The Internal Comms Podcast

It seems everyone’s talking about resilience, the ability to bounce back from misfortune or adversity. But as Bruce Daisley explains to host Katie Macaulay, there’s something wrong with what he calls the ‘resilience orthodoxy’, the idea that it’s not really what happens to you that matters, but your attitude to what’s happened.

In this, his second appearance on the Internal Comms Podcast (his first was in season 1, episode 8), Bruce tells us why. He discusses the US military’s billion-dollar resilience workshops, the link between high-performance athletes and childhood trauma and the value of collective strength.

Katie and Bruce also discuss meeting-free days, boring presentations, why ‘semi-detached’ hybrid working is more like college than school and the thinking behind freebies at Pret A Manger. Bruce also shares some thoughts on his ex-employer Twitter (‘a pretty miserable place to be right now’) and on moderation of social media platforms in general.

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

With over 130,000 colleagues, and a 100-year history, Unilever is one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies. And this week on the Internal Comms Podcast, we get a peek behind the curtain at how their IC function keeps them all supported and engaged.

Our guest this week is Charlotte Carroll, Unilever’s Global Head of People Communications. Charlotte has vast experience in her IC career, which includes time at ASOS, the BBC and Cadbury’s Schweppes, but has always been drawn back to Unilever (three times, to be exact!). Her ethos of leading with light, and going where the energy is, has shaped her both as a communicator and a person.

Unilever’s enormous, varied workforce means the IC challenge is complex and nuanced. It relies on leadership at many levels, and a radical honesty approach that encourages each and every person to comfortably ask questions without fear. It means ‘showing up’, and truly understanding the impact of every decision on colleagues. It’s no mean feat.

We hope you enjoy this latest episode. If you have any thoughts or comments on this episode, share them using the hashtag #TheICPodcast. For more exclusive IC insights, follow us on Twitter at @abthinks.

“The days we fail are the days our competitors live to regret,” said the late, great Niki Lauda. And that’s what this episode of the Internal Comms Podcast is all about.

This week, host Katie Macaulay welcomed Nicole Bearne, Head of Internal Communications for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team. The F1 team competes at the very pinnacle of motorsport, and with a 1,200-strong workforce behind the scenes, the racing team’s high performance is the product of a whole lot of work.

And they are hugely successful, holding the record for the most consecutive title wins. But this conversation shines a light on how the team responds to failure and how Nicole’s work has embedded psychological safety across the business to ensure nobody is afraid to say when something could be wrong.

This conversation gets to the heart of what it takes to be the best. Failure can be an uncomfortable topic, but when approached and communicated effectively and with candour, it can galvanise a team for more success.

Discover the importance of psychological safety in battling failure, but also how Nicole’s work helps the F1 team dust themselves off and go again – and how your team can do that, too.

We hope you enjoy this latest episode. If you have any thoughts or comments on this episode, share them using the hashtag #TheICPodcast. For more exclusive IC insights, follow us on Twitter at @abthinks.

Ever considered what it takes to become an effective communications consultant? Then this week’s episode of The Internal Comms Podcast is for you. Host Katie Macaulay welcomes Simon Monger to the hot seat to discuss internal comms, change, engagement, authenticity and the power of being just that little bit disruptive.

Simon has a breadth of experience in internal comms, with stints at E.ON, Transport for London, Deloitte and IKEA on his CV. Today, he’s an impactful change and engagement consultant and it’s thanks to his varied background that he’s so comfortable slipping into organisations – and shaking things up.

Their conversation shines a light on what it means to be a change consultant in the comms world. Katie and Simon explore their favourite change models, Simon’s unique approach to influencing leaders and they share stories about the power of being yourself. It’s a real tonic for the soul.

We hope you enjoy this latest episode. If you have any thoughts or comments on this episode, share them using the hashtag #TheICPodcast. For more exclusive IC insights, follow us on Twitter at @abthinks.

This week on The Internal Comms Podcast, host Katie Macaulay welcomes Audacity’s Jason Anthoine. Jason has spent three decades working in internal communication, employee experience and culture change, and has a refreshing take on the profession.

Jason says on his company website: “I do one thing: I help companies inform, involve and inspire their employees.” It’s what every internal comms practitioner is seeking to do successfully, and Jason certainly has the creds to back it up.

This conversation gets to the heart of what it really takes to be an effective communicator. “I’m not in the comms business, I’m in the courage business”, says Jason, and courage is central to the chat. Katie and Jason discuss the power of bravery and being bold in driving your internal communications career forward.

Come for the huge amount of expertise, stay for the warmth, the jokes and the anecdotes that will really get you thinking.

We hope you enjoy this latest episode. If you have any thoughts or comments on this episode, share them using the hashtag #TheICPodcast. For more exclusive IC insights, follow us on Twitter at @abthinks.

This week on The Internal Comms Podcast, host Katie Macaulay welcomes culture-chameleon Shane Hatton. Shane is many things – author, international speaker, trainer, leadership coach, podcast host… but he best describes his journey as “a long collision of marketing, leadership and psychology.”

