ISSUE 5

JANUARY 2018
WHERE IC
PROFESSIONALS
COME TO TALK

THE GLOBAL CHANGING

CULTURE CLUB THE CHANNEL?
Why is it important to Top tips to consider before
understand the behaviours messing with your comms mix
of your overseas colleagues?

IT TA KES ALLS RTS

Targeted and personalised content is critical
to engaging a diverse, modern workforce

One of four different covers. Which Allsort are you? Tell us at #IoICAllsorts

DISABILITIES // OXFAM // EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE // PERSONALITY TESTS // BULLYING

 WHO’S IN YOUR
DREAM TEAM?

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technical advice and strategic communication insight that will
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DATE
 WELCOME

FIRST WORD
THE PRODUCTION TEAM
RESOLVE TO GET INVOLVED [And their personality type – see page 19]

Chief executive Jennifer Sproul [Consul]

2017 WAS AN incredible year for
IoIC. And it raced by – seriously,
where does the time go? Over
12 months, we saw fantastic
growth in membership –
we’ve welcomed over 425 new
members and are thrilled that
so many existing members have
chosen to stay with us.
We are offering you opportunities to get
involved with our publications; from
editing our monthly digital newsletter,
Voice Mail, to helping to shape Voice. Make
it a 2018 resolution to work with us. If you’re
interested, get in touch at voice@ioic.org.uk.
We also want to hear what you think will
be the big challenges for IC in 2018. What
learnings have you taken from 2017 that you
would like to share? Whatever you want to
say and however you want to become more
involved with IoIC, we want to hear from
you. Drop us an email to get started.
In this issue of Voice, we focus on how we
can increase personalisation in
our comms to engage with
various audiences (we’ve
pic ‘n’ mixed your covers in line
with this feature – don’t forget
to use #IoICAllsorts to share
yours on social media). And as
the business environment changes
and becomes increasingly global, we
explore how we can better understand
those cross-cultural differences in our
working practices.
We see the return of IoIC experiments,
as one team looks at how their personality
types impact their ways of working with
each other. And Sally Otter from Oxfam
shares some wonderful insights into
internal comms within the charity sector.
We hope you find this issue to be full of
practical tools and tips to help with your IC
challenges, whatever they may be.
I look forward to working with you all in
2018 – don’t forget to get in touch.
Editor-in-chief Andy Williamson
[Galactic Ambassador]
Written, designed and produced for IoIC by
Artful Dog Publishing
artfuldogpublishing.com
020 3735 5630
Editor Rob Jones [Consul]
Writers Rob Jones, Laura Kenworthy
[Campaigner], Robert Langkjaer-Bain
[My test result was Advocate, though
I would have gone with Mediator], Matt Ward
[Protagonist], Elise Wildman [Consul]
Creative director Ross Behenna [Consul]
Designers Ross Behenna, Richard
Corrigan [I’d have said Adventurer, but my
result was Mediator]
Production manager Karen Goose
[Adventurer, with a sprinkling of Defender]
If you have any questions about the magazine
or comments on content, or if you are
interested in contributing to a future issue,
email voice@ioic.org.uk.
Voice is a members-only publication. If you
would like to become a member to continue
receiving the magazine and to have access to
this and other content online, or if you would

AND OUR SURVEY SAYS like to advertise in the magazine, get in touch.

36
IoIC, Suite 10, Gemini House, Sunrise Parkway,

%
Intranet Employee Linford Wood, Milton Keynes MK14 6PW
WE ASKED:
Internal communicators: 36% app
01908 232168

what channel will you

12% enquiries@ioic.org.uk
ioic.org.uk
most be looking to @ioicnews
Enterprise Face to face/
improve/develop in your Percentage of internal social events Printed by Warners on FSC®-certified paper
organisation in 2018? communicators who are
prioritising the intranet for
network
29% derived from responsible sources.
development in 2018. 23% Poll by IoIC Opinions expressed in Voice do not necessarily
represent the views of IoIC.
How are you changing up your comms mix in 2018? Before you make any drastic alterations, turn
to page 20 to read our tips on how to get your channels working effectively for your colleagues.

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OF IOIC

VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK JANUARY 2018 3

 IoIC
Best
Agency
2016

With award winning

internal communications,
CIPD
Best HR
Consultancy
employer brand and 2016

employee engagement. CIPR

#InsideStory
Innovation
in Internal
Workshops and Creative Communications
Focus Groups Campaigns

Planning Employee BOC IC

and Strategy Journey Mapping Brilliance
Best
campaign
EVP (Employer Communications
Value Proposition)

synergycreative.co.uk
 CONTENTS

CONTENTS

IN THIS ISSUE
26 12 20

30
F E AT U R E S
In general, REGULARS

12 many employers 6 News

Beating the workplace bullies; women to watch
IN YOUR OWN SWEET WAY are still a long
As consumers, we are used to messages being 8 Perspective
tailored to our preferences and needs. It’s time for way from being The need for emotional intelligence in IC
IC to get up close with personalisation techniques. exemplary in 10 Inside story
20 supporting Nissan Insider app

TRAVELLING THROUGH those with visual 19 IoIC experiments

THE PROPER CHANNELS and hearing Personality tests
What do you need to think about to ensure you
have the right channel mix for your organisation?
impairments. 26 Interview
JO CLAY, EQUAL APPROACH Sally Otter, Oxfam GB

30 38 36 IC stories
IT’S A SMALL WORLD Ludicrous communication requests
As businesses expand, employees are asked to
work with team members overseas – but different
43 For/against
Is it acceptable to wear headphones in the office?
cultures and behaviours are often a stumbling block.
44 Your IoIC
38 The launch of FutureNet; IoIC Live 2018
EVERYONE’S INVITED 46 Your voice
Employees with a disability can carry out most
Inbox, book review, internal film, UX

36
jobs as well as anyone else, but often the tools
are not in place to make sure they can receive the 50 Voice over
same information as their colleagues. Lesley Allman, Allman Communications

Visit voice.ioic.org.uk to read extended content from Voice magazine and extra, online-only articles

VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK JANUARY 2018 5

NEWS WHAT’S BEEN SAID AND DONE
OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS

