas, insights and experience – is a perfect companion piece to the text, and a very entertaining introduction to their work.

With this podcast now reaching listeners in 50 countries worldwide, host Katie Macaulay has chosen to go international for this episode.

Her guest is creative services entrepreneur, author and occasional Bollywood actor Mark Hannant.

Originally a business journalist, Mark rose up the ranks at corporate publishers Trident Communications before becoming a founding partner of stakeholder communications consultancy the Engage Group.

Ten years ago, he left the UK for India, accompanied by his wife and two young children, to set up brand and communications agency teammagenta in Mumbai.

A decade on, Mark has written a book, Midnight’s Grandchildren, exploring the unique mindset of Indian millennials.

Katie caught up with Mark during a recent visit to London to find out more about life in the world’s largest democracy, and to discuss how we, as internal communicators, can improve the way we analyse and respond to cultural differences.

This week, Katie meets Claire Hyde and Louise Wadman, joint heads of IC at KPMG UK.

Possibly the most senior IC job share in the country, Claire and Louise have more than 45 years of communication experience between them.

These role models and champions of job sharing have worked in the financial services, technology, motor and fashion industries, with responsibilities for internal and external communication and public affairs.

As a successful, long-term partnership, they manage teams, advise senior executives and support business change and transformation – making an incredibly convincing argument for offering organisations not double the risk but double the opportunity.

They believe that two minds bring a diversity of thought and true collaboration and are active public speakers about the benefits of flexible ways of working.

Over the course of this conversation, you’ll hear how they make job sharing work for their direct reports, senior executives and themselves.

They also explain the crucial difference between splitting a role and sharing it, and lay out the mechanics of ‘thinking days’, an idea Katie guarantees you’ll want to adopt whatever your personal working arrangements.

You will also hear what happened when Claire and Louise started to look for a new job in IC and went to recruiters with one joint CV.

This conversation made Katie completely re-evaluate her own preconceptions of job sharing. It might just do the same for you…

Katie’s guest this episode is Nita Clarke – whose services to employee engagement have earned her an OBE from the Queen.

Nita has a long and fascinating career. She co-authored the report: Engaging for Success, which became the seminal study into employee engagement and sparked an entire movement – Engage for Success.

A leading figure in the UK’s trade union movement for many years, she talks to Katie about championing employee voice, working with Number 10 and singing with David Bowie.

The Internal Comms Podcast is back with a new series of fortnightly conversations with leading lights from the world of internal communications, engagement and leadership.

AB Managing Director Katie Macaulay kicks off season two with a chat with the ‘Doctor of IC’, Kevin Ruck.

The co-founder of the PR Academy, which delivers the CIPR internal communication diploma, Kevin is the man who literally wrote the textbook.

In a thorough and detailed examination of our subject, Katie and Kevin dig into engagement and what drives it, what’s wrong with line- and middle-manager communication, how to measure IC and the importance of having an informed employee voice inside your organisation.

Season two of The Internal Comms Podcast is almost here!

In this extra special bonus episode of The Internal Comms Podcast, the tables are turned on Katie as she takes the spotlight as an interviewee.

Posing the searching questions is Jason Etter, Director of Marketing at New York-based employee app company Staffbase.

As host of his own online show The Communications Academy Podcast, Jason wanted Katie to share some of the knowledge acquired during her 30 years in the industry with his listeners.

In particular, he wanted to know what IC practitioners should do in the first days and weeks of a new role.