Shane is the author of Lead the Room and Let’s Talk Culture, two fascinating books that get to the crux of how leaders can step up and lead ‘“in the conference room, the meeting room and the lunchroom,’” and the importance of this in building company culture.

Lead the Room originally began as three leadership programmes blended into one; there’s a thread that runs through this conversation of how many things come together to create magic. It’s jam-packed full of anecdotes that will make you rethink what culture really is and how (or if) it’s created and cultivated.

From one team culture built on the back of a story about failure at Olympic try-outs, to a story that begins “Hey Katie, would you mind just jumping in the car with me?” Shane’s unique way of approaching culture through storytelling is a real tonic. It’s not one to miss.

We hope you enjoy this latest episode. If you have any thoughts or comments on this episode, share them using the hashtag #TheICPodcast. For more exclusive IC insights, follow us on Twitter at @abthinks.

This week on The Internal Comms Podcast, host Katie Macaulay welcomes Nicholas Wardle. Nicholas is Head of Employee Experience at Brand Experiences, and co-author of ‘Monetising the Employee Experience’. So, it’ll come as no surprise that this conversation offers some deep insight into the many ways motivated colleagues can drive productivity and ultimately ROI.

Many have said (and we agree) that employees are an organisation’s greatest asset. They are one of the only assets that appreciate over time. But if that’s true, why is the employee experience so undervalued?

Katie and Nicholas get into the ways your organisation can uncover its colleagues’ ‘intrinsic motivators’, and what helps them bring their best, most productive self to work. They cover how each stage in the employee lifecycle contains ‘moments that matter’ and suggest how to leverage these for colleague engagement.

Ultimately, this conversation is about the human nature of business, and why employee engagement is best served by the people, for the people.

We hope you enjoy this latest episode. If you have any thoughts or comments on this episode, share them using the hashtag #TheICPodcast. For more exclusive IC insights, follow us on Twitter at @abthinks.

This week on The Internal Comms Podcast, host Katie Macaulay welcomes Sam Bleazard. Sam’s role as Employer Brand Content Producer takes him behind the scenes of ‘the world’s most famous corner shop’, Fortnum and Mason and, in the second episode of season nine, join Katie as she gets an exclusive behind-the-scenes peak at life at the King’s grocer.

Fortnum and Mason is an iconic British institution. It holds two Royal Warrants, meaning it provides groceries and tea to King Charles and, as Sam explains in the show, the company has a long, impressive history that’s intrinsically linked to the story of Britain.

But Sam’s made it his mission to find and tell the untold stories of Fortnum’s.

As a passionate storyteller, he believes in the power of authentic, human-centric stories to empower colleagues and get them to believe in themselves. These stories are also great adverts for attracting talent to the team and lift the curtain on the imposing façade of 181 Piccadilly.

And talking of royalty: if you’re a Prince fan, this episode has a treat for you.

We hope you enjoy this latest episode. If you have any thoughts or comments on this episode, share them using the hashtag #TheICPodcast. For more exclusive IC insights follow us on Twitter at @abthinks.

The Internal Comms Podcast is back for Season 9!

To kick off this season, we welcomed BizJuicer’s Andy Goram to the hot seat. Andy’s passion for building businesses ‘from the inside-out’ aligns rather nicely with our own ethos at AB, and makes him the perfect guest to help inspire and inform our listeners.

Andy’s formative working experiences were in hospitality, learning the power of relationship building for success in front-line service roles. He calls this “lifting the curtain on ‘have a nice day!’”, as behind the pleasantries was a real desire to connect with the customer in a genuine and authentic way. This thinking has followed him throughout his brilliant career, and guided him through the transformation of one of the UK’s biggest bingo businesses – where customers and colleagues are like family – Gala Bingo.

In this episode, Katie and Andy explore the power of being human and leading with care in the corporate world, but also the impact of constructive guidance on creating culture that goes the distance. Andy brings reams of experience to the mic, including some hilarious anecdotes from when he was finding his way in the working world, and when his ego needed checking.

We hope you enjoy this latest episode, and if you have any thoughts or comments on this episode, share them using the hashtag #TheICPodcast. And for more content like this, make sure you’re following us on Twitter at @abthinks.

With Season 9 of The Internal Comms Podcast right around the corner, host Katie Macaulay has taken the opportunity to reflect on the wisdom and insight shared over our latest season and complied some highlights we know you, the audience, will enjoy.

This bonus episode spotlights some of the standout moments from Season 8. From a surprise trip to the stars with ICology’s Kristin Hancock to actionable advice on how leaders can become better communicators with Adrian Cropley, this is a whistlestop tour of some of the most fascinating conversations of 2022.

With each season of The Internal Comms Podcast, one thing becomes increasingly clear: internal comms is rising up the corporate agenda. Leaders can no longer ignore the power of building an organisation from the inside out.