The Internal Comms Podcast

The season 8 finale features Jennifer Thomas, Head of Communications for the Data & Analytics branch of the London Stock Exchange Group.

Born in London to Guyanese parents, Jennifer was raised in Canada and studied in California. Being a black British girl in the early 80s meant being treated as an outsider, a formative experience which galvanised her to forge her own path. Google Jennifer today and you’ll find the word ‘trailblazer’ – but she’s so much more than that.

In this episode, Jennifer tells Katie how she was never afraid to stand out and create her own path. From her work as a ‘corporate translator’ in one of the world’s economic powerhouses to her championing of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, Jennifer has stuck to her ethos of treating today as a building block for tomorrow, and going after your dreams in your own way.

Thank you for tuning into Season 8 of The Internal Comms Podcast. If you have any thoughts or comments on this episode, share them using the hashtag #TheICPodcast. And make sure you’re following us @abthinks.

We’ll be back in 2023!

Episode 72 of The Internal Comms Podcast sees host Katie Macaulay joined by Adrian Cropley, CEO and founder of Cropley Communication and the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence.

An industry stalwart, Adrian has witnessed the evolution of IC from PR’s ‘ugly cousin’ to a business-critical strategic imperative. He’s clear that today’s practitioners are not simply ‘communicators’, but ‘communication professionals’. And while he’s had to navigate some tough environments over the course of his career to earn that recognition, Adrian is a staunch advocate for emerging comms professionals making it all the way to the top table.

This episode explores the many benefits to IC professionals of defining standards of practice and gaining accreditation within the IC profession, as well as making time to learn from a coach. Katie and Adrian draw on their wealth of experience to offer guidance to those navigating their comms careers, offering actionable advice for development at pace.

If you have any thoughts or comments on this episode, share them using the hashtag #TheICPodcast. And make sure you’re following us @abthinks. If you haven’t yet subscribed, be sure to hit that button today.

This week’s guest on The Internal Comms Podcast is Joanna Parsons, Head of Internal Communications & Culture at Teamwork. Joanna made Irish history as the first ever Head of Internal Comms for An Garda Síochána, Ireland’s National Police Force, and her work communicating with the police through the Covid-19 pandemic has won her four prestigious awards.

A trained sociologist, Joanna knows the best communicators find their unique style and leverage their own brand of communication to connect with key stakeholders. She recognises the need to pause and take stock of how the comms you’re working on can really make a difference and add value.

This episode is a testament to knowing yourself and discovering where your skills can be most impactful. Joanna is clear that once we know who we are as comms professionals we will know which organisations are the right fit, and better create lasting relationships with teams founded on similarity.

Come for Joanna’s deep insight, leave with a far better understanding of who you are as a communicator.

Shelby Scarbrough, author of 'Civility Rules! Creating a Purposeful Practice of Civility', shares her deep insight and experience ‘reaching across the aisle’ on episode 70 of The Internal Comms Podcast.

Throughout an illustrious career at the White House and US State Department, Shelby honed her approach to tackling complex, high-stakes communication. In an increasingly polarised world, she is a champion of communicating civilly across the divide – be it social, cultural or political.

In this thought-provoking episode, Shelby explains how she conducts herself around a core set of values and shares some useful advice for working alongside people of different creeds, races, cultures and experiences.

Indeed, this conversation is a masterclass in what civility really means, why it’s crucial to communications, and how to practise it with purpose.

Episode 69 of The Internal Comms Podcast sees IC heavyweight Mike Klein return to the hot seat. An internal and social communication consultant based out of Reykjavik, Mike is helping solve some of the most complex challenges for organisations around the world.

Formally a political consultant to the US Democratic party, Mike loves all things qualitative. But he fundamentally believes that measuring the impact of internal comms is about looking closely at the things employees do, not the way employees feel.

Here, Katie and Mike get into the weeds of the internal comms evolution and what the traditional employee engagement survey – oft considered an indicator of internal comms performance – has meant for the profession over time.

The pair discuss Mike’s #WeLeadComms leadership survey (AB is a proud sponsor), which aims to get to the heart of some of the biggest challenges faced by comms professionals today. The survey forms part of his wider #WeLeadComms initiative, which spotlights the sector’s disruptors.

