The Internal Comms Podcast

Looking for tips on creating internal communications that land – and stick? In this Moment from The Internal Comms Podcast, Steve Crescenzo shares a few things you absolutely must keep in mind. He calls them ‘the four Cs’.

Creative. Think outside of email and your intranet. As Steve’s son told him, “Young people are not reading their emails and they aren’t visiting websites”. We have to think differently.

Compelling. We must demonstrate the benefit to the audience in every piece of comms.

Conversation. Strip out the jargon. Remove the corporate speak. Use your weekend words – without the swearing!

Concise. Use your creativity to make sure comms are short, snackable and memorable.

As CEO of Crescenzo Communications, Steve has decades of experience helping internal communicators inspire, engage and deliver strategies. And in this 10-minute clip, you’ll get some of his most valuable advice.

Listen to the full episode here: https://abcomm.co.uk/podcasts/episode/episode-35-how-to-do-less-but-do-it-better/

“I realised I was probably a pretty crap listener,” Mike Roe tells Katie Macaulay in this Moment from The Internal Comms Podcast.

We often go to leaders and start by asking them something entirely different to what we are really there to ask. It’s down to leaders, says Mike, to ask the right questions and really listen to the responses.

So, Mike took a leadership course that equipped him with invaluable skills to really connect with his colleagues. “Learning to ask powerful questions, being curious enough to ask those questions of others and yourself and being confident enough to shut up and let this resonate with somebody was transformational,” says Mike.

Got questions of your own? Tune in to discover just how important they are.

Listen to the full episode here: https://abcomm.co.uk/podcasts/episode/episode-63-lessons-in-leadership/

At IKEA, choosing the right words when communicating with the workforce is everything.

Guy Britt, IKEA’s Global Head of Co-worker Comms, tells Katie Macaulay the use of ‘co-worker comms’ instead of internal or employee comms is very deliberate. “It’s based on the fact that those we’re communicating to are people,” he says.

The team at IKEA want to activate their colleagues; inspire them, and create a two-way dialogue. The language they use matters. The tone, and respect they have for their colleagues is what really engages them.

Communicating in this human way to a large, global workforce like IKEA has its challenges. Getting the right message to the right people, on the right platforms – it’s not one size fits all.

So, how does IKEA reach and engage their unique audiences?

Tune in to find out.

Listen to the full episode here: https://abcomm.co.uk/podcasts/episode/episode-57-unboxing-internal-comms-at-ikea/

If you have ever attended one of Shel Holtz’s presentations, you will know that, more often than not, it’s standing room only. Shel has a remarkable ability to anticipate what's next for internal communication, a knack for seeing what's around the corner and an in-depth understanding of how technology is revolutionising our world of work.

Since Chat GPT was made public in November 2022, AI has dominated the headlines. So, who better but Shel to talk us through the implications for internal communications? His insights are fascinating.

For years at the forefront of technology and communication, Shel is currently Senior Director of Communications at Webcor, a California-based building and engineering company. He’s the author of several essential communications books and the co-host of For Immediate Release, a podcast for comms professionals now into its eighteenth year.

Share your thoughts on this, or any other episode of The Internal Comms Podcast, using the hashtag #TheICPodcast. Happy listening!

Learn more about the opportunities for AI to transform your internal communications in a Creativity now! webinar from AB: https://abcomm.co.uk/abthinks/best-tools-for-creating-ic-audio-content/

Does your approach to internal communication have the human touch?

It’s essential to the humans you employ, says Victoria Dew, CEO of Dewpoint Communications and an internal comms aficionado. And it’s good for business, too.

If you’re relying on people to run your business – and not robots or machines alone – then Victoria says you should be creating an environment where those humans can bring their whole, authentic selves to work, not just when it suits the business.

Human beings are messy, they’re complex and they’re brilliant. And if you want the brightest and the best people on your team, and you want them to stick around and give their all to your mission, you must create a place where they can thrive. As Victoria says, “The best and smartest people don’t just innovate, collaborate and lead 9-to-5, and then go back into their little boxes, like a robot, until you go get them the next day.”

So just how can you create that human-centric business? And why is it so important?

Tune in to find out.

Listen to the full episode here: https://abcomm.co.uk/podcasts/episode/episode-61-embracing-the-messiness-of-being-human/

Ever feel like, as an internal communicator, you’re fighting an uphill battle all by yourself? This week’s guest on The Internal Comms Podcast has exactly what you need.

Host Katie Macaulay welcomes internal communications strategist, author, and certified communication management pro, Emily Hecker.