EQUALITY

STANDING UP
TO WORKPLACE
BULLYING
A
wareness of workplace
harassment is undergoing a long
overdue domino effect. Each
week, a new industry comes under
the spotlight as victims, emboldened by
witnessing others come forward, reveal
their sector has a less-than-perfect record.
A survey by Radio 5 Live in October 2017
revealed that 53 per cent of women and
20 per cent of men had experienced sexual

harassment in the workplace, with one in
ten women being so demoralised by the
experience that they had left their jobs as a
result. However, reporting of such incidents
is worryingly low. The clear majority –
63 per cent of female victims and 79 per
cent of male – had not made any formal
complaint about what happened to them.
Employer responsibility
While sexual harassment is dominating
the headlines, unpleasant behaviour does
not have to be sexual in tone to make for
a toxic environment. Anti-Bullying Week
in November 2017 highlighted employers’
responsibility to protect staff.
Corinna Ferguson, a barrister at
Old Square Chambers specialising in
employment law, explains: “Bullying is not
unlawful in itself, but if it is related to what
the law terms a ‘protected characteristic’,
then it’s likely to be harassment under the
Equality Act.
“Employers are responsible for the
conduct of their employees, so unless they
can show that they have measures in place
to prevent harassment happening – for
Unless employers
can show they have
measures in place
to prevent harassment, they
would be held accountable.
CORINNA FERGUSON, OLD SQUARE CHAMBERS
example, all staff have undergone diversity
training, or they have previously disciplined
the staff member concerned – they would be
held accountable.”
Bullying related to age, sex, disability,
gender, marital status, pregnancy and
maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual
orientation, is deemed to be harassment, and
is against the law. Internal communication
teams have a role to play in ensuring that
staff know that bullying will not be tolerated,
and that concerns will be taken seriously.
Courses of action
In most cases, employees’ first port of call
should be to talk to their manager or HR. If
nothing changes, they should make a formal
complaint through the internal grievance
procedure. The ultimate recourse is to
contact ACAS (the Advisory, Conciliation
and Arbitration Service) for advice, or to take
legal action through an employment tribunal.
“In every contract of employment, there
is an implied duty of trust and confidence
between employers and their employees,
which bullying could breach,” says Corinna.
“The law also provides good protection for
whistleblowers. Sometimes people find
that their only option is to resign and sue for
unfair dismissal.”
JJPAN/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
Top tips: stamping out harassment
Felix Drew, people manager
at Fortnum & Mason,
outlines how employers
can reduce the risk of
bullying in the workplace.
• The best managers know their team as
people first and employees second. They
focus on people development, and don’t
micromanage. If a business invests in
developing this sort of manager, it’s far
more likely that incidents of bullying will be
nipped in the bud.
• Employees can be unaware of the range
of behaviours that can constitute bullying
or harassment. Running workshops
encouraging employees to talk these
things through is a great first step in
providing this understanding. It’s also a
good forum to get people to reflect on their
own roles, or the dynamic within a team.
• Reporting is important. Larger businesses
can support confidential reporting routes
that go directly to objective senior leaders.
Smaller businesses may need to rely on
employee assistance programmes, such as
Hospitality Action, for advice.

6 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION IOIC.ORG.UK


CAREERS
PUTTING WOMEN ON BOARDS’ RADARS
T
he broad pool of
female business
talent across
the UK has been
highlighted in Cranfield
School of Management’s
eighth edition of its 100
Women to Watch.
Published in November,
the list showcases the wide
range of female expertise
available at senior level
and identifies women who
may not be known to many
boards’ appointments
committees.
“There is still a tendency to
fill roles by searching in the
usual places and networks,”
says Dr Patricia Pryce,
visiting fellow of Cranfield,
who co-produced the report
with Brook Graham director
Jacey Graham.
The list includes women
who hold senior executive
roles in FTSE 350 firms and
other significant organisations.
They come from across all
business disciplines and
functions. Representatives
GO FIGURE:
34%
Percentage of office workers
who said gossiping about
co-workers and management
was the lead reason for
workplace disruption.
Source: Brother UK
VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK
from communications and
stakeholder engagement
include Clare Hunt, group
director of strategy and
communications at Compass
Group; Sarah Morris, chief
people officer for Aviva; and
Sarah Hanratty, deputy CEO
and director of corporate
affairs for the Portman Group.
Patricia believes the list
is becoming increasingly
important. “Competition for
talent continues to be strong
across business, commerce
and other major institutions,”
she says. “If employers
are to meet their business
The numbers in the news about communication,
business and leadership.
84%
Percentage of
people who said
it was easier to
hire skilled staff
if agile working
was offered.
Source:
BPS World poll
GOT SOMETHING TO TELL US?
Have you got news, research or opinions to share with us?
Email us at voice@ioic.org.uk
ICYMI
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM: PEOPLEIMAGES, POCHOLOCALAPRE
A round-up of recent news
EU nationals can settle in UK
New government guidance suggests
that employees from the EU should be
able to remain in the UK post-Brexit
without needing to become citizens.
EU nationals who have been living
in the UK legally and continuously
goals, they need to broaden for five years can apply for “settled
their mindset about the status” via a low-cost digital process,
wide range of highly skilled, according to a proposal submitted
experienced and ambitious to the European Commission in
people available from all November. Those resident for
diverse backgrounds. less than five years can apply for
“Beyond all the usual continued residence on a temporary
work hard and being good at basis. See gov.uk (search: citizens
what you do – which applies rights administrative procedures).
to anyone – women need a
good sponsor and to be on Stress levels high in welfare sector
the radar of the decision- Public service employees are more
makers within their sector.” likely to be affected by work-related
stress than other workers. New
research by the Health and Safety
i MORE INFORMATION
Download the 100 Women to
Executive suggests the welfare
Watch report from the News sector sees the most instances of
section of cranfield.ac.uk work-related stress, depression or
anxiety in the UK, follow by nursing
and teaching. The main causes are
workload pressures and a lack of
managerial support.
Outsourced team seeks better rights
A group of outsourced workers
supplied to the University of London
by a facilities company are going
to a tribunal because they are not
217 entitled to the same benefits as direct
employees; the university believes
it should not be classed as a “joint
employer”. The case could have a
significant impact on the terms and
Number of years the World Economic conditions for the UK’s 3.3 million
Forum estimates it will take to balance outsourced workers.
pay and employment opportunities for
men and women – longer than the
170 years calculated a year ago.
JANUARY 2018 7
P E R S P E C T I V E Communication psychology
USE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE TO
LIGHT UP COLLEAGUES’ BRAINS
Internal communicators must focus
on the emotions they are trying to
evoke in their audience, says Nicole
Utzinger, managing director of EMEA
I
Communications Consulting.
REMEMBER when internal communication
was the poor spotty kid in the family of
communicators. The good news: things have
changed. Most organisations now understand
the value and importance of internal comms and
employee engagement. The bad news: the pressure is on,
expectations are high, and often with less budget and
resources than external communications has available.
It surprises me how much focus remains on content
and channels. That’s still key, but it’s a traditional way of
looking at how we engage employees.
Internal communicators need to step back and look
at the psychological influences needed to help their
audience group understand the meaning of their
content. To help you understand the trigger points in
other people, start by thinking about what heightens
your own emotions. What pushes your buttons? What
are the triggers and aspects of language that make you
react in a positive or negative manner?
Take storytelling as an example. If I communicate
with the finance department or my CEO, I probably tone
down the storytelling because their brains are more
likely to focus on logical content. If I talk with, say, HR or
sales, I can turn up the storytelling.
You have to find the right balance for the needs of the
function. Talk to people from different business units
and ask them questions about your messages to find
out what makes them react positively. Meet them face
to face; it’s hard to tell if someone’s eyes have lit up from
emailed feedback or a survey response. Or test out two
versions of a digital campaign with a targeted audience
– send a story-based email to half the audience and a
Understanding what heightens
employees’ emotions is important, because
40 per cent of our brain is dedicated to
interpreting visual information, which is
linked to storytelling.
NICOLE UTZINGER
8 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
PERSPECTIVE
statistic-led version to the other half and see which gets
the better response or most click-throughs. Then you’ll
know what appeals to that audience’s emotions.
People have different goals and, therefore, different
filters. Tailor your language to help different people get
the meaning and stay connected.
Of course, this research takes time in a hectic day, but
I believe it will lift your internal comms up a notch.
One thing that helps me is meta programmes; these
are part of the neuro-linguistic programming approach
QUICK TIPS to communication that connects neurological processes,
1
Analyse language and behaviours with experiences. Meta
psychological programmes are our subconscious filters that act as
triggers and responses short cuts to process information. I would recommend
on a small scale. you look up more about meta programmes online, as
Start by looking understanding these can help you deliver content that
at what triggers motivates people to listen and take action.
emotions in you. I have used meta programmes, cultural comms
techniques, emotional intelligence and storytelling to
2
Consider the help me and teams I have worked with to understand
impact of each other better and why people act in a certain way.
storytelling on your Understanding what heightens employees’ emotions
audience segments. is important, because 40 per cent of our brain is
When do you dial it dedicated to interpreting visual information, which is
up or down? linked to storytelling. In scans, you can see the brain
light up when stimulated by images. In a similar way,
3
Be visual in you can see it in people’s eyes when they are asked
delivering to recall a memory. A story triggers our inner cinema.
information. Imagery That’s why we cry or laugh at a film, even though the
is key to activating plot is not happening to us. We are experiencing things
the whole brain. in a second-hand way, and your brain believes you are
there. Include emotional hooks in your messages –
turn your comms into short stories that involve people.
Be more curious. Be your own guinea pig. Think
about how messaging works for you. Why do you get
frustrated in certain situations and not in others? Why
do people react in a certain way when you send out
signals? Then share your thoughts with your team. Try
different emotional techniques in meetings, so you have
evidence and examples of how it works before you go
seeking investment.
If internal communicators can aim to access the
whole brain, their entire audience will be able to
understand the information.
Nicole Utzinger is an IC and learning and development expert
working with clients in the UK, Europe and the Middle East.
Her passion: helping international organisations, senior
leaders and teams develop and apply an authentic leadership
and communication style as well as the skills for managing
complexity, group dynamics and ‘challenging’ conversations.
VOICE.IOIC.ORG.UK
 INSIDE INSIGHT 2018

INTERNAL
COMMUNICATIONS
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I N S I D E S T O R Y Nissan
NEW APP HELPS RESET
FACTORY COMMUNICATION
Nissan’s employee app is uniting
hard-to-engage frontline workers
and corporate users through
W
compelling stories.
HEN YOUR workforce is
geographically scattered, and up to
three quarters of your employees
don’t have corporate email
addresses, cohesive communication
can be tricky to achieve.
At Nissan, whose production in Europe is split
between the UK, Spain and Russia, 75 per cent of staff are
what the Japanese company terms “monozukuri” – or
production and factory workers. Not being desk-based,
their information is delivered in morning briefings from
managers, and there are few opportunities to engage
with them en masse. With the appointment of vice
president of communications Stuart Jackson, whose
background was in mobile phones, Nissan reappraised
how best to reach frontline staff.
“When I wake up, the first thing I do is look at my
phone,” says Kelly Phillips, internal comms manager.
“I check social media, my email, the BBC, the Guardian
app… My phone is my main source of news. By
understanding the role that mobiles play in people’s lives,
we realised that we could reach an audience who are
notoriously hard for us to communicate with.”
Working with software provider Beem, Nissan created
Nissan Insider. Initially intended to deliver product
and campaign news and corporate updates in a more
meaningful way, the app has proved so popular that
it is now used for everything from competitions to
lighthearted videos, with local content produced by local
comms teams.
“There’s a real appetite for more diverse content,”
says Kelly. “We’ve been surprised by how engaged
people are, how long they spend on it, and how much
they comment. There’s a clear desire to participate in
conversations.”
Following a small-scale pilot at Nissan’s Sunderland
factory, the app underwent a phased roll-out across the
It’s enabling us to reach more people
in a more exciting way, and bring more
voices into our communications.
KELLY PHILLIPS, NISSAN
10 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
INSIDE STORY
The majority of Nissan
Insider’s audience have
downloaded the app
onto their personal
phones
10,000
Number of employees
who registered for
Nissan Insider in the first
year – approximately
60% of the audience.
There have been over
450,000 article reads,
350,000+ sessions,
20,000 likes and more
than 5,000 comments.
production and marketing sites, allowing for feedback to
be responded to. A year later, it now has 10,000 users, and
seems to have encountered impressively few hurdles.
“We pre-empted a lot of the challenges,” Kelly explains.
“We engaged the legal, digital and security teams and did
lots of due diligence with senior management, and we’re
constantly evaluating how things are going and updating
the development plan.”
One complication that did require a little lateral
thinking was how to authenticate users. Whereas logging
into social media channels, for example, simply requires
an email address, the majority of users have no obvious
way of proving that they work for Nissan. “There was a
slightly awkward line to tread between satisfying the
security concerns and making it easy for users to access,
but the IT team has done a brilliant job,” says Kelly.
The app has democratised Nissan’s internal
communications, broadening their reach and tone.
Live-streamed meetings, which used to be limited by
the number of people who could fit in a room and see a
screen, are now seen by everyone. A novel take on James
Corden’s Carpool Karaoke featuring the chief executives,
which would struggle to find a place in another medium,
allowed staff to see senior management in a new
light. And, when five competition winners from across
the business attended the Tokyo Motor Show, they
documented their experience through photos, videos
and blog posts.
“It’s enabling us to reach more people in a more
exciting way, and bring more voices into our
communications,” Kelly enthuses.
IOIC.ORG.UK
 BEST
AGENCY
AT THE IOIC
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AWARDS 20TIONAL
17

CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF IC excellence

Contact Corin or Eddie at:

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Employee Engagement

IN Y UR W N
S WE ET WAY
External marketing has spoiled us by personalising content,
taking in our every preference and desire. And now, employees
expect internal messages to be targeted to their specific taste.
W
hen a social media site
recommends you connect with
someone you emailed once a
year ago, or you see a banner ad
for a product you were searching
for the day before, it’s no chance
act of marketing. Carefully
refined algorithms are informing
your online experience by
feeding you information that’s
relevant to your life and behaviour.
Sure, some people find this technological
intelligence, when at its most conspicuous, a little
intrusive or creepy; you might not want to be reminded
about certain old acquaintances. Elsewhere, we often
aren’t even aware this personalisation is happening.
Marketing teams have been putting in the hard yards
to subtly target customers, from online shopping to
banking. Our personal lives are being made easier. And
it’s putting pressure on internal communicators to
deliver the same kind of experience at work.
More than ever, internal messages are fighting
for attention and employees feel their time is being
stretched throughout the day. Targeting information
to internal audiences can help organisations be
more efficient and productive. Even though tools like
Workplace by Facebook are evolving quickly to give
employees pertinent content in a way that echoes the
outside world, IC has a lot of catching up to do.
Digital strategy consultant Sharon O’Dea says
internal comms is competing with external media:
“We’ve become used to things being algorithmically
driven, and Googling something and getting back
exactly what we were looking for. If that doesn’t
happen when we get to work, and we see the same
thing as everyone else, it increases dissatisfaction.
The workplace needs to be driven by the media we use
outside of work, or internal comms will fall further
behind people’s level of expectation.”
EMAIL US AT VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK
VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK
F E A T U R E Personalisation
WORDS: ROB JONES
People have small windows in their working day, so
whatever content is pushed in their direction needs
to quickly hit the mark. Sukh Ryatt, managing director
of Oak Intranet, says it’s naïve to think employees
will happily wade through channels and systems to
find what they need. “You might have the odd single
piece of content to distribute to your entire audience,
and employees can decide if they read it, but lots
of broader content can be overwhelming. You lose
engagement – and that impacts the bottom line.”
Personalisation, where you deliver content specific
to an individual based on their searches and interests,
and targeting, which is more about segmenting an
audience, can be as complicated or as in-depth as you
choose to make it.
If you’re going to do it properly, first get to know
your audience. One of the most common ways is to
create employee personas. These are user IDs that
represent groups within your organisation, based
on factors such as their goals, characteristics and
how they like to take in information. You might find
yourself with highly engaged and knowledgeable
advocates, specialists with little interest in the bigger
corporate picture, time-poor mobile workers without
desktop access, and so on.
You might
have the odd What makes your employees tick?
single piece “Personas are based on real-life knowledge of actual
of content to users in your business and the commonalities
they share,” says Huw Morgan, director of internal
distribute to communications at content agency Good Relations.
your entire “To create personas, you need qualitative insight,
audience... but ideally gathered through focus groups, to help you
lots of broader understand: do your employees get it? Do they believe
your brand, strategy and purpose? And what makes
content can be them tick? If you can understand these, you have a
overwhelming. good chance of getting the messages to resonate.”
SUKH RYATT, One-size-fits-all communications fall short because
OAK INTRANET we are all different, Huw adds. “Lots of people find
INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL
JANUARY 2018 13 13
COMMUNICATION
F E A T U R E Personalisation

visual comms extremely engaging. Quarterly financial
results would more likely stick in my brain as an
infographic than reams of written information. But
there are people – perhaps reflecting a financial or
technical audience – who would be more comfortable
with detailed information.
“It’s also important that, when creating personas,
you reflect shared behaviours and traits, rather than
carving up your workforce by job role or division.
Employees of different ages and backgrounds, with
different channel preferences and career drivers, will
be spread throughout all functions and geographies.”
However, don’t be too granular. If John, 52, from
your Woolwich retail store is persona A based on
his age and reading habits and Simona, 27, his
colleague from the same branch, is persona B, you
can’t provide one with an app log-in and hand the
other a print magazine.
So, what’s the solution? Consider your research
findings broadly. What are the general desires of
someone who works in a retail store? Can you target
the majority with a specific channel or strategy and
engage minority personas in other ways? Continuous
reviews of your audience will tell you if the minority
personas are catching up with the preferences of
their colleagues and, therefore, whether those other
methods of communicating can be filtered out. If you
streamline your channel mix so that your options
cater for all four or five personas, and can be easily
accessed by all, employees can choose what works
best for them.
Measurement and analytics, especially through
solutions such as Poppulo and MailChimp, will
give you data on the impact of your stories – who’s
opening them? How many people have acted on a
call to action? – and, therefore, whether your audience
segments are working. From here, you can refine
your approach.
Improving productivity
Personalisation and targeting involves more than just
redrafting news stories or ordering them in a certain
way on employees’ timelines. Increasingly, businesses
are creating time-saving spaces where employees can
instantly see not just appropriate news, but also the
tools they need to do their jobs.
Oak was an early pioneer of intranet software in
the mid-’90s. As employees’ expectations for a one-
stop shop has grown, Oak’s solution has evolved to
You can’t allow organisations to tailor homepages to present
personalise personalised views of news, emails, tasks, alerts and
more to individuals.
unless you Time is an ever-decreasing commodity for
have a rich communicators, as well as employees, says Oak’s Sukh
level of data Ryatt. “Comms teams want to have few other people
involved and to not have to ask an IT team to do things
– and most
for them. With our solution, a division or line manager
organisations can restructure homepages and drag information on
will fall down to them for their teams to see. It’s instantaneous.”
there. With time efficiency in mind, in 2013, Care UK
developed an intranet that would bring people
SHARON O’DEA
together, but also become a critical resource
for workers. The health and social care services
organisation was in a state of transition, with
businesses being integrated and many legacy
comms systems still in use, including a poorly
maintained intranet.
“We were making do,” says Toni Noble, who at
the time was head of internal communications and
employee engagement for the healthcare side of the
business. “We had different work streams – we had
8,000 employees across 200 national sites providing
a range of services, from secondary care services to
healthcare in prisons. Personalisation was important.
If content isn’t of interest to employees, you lose them.
They don’t buy into the business.”
One of Toni’s main aims was to present one
consistent message about what the new healthcare
organisation stood for. But while there were
overarching messages, the comms team knew these
would have greater impact if they were tweaked to
align with what was going on in specific areas and the
needs of employees who worked there.
It was a hefty piece of work that not every
organisation will have the manpower, budget or
agreement from the top to take on. Toni’s advice is

SIX VARIETIES
OF EMPLOYEE The highly engaged one
Developing employee personas is key to Passionate about the organisation,
knowledgeable of its products and
targeting your internal communications, services, and a loyal advocate, sharing
company news with friends and family.
but who are the type of people you Eager to read as many internal comms
might need to target? channels as possible.
The ethically motivated one
Driven by a higher purpose beyond
just money or career advancement.
Needs to feel their organisation is
doing something worthwhile, and to
see the impact their work has in the
real world.

14 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION IOIC.ORG.UK

to excite senior leaders as soon as possible.
“Consult with them at an early stage, give
them the benefits of targeting content and
persuade leaders how it will make their lives
easier. Understand who the influencers are
in your business. Who can support the new
approach and drive it forward and who
might have a different perspective?”
On the new intranet, the Care UK team
tagged local stories with the service
area or location, and personalised
homepages by business area and
location, which employees entered
when registering to use the site.
Stories were lightly redrafted or
extended for people with some connection
to the news.
Susan Quain worked with Toni, leading the project Internal comms teams need to be careful not to

from a group perspective. “We would add extra quotes
from the care home manager to the version of the
article that people in that region could see, or we
would say a little more about what Care UK was doing
in that area, but we’d keep that information out of the
top-level corporate version,” Susan explains. “Little
changes like that can add value. Divisions started
getting quite competitive and encouraged more
stories from their area.”
It wasn’t only news stories that were tailored. The
homepage dashboard included an app-store-style
listing of tools based on where individuals were
located and the type of work they did. Care UK also
updated hundreds of job-critical policies, and ensured
employees could quickly access the ones they needed.
Every time a user logged on, they’d see news from
their area, tools they use and the documents they
needed to carry out their work.
“We wanted the channel to be a business tool,” says
Susan. “And for people to go there to complete a task,
and once there perhaps read an article. We wanted to
improve productivity. We looked at how long it took
people to download a policy on the previous system
and we wanted them to be able to do it quickly and
on the move.”
39%
take personalisation too far. They need to keep control
of their intranets, warns Sukh: “It’s not a good idea
to allow users to personalise every single aspect of
their homepage, with their own links, for example.
Percentage of
retailers who think You might have email and an ESN on it, but it’s not
personalisation is a social tool, it’s a business resource. It’s vital to get
either not relevant feedback from users, but ask them how they want
or not particularly to use it, and how it can help them in their daily
important to their
business. Only 14% say
worklife, rather than what they want, as the two
it is essential to their may be very different.”
customer strategies.
Source: Retail Week, 2017 The trouble with employee data
A major challenge in segmenting effectively in any
organisation is relying on employee data being kept
up to date by HR.
“You can’t personalise unless you have a rich level of
data – and most organisations will fall down there,” says
Sharon O’Dea. “The information might be in HR systems,
but not built into the databases that marketing or
comms can use to target content on the intranet.”
Care UK discovered this quickly. To ensure content
was relevant and that internal information wasn’t
passing outside the company, the team needed to
know if registered users were still in the organisation
or had moved to a different area of the business.

The cynical one
Grumbles about everything to
anyone who’ll listen, but won’t (or
can’t) leave. Occasionally offers
some constructive criticism, but
needs to be handled carefully, or
they’ll drag others down with them.
The dedicated one
Lives to work, rather
than the other way round.
Needs clear goals,
enjoys competition and
appreciates performance-
related rewards.
The aspiring leader
Ambitious, with one eye
on the boss’s office. Wants
responsibility, power and
a grandiose job title. Likes
to be stretched, and will
appreciate training.
The remote worker
Used to flying solo – out in the
field, with little contact with office
colleagues or access to IC channels.
Lacks understanding of his or her
place in the business; loyal to the
role rather than the company.

VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK JANUARY 2018 15

F E A T U R E Personalisation
“We couldn’t get accurate information from HR,”
says Susan. “A lot of people in the field didn’t have
company email addresses and used their personal
accounts to register, so we wouldn’t have known if
they had left if their manager didn’t notify HR.”
The onus was put on employees to update their
settings. If someone didn’t log in for 90 days, they’d be
sent a reminder. If there was still no response, they’d
be blocked.
While there were teething struggles and ongoing
issues – parts of the site weren’t maintained, as
some business areas had no one owning the content
– the effort was worth it. The userbase increased
considerably in a short space of time, which prompted
a rise in division-specific content.
“As the intranet grew in credibility, people started
generating more content about their area and were
interested in being part of the story,” says Toni. “Sites
were keen to show their successes.”
Susan adds: “People felt information was geared to
them, and they were being taken more seriously as a
member of staff because we cared where they worked.”
Enable managers to shape messages
While technology might seem the obvious route
to funnelling content, there is scope to refine and
personalise messages in other ways. Leaders and
line managers have a more intimate awareness of
what is going on in their team members’ lives. They
can have a major impact in how content resonates
by delivering it in a human, empathetic way to their
group or on a one-to-one basis.
Scott McInnes, founder of Inspiring Change, says
that guiding leaders to engage in the right way is
important for creating advocates and improving the
employee experience.
“A CEO is not going to know 10,000 employees’
needs and wants, the context in each team, and
different teams in the same division,” says Scott.
“However, a really good leader or line manager can,
because he or she may have a close relationship with
10 or 12 employees. They understand the personal
nuances within a team and whether someone has
just lost their father, or had a baby, or got engaged.
That knowledge about how someone is feeling at that
moment in their life allows them to shape messages.”
Matthew Tucker, global internal communications
lead at Avanade, agrees that employees are more
16 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
likely to respond to, and feel a connection with,
information given to them by someone they know.
“If my boss sends me an email, I’m probably going
to read it,” he says. “If I get an email from a faceless
corporate email address, even if it’s the best content in
the world, I’m probably less motivated to read it. A lot
People of messages in inboxes get ignored.”
Of course, some leaders will be insistent they
felt they
know best and that their message should reach as
were being far as possible. Take the time to challenge them,
taken more advises Matthew. “Leaders regularly ask me to put
seriously as an announcement in an all-employee email or our
weekly newsletter. I ask why they think people
a member of will read it. Who really needs to know about it? An
staff because all-company email might not be applicable to all
we cared employees. I ask them if they read a recent email by
where they one of the other leaders and they’ll often say no, they
didn’t have time. So why are other people more likely
worked. to find the time?”
SUSAN QUAIN Personalisation and targeting is as much about what
you shouldn’t send to people as what you should.
“In today’s world, there is so much content and if
you’re just sending out ‘vanilla’ messages, the chances
of employees taking notice is small,” says Matthew.
“Using the information you have about your audience
will help you cut through the clutter.”
Talk to leaders about the channels and language they
use, Matthew adds. “It’s about finding how and where
you can deliver the most value. For example, while it’s
not always possible to get in front of people to help them
understand why something is important, you are more
likely to have their attention when you’re talking to
them face to face.”
Skill up leaders to be better with people
Internal communicators often provide leaders and
line managers with the tools to cascade top-line
messages in a generic fashion, but there is scope for
IC to go further and give managers the freedom and
encouragement they need to enhance and embellish
content in a more meaningful and emotive way.
“We are quick to throw out a team talk pack and
say, ‘Brief your team on this’,” says Scott. “Internal
communicators can show line managers where to
put examples that their team can identify with and
how to be cognisant of things that are happening
during a big organisational change, when emotions
are running high. Often, through no fault of their own,
IOIC.ORG.UK
 RE PORT

LOCK UP
YOUR DATA
A new EU regulation comes into
effect in May 2018 – and it’s coming
for your personal information.
WORDS: MATT WARD

In March 2017, a French journalist
named Judith Duportail asked
dating app Tinder to send her all the
personal data they had on her. Tinder
agreed – as per their legal obligation –
and sent her 800 pages. Places she’d
been, men she’d dated, conversations
she’d had, photos she’d posted,
favourite interests, hobbies, music,
food – a full and detailed dossier,
quietly collected, unwittingly revealed.
Gathering data in this way isn’t
illegal or unusual. Privacy policies
typically confirm that information
is collected to “improve and
personalise” the user experience.
But do people really understand
how much data they’re giving away
– or what it’s used for?
The imminent General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR) aims
to give people more choice, rights
and clarity about how their personal
information is collected and managed.
The biggest shake-up of data
protection laws in the last 20 years,
GDPR takes effect in May 2018 and
will demand more accountability and
tighter governance than ever before.
Highlights include giving
individuals easier access
ways technology has changed our
lives, including increased mobile
use, the internet and the growth in
data analytics. Parts of it are still
to be defined. The GDPR gives EU
member states limited opportunities
to determine exactly how it applies in
their country and these will be covered
in the Data Protection Bill, which was
presented to Parliament in September.
The legislation will apply to
any organisation in the world that
processes the data of an EU resident
and the consequences for those that
aren’t ready could be devastating.
While the Information Commissioner’s
Office (ICO) has played down the
hype around big fines, the rules state
that non-compliance could result in
penalties of up to €20 million or four
per cent of annual global turnover.
Impact on internal comms
So what’s it got to do with internal
comms? The new rules and rights
apply equally to employees as they do
to customers. That means IC teams
will need to understand exactly what
personal data they collect and process
– including everything from
an individual’s intranet
collecting data in the first place
and what the potential risks are
to the individual.
“Conducting a data audit is a great
place to start. It might sound boring,
but it will help you identify all the
personal information you process,
who has access to it and how it flows
through your organisation.
“It’s about being clear and
transparent about the data you use and
why, giving people access to see and
change it, and making sure you don’t
store it for longer than is necessary.”
The other big role IC has to play
is in making sure everyone knows
what they must do to protect and
process personal data in line with
the new legislation. And there’s a big
opportunity to engage employees by
helping them understand what their
new rights are as individuals – both
inside and outside work.
“GDPR is an amazing opportunity
for IC teams because it’s all about
improving trust,” adds Benjamin.
“Many organisations will need to bring
about a cultural change in how they
work with customers and employees
in handling their data to increase
transparency and accountability. IC

to the data companies hold
about them and tougher
rules on what constitutes
consent to collect it in the
first place – no more pre-
ticked boxes or confusing
opt-out processes.
The new legislation
replaces the Data Protection
Act, last updated in 1998,
and reflects the many
83%
preferences to employee can play a huge role in that process.”
survey feedback.
“GDPR doesn’t mean
you can’t use personal FIND OUT MORE
Percentage of UK
companies that believe data,” says Benjamin Ellis, For more information on GDPR
that implementing CEO at software provider and how to make sure you’re
measures to become SocialOptic. “And it isn’t ready, visit the Information
GDPR-compliant will meant to stop you doing Commissioner’s Office website:
increase the levels of
complexity and red tape
things that benefit users. ico.org.uk/for-organisations/
within their business. What it does is ask you to data-protection-reform
Source: Censuswide research think through why you’re

VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK JANUARY 2018 17

F E A T U R E Personalisation
managers don’t have the skills or confidence
to communicate effectively so they aren’t as
impactful as they could be. Internal comms
can upskill them to give them confidence. It
might be a case of putting in a call every time
you send out important comms, and talking
them through the pack.”
Matthew agrees much can be achieved
through subtle training of those who are
closest to employees.
“At Avanade, we work with leaders, and
have conversations around who their key
messages are aimed at and the action points,
and we work through a plan to identify
opportunities to personalise. We ask them
what’s going on among the teams they’re
trying to target, and we will then design the
comms approach around reaching those
teams. Yes, we also do it through global
channels, but those are the wrappers.
They’re not going to help you achieve
your desired outcome.”
If my boss sends
me an email, I’m
probably going to
read it. If I get an
email from a faceless corporate
email address, I’m probably
less motivated to read it.
A lot of messages get ignored.
MATTHEW TUCKER, AVANADE
18 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
New framework for personal data usage
While personalisation in internal comms
is gathering pace, a spanner in the works
is tightening the nut on information. The
introduction in May 2018 of the General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR) will strengthen
data protection for individuals within the EU,
impacting external marketers and internal
communicators. Anyone who feels their
personal information is being used in an
intrusive – or creepy – way will be able to do
something about it.
“It would not be a surprise if more staff
opted out of sharing data,” says Susan Quain.
“Sometimes you don’t trust what’s being done
with your information. People will have to
agree we can target them.”
GDPR is an opportunity to slow down
the personalisation juggernaut and check
that efforts to target employees aren’t going
beyond what is necessary to hook people.
“Data makes the world go round, but I don’t
think personalisation is the key to everything,”
concludes Susan. “I’ve seen sites personalised
to the tiniest degree, only for users to say they
haven’t given the company permission to use
their data and they don’t fully understand
what they’re looking at. Users and developers
need to work together on what can be
personalised – and what users want to be
personalised.
“In the future, we will have to be more
careful about retaining our integrity. We don’t
want to go backwards – because it’s taken us
so long to move forwards.”
THE POWER OF
PERSONALISATION
How is the commercial world
using personalisation to get
closer to customers?
In the supermarket aisle
High-street shops
are using the latest
technology to
personalise the in-store experience.
House of Fraser and Asda have
trialled Bluetooth beacons – devices
placed at particular points in stores
that can send targeted promotions
to shoppers’ mobile phones as they
browse. Some stores, including
Tesco, are even using facial
recognition to fine-tune the content
of electronic displays based on
customers’ demographics.
Through your letter box
Online fashion retailers,
including Germany’s
Zalando and Stitch Fit
in the US, are aspiring to become
stylists as well as sellers. They
are harnessing the power of
personalisation by combining
information provided by customers
with their purchase history (and their
similarities to other shoppers), to
select a whole outfit just for them,
and deliver it to their door.
In your headphones
Music-streaming service
Spotify benefits from a
goldmine of data on what
each of its 140 million users listen to,
which it uses to come up with custom
playlists and recommendations to
introduce people to new sounds.
Spotify is even able to identify the
top fans of particular artists and
send them personalised emails from
their heroes, with exclusive advance
access to concert tickets.
IOIC.ORG.UK
 I o I C E X P E R I M E N T S Personality tests

IoIC EXPERIMENTS
Personality tests

ARE YOU THE COMMS TYPE?

Is there a typical personality that works in internal comms? Four senior members

F
of a Lloyds Banking Group comms team agreed to take a personality test to find out.
OLLOWING changes to a team
structure and roles and responsibilities,
a Lloyds Banking Group comms unit What the
team said
agreed to take an online personality
test to learn more about themselves and how
they could better support each other. “It was good
The four senior members took the test, but to reflect
didn’t expect the results to be so startlingly and remind
accurate. Diana Oakes, communications and ourselves
engagement manager, says it’s important to of our
answer the questions honestly and try not to areas of development.
think of specific situations. Even so, she says, I particularly related to
“it was as if someone had been spying on us”. the sentinel commentary
While there were three different personality Are you an telling her when I have too much to do.” – practical, likes order,
types across the group (diplomat, analyst and adventurer? The entire team had judging, rather meticulous and hard-
Or maybe an
sentinel), three colleagues were revealed to be analyst? Take
than prospecting, characteristics. “We working. I’d like to think
what Diana describes as “peopley” people. the test (see thought we were good at innovating and I am not inflexible, but
“We put people strategy before business below) and spotting opportunities,” reflects Diana, “but perhaps it’s an area for me
strategy,” she says. “Not that we ignore the find out we seem to be more comfortable when to keep focused on.”
business objectives, but we think about planning ahead. We will try to innovate and BECCA STEVENS
how we can address people’s concerns. My improvise, and we will deliver in a reactive
colleague, Sheena, was shown to be more way, but seemingly not as comfortably. We “It’s made me
analytical and business-focused, which is like structure, and clarity from leaders.” think about
exactly how she is. And we need that in the The other members of the team have how we use
team. You can’t have everyone being peopley.” agreed to do the test, and the four senior people’s skills
Diana’s diplomat personality type members would certainly recommend it. and styles to
suggests she is empathetic, co-operative “We thought it was going to be a bit of maximum effect. I can see
and imaginative, but not so good at making fun, and that it might identify ways we can how the insight might help
difficult decisions. work with each other better,” says Diana. “It us identify and articulate
“Sheena is good at making cold, rational brought some things to light.” where someone in the
decisions,” she says, “while my head thinks, Diana says the test results have helped team might thrive or
‘What if…’ I can be too emotional. But our boss, them look at where work would feed more struggle, me included.”
Becca, says she couldn’t make final decisions naturally into their personalities, and MARK RIX
without those thoughts from me. As a group, what roles and responsibilities suit their
we work perfectly for that reason. personalities best. “We also discussed the “The process
“In terms of the development areas, again, results in our development plans – what can highlighted
mine were spot on. For example, Becca said we take from the test for the career paths that I gravitate
my results have reminded her to check on we want to follow?” to strategic
my workloads, as she can’t always rely on me roles. I would
CASE NOTES
like to make a conscious
TEST TAKEN: 16personalities.com effort to support and learn
We thought it might TEST DURATION: Approx 12 minutes. from someone else on the
identify ways we can work with team whose style is more
RICHVINTAGE/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

POSITIVES: Clarifies appropriate responsibilities

each other better. It brought for personality types; highlights development creative.”
areas; lessons learned for work and personal life. SHEENA GIGA
some things to light. RECOMMENDED? Yes.
DIANA OAKES, LLOYDS BANKING GROUP

VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK JANUARY 2018 19

 TRAVELLING
THROUGH THE
PROPER CHANNELS
The methods you use to transport employees on a journey is just as
important as the direction you’re heading in. Internal communicators
often develop or inherit a vast collection of channels, many of which
are out of date or barely used. If employees aren’t sure where to go
for information, the result is comms chaos. Here are 10 ideas for
reassessing your channel mix to ensure your messages take
the most effective route to their destination.
WOR DS: ROB J ONES

20 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION VOICE.IOIC.ORG.UK

 F E A T U R E Channel mix

1
partner asked us to use ‘slow
thinking’ – he said it takes 13
hours to build a Toyota, but six
days to build a Rolls-Royce. If
you’re going to build the Rolls-
Royce of comms, you need to do
your research and planning.”
Communications consultant
Rachal McHale agrees an
in-depth review is key for
backing up your decisions.
She has created her own IC
measurement scorecard, linked
to an organisation’s strategic

Build a Rolls-Royce
Before you make drastic
changes to your comms mix,
thoroughly audit and measure
the appropriateness and value
of your channels. Take into
account the demographic of your
organisation and the cultures
and subcultures. Is it a dynamic
enough workforce that people
will be comfortable downloading
apps and signing up for content,
or are employees happy to read
messages from the CEO and
take home a printed magazine?
What will your audience look like
in the future?
A year ago, a new managing
partner joined accounting firm
BDO, which was the push the
internal comms team needed to
review its channels.
“Our firm had grown hugely,
gone through a merger and
employed five generations – and
our comms needed to change
to reflect that,” says director of
communications Nicola Lally.
“We could see new technologies
that would better orchestrate
central versus local messaging,
but we needed someone from
the top to acknowledge the
importance of investing in
comms. Our new managing
Nicola and the team spent objectives.
six months getting to know the “If I want to secure my IC
business and its audience, and budget for next year,” she says,
deciding what channels “needed “I need my leaders to see what
a sticking plaster, which needed good channels have done for
surgery over months, and what the organisation – how they
needed a complete rehabilitation”. have impacted culture, delivered
Through this exercise, the team information, upskilled people,
made better connections and or changed behaviours.”
established its authority.
“We have become content
hunters rather than generators,”
says Nicola. “Other people
are becoming storytellers –
through Yammer, for example.
IC feels more consultancy-led,
and leaders have recognised
our importance. My team has
seen the benefits of day-to-day
engagement and planning.”

2 Always start mess of groups. We’re pulling Rachal needed to coax these
together a strategy of how we leaders out from behind their

in first gear want people to collaborate

Once you’ve established the path
to take, you’ll be eager to embed
your channels as soon as possible.
Technology isn’t always kind
enough to wait for dilly-dalliers.
Move too slowly and your inspiring
new channel will be yesterday’s
fancy. But don’t be too hasty.
You can’t just flick a switch to
activate everything.
At gas distribution network
SGN, all staff are being migrated
to Office 365 and internal
communications manager Janet
Lessells is approaching the move
with caution.
“We are researching with
Microsoft how best to roll it out,
especially Yammer,” says Janet.
“We don’t want to end up with a
with it, so we can show them
the benefits. You have to give
the context of why you’re
launching something. You need
to understand the change curve
and how people are feeling at
different times.”
Rachal McHale joined
the NHS as a consultant six
months before it entered a
phase of huge transformational
change, including job losses.
The importance of executive
visibility and the need to
establish multiple channels
was immediately clear.
“There was a temptation
for executives to remain in
their offices, knowing the
unpalatable messages to be
delivered,” she says.
desks, step by step, to deliver
monthly face-to-face briefings.
“There was push back that
I had to overcome,” she says.
“First, I convinced the chief
executive to take part in business
Q&As – and so he began to feel
comfortable. That then became
the channel for other directors
to stand up and talk to people.
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM: GEWITTERKIND, MALERAPASO MAXIPHOTO, NOCTILUXX
It took a few sessions before
we could introduce anonymous
questions, and then another few
before we filmed it.”
Eventually, the CEO and
directors were delivering up to
three sessions a day. “Things
had genuinely changed,” says
Rachal. “Some execs still felt
uncomfortable, but I carefully
paired presenters together so
they could learn from each other.”

VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK JANUARY 2018 21

 F E A T U R E Channel mix
3 5
Travel in numbers
Your aspirations for a modern channel mix
might not be shared by everyone. Internal
communicators need to focus on what
works for the majority of the workforce.
How you like to receive messages might
seem archaic to others. Most people
joining the employment ranks now will
be more familiar with instant messaging,
WhatsApp and social media than Lotus
Notes, but if you’re over a certain age,
you’ll have clocked up a lot of email
mileage and will know its advantages.
Comms teams still need a one-strike
option: something that will quickly reach
everyone. Gatehouse’s 2017 State Of The
Sector survey suggests central emails
remain the most used (96%) digital
channel and one of the most effective.
Cassandra Lord, communications
manager at media group Schibsted, says:
“Email gets such a bad rap and some staff
4
Explore the path
that’s right for you
Don’t be easily swayed by trends – a new
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM: APCINCY, DUTCHSCENERY, DIETERMEYRL
idea might be just a fad. Decide if you
want to be a trailblazer for something and
can afford to fail, or if you want to wait
for other organisations to test the water.
A flash bit of kit might not even suit your
audience – and they might not appreciate
you paying for it.
On the flip side, don’t bury your head
in the sand. Know what’s on the market
22 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
hate it. But it’s a necessary evil for making
sure everyone gets the same message. In
times of organisational change especially,
you need consistency. At Schibsted, we
rely on short emails, which may link to
longer messages on the intranet, and we
may reiterate it with a Slack message. It’s
a bit like following a trail of breadcrumbs.”
Slack, too, has its detractors. “I don’t
love it,” admits Cassandra. “I miss the days
when everything I needed to know was in
my inbox. I know someone told me this
thing, but did they tell it to me on Slack or
in an email?”
And in an increasingly online world,
more traditional and often-maligned
offline approaches can be easy to dismiss
– but they work. “Posters in the toilets
are the most effective channel,” says
Cassandra. “Everyone’s going to see them
at some point during the day.”
– even if it is just to dismiss it from your
mix options at that point in time. Keep
in touch with old contacts, go to events,
conferences and seminars, read up on
new tools and technologies and invite
ideas through your social networks.
At BDO, the IC team did a one-day
review of new and existing channels to
decide what could work for them. “We
each picked a channel to research,” says
Nicola Lally. “We spent a day discussing
– almost pitching – our channels, looking
at what was good about it and how all
the channels interplayed.”
Be
more
mobile
If you aren’t looking at mobile comms
yet, you need to catch up. Smartphones
overtook laptops as UK internet users’
preferred device back in 2015. People
happily eyeball their smartphones for
around two hours a day, and more than
95 per cent of 16–24-year-olds own one.
Gatehouse’s