In this very special episode of The Internal Comms Podcast, the tables have turned. Katie Macaulay is in the hot seat, and AB’s Senior Content Editor Freddie Reynolds takes over as host, to celebrate The Internal Comms Podcast hitting the 250,000 plays milestone.

Having launched back in January 2019, The Internal Comms Podcast is now in its eighth season and going from strength to strength. This episode marks the 68th(!) insightful conversation. Katie has welcomed IC practitioners, consultants, behavioural scientists and even an ex-hostage negotiator to the mic, getting into the weeds of what good internal communication really looks like.

This episode sees Katie get her opportunity to answer some of those challenging questions usually posed to her guests. Sitting down with Freddie – who was around for the inaugural episode, and recently returned to AB – Katie reveals what the podcast has taught her, why it’s so important to both her audience and her as an internal communicator, and where our industry could be going next. It’s not one to miss!

In this episode of The Internal Comms Podcast, host Katie Macaulay invites qualitative research expert Mari Lee to sit in the hot seat. Mari’s specialism is in ‘development communication’ – using comms tools and techniques to facilitate social change.

Mari founded Devcom – a communications consultancy driven by the influence that it can have on individuals’ lives – in 2005, and has spent her life’s work enacting developmental change, from the boardroom to the borders of countries.

Mari began her career in change communication in South Africa, where she joined the team working on the region’s first national HIV AIDS campaign: Khomanani. Learning from some of the time’s most influential ‘legends’ of the development communication industry, Mari realised the value of understanding human behaviour when trying to mobilise a change programme.

This episode is a masterclass in the power and practice of research. We get invaluable insight into why qualitative research can be transformative for any business, discover how closing the feedback loop can leave your colleagues feeling empowered to inspire change, and get to know the ABC of research: Ask, believe, change.

The Internal Comms Podcast is back for what promises to be an incredible Season 8! In this kick-off episode, host Katie Macaulay welcomes ICology’s Vice President of Community and Engagement, Kristin Hancock, to the hot seat.

Kristin’s official bio, “just a small-town girl, living in a fabulous world”, encapsulates her infectiously positive attitude. She staunchly believes that we are always in the right place at the right time, and has brought this ethos to corporate comms over the past 15 years.

Kristin operates ICology together with her partner in both life and work, Chuck Gose. Built off the back of many IC practitioners reporting feeling isolated at work, ICology began as a podcast and has since been reimagined as a community-building tool for IC practitioners to come together, share advice and make connections.

In this unique and interesting discussion, Katie and Kristin cover everything from the surprising skills that can get IC professionals in the room with the C-suite, to how we can better understand colleagues with the help of a “baggage claim” approach.

Come for Kristin’s charming personality – stay for her profound wisdom.

The countdown is on, and The Internal Comms Podcast will be returning from its summer break with Season 8 imminently. And while its eighth instalment promises wisdom unbound from across the world of communications, we took the opportunity to reflect on some of the highlights of Season 7.

In this special bonus episode of the show, host Katie Macaulay shares her highlights from Season 7’s series of fascinating chats, ranging from the relationship between strategy and comms to reaching the most remote internal audiences. The episode features insightful soundbites from Katie’s guests that capture the essence of The Internal Comms Podcast in just a few seconds.

Season 8 launches on 14 September, with fortnightly episodes taking us up to the end of 2022. We look forward to introducing you to this Season’s guests!

In the final episode of season 7 of The Internal Comms Podcast, host Katie Macaulay speaks with Lily Goodman D’Amato, Delivery Trainer at US-based digital pharmacy Medly.

Lily began her internal comms career at Paris Baguette, a Korean café chain with a mammoth 3,000 locations across the world. But she attributes her unique approach to internal comms to her previous decade-long experience in the hospitality industry, which began spent on the frontline.

Here, Lily and Katie unpack how her knowledge and understanding of the issues that frontline employees face makes it much that much easier to communicate with them authentically and with empathy in her role today. (We also get the scoop on how Lily’s love of theatre led to her powerhouse career in internal comms in the first place.)

In this fascinating discussion, discover how Lily defines world class communication, hear her unique suggestion for communicating more effectively, and find out how humour plays a big role in her day-to-day.