With over a decade of experience under her belt, Emily has been a one-person team at a string of organisations and has just written a new book, Me, myself and IC: Building internal communication as a team of one. She’s made the case for the importance of internal communications to CEOs and frontliners alike, elevating the profession beyond what she calls the “copy, paste, send factory” to a strategic business function.

Internal communicators often find themselves working alone, shoehorned into a variety of functions. But even if you work in a wider team, this episode has a range of insights for you –from the best way to interview a potential employer to setting boundaries and defining your remit.

As always, share your thoughts of this or any other episode of The Internal Comms Podcast using the hashtag #TheICPodcast. And thanks for listening.

This week on The Internal Comms Podcast, host Katie Macaulay is joined by Sim Sian, Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Mitie, and Yvonne O’Hara, formerly Mitie’s Group Head of Internal Communication and Engagement.

Equality, diversity and inclusion, or ED&I, is fast climbing the corporate agenda. Creating an equitable environment that celebrates diversity and includes everyone is no longer a nice to have – it's a business and social imperative with tangible impact on workplace success.

Internal communicators are in a unique position when it comes to ED&I and we can play a vital role in pushing it forward and embedding it within teams, leadership and the wider business.

For Sim and Yvonne, their ability to work in a symbiotic way comes with a mutual understanding of the importance of ED&I and comms as individual disciplines and complementary functions.

The result? A dynamite employee value proposition (EVP) project that celebrates and includes all of the diverse experiences, backgrounds and orientations at a 70,000-colleague business.

As always, share your thoughts of this or any other episode of The Internal Comms Podcast using the hashtag #TheICPodcast. And thanks for listening.

In this episode of the Internal Comms Podcast, host Katie Macaulay is joined by Access Group’s Global Head of Communications and Engagement, Paul Downey.

Paul caught Katie’s attention on LinkedIn, where he was discussing his unique approach to internal communications for a global, largely remote audience. With over 6,500 colleagues to engage, Paul had to shake things up for the Access Group’s annual global employee event. He shares his secrets to success in this episode.

Katie and Paul also discuss his recipe for internal comms, which involves adopting a no-slides rule and creating content as opposed to the “death by PowerPoint” approach some of us will know all too well. He says content should be delivered Netflix-style: on-demand, snackable and story-led. Inspired, he created Access TV.

This episode is a masterclass in both engaging and including those hard-to-reach employees. It’s about telling stories and empowering leaders to go on a journey and try something different. And it’s about having the tenacity to know you’ll succeed.

As always, share your thoughts of this or any other episode of the Internal Comms Podcast using the hashtag #TheICPodcast. Thanks for listening.

In this episode of the Internal Comms Podcast, host Katie Macaulay is joined by Anne Morriss.

Anne is an entrepreneur, author, public speaker, and the Executive Founder of the Leadership Consortium, an accelerator dedicated to helping leaders thrive. And cutting across it all is Anne’s commitment to fixing things.

On Fixable, a podcast she co-hosts with her wife and business partner Frances Frei (a professor at Harvard Business School), she solves listeners’ workplace problems in just 30 minutes. Her new book, How to Move Fast and Fix Things, remakes a phrase popularised by Mark Zuckerberg and offers a five-step plan for leaders to tackle any workplace issue in just one working week. And her brilliant TED Talk – ‘Five steps to fix any problem at work’ – has 1.4million views and counting.

This is a conversation about how we as communicators, teams and organisations can do more. How we, as Anne puts it, “can operate at the frontier of speed and trust”.

As always, share your thoughts of this or any other episode of the Internal Comms Podcast using the hashtag #TheICPodcast. And thanks for listening.

It’s often said we must understand the past to build the future, and that sentiment sits at the very heart of this episode.

This week on The Internal Comms Podcast we welcome professors Michael Heller and Joe Chick, of Brunel University. Michael and Joe were recently awarded a considerable grant from the UK government to write an institutional history of the internal comms function in the UK – and they join host Katie Macaulay to discuss IC’s humble beginnings and its evolution over time.

Internal communications is nothing new, of course. As you'll hear, it has a rich and vibrant history, dating all the way back to the 1800s.

So why this research? And why now?

Through their work, Michael and Joe hope to give us IC practitioners a clearer sense of our occupational history, and in turn enhance our professional identity. For too long internal communicators have been seen as lesser than other comms professionals, and legitimising our journey to the present day is just one way we can secure our seat at the top table.

Join us on a fascinating journey through the history of the profession, one we think will inspire and energise you to build the new era of IC.

As always, share your thoughts of this or any other episode of The Internal Comms Podcast using the hashtag #TheICPodcast. And thanks for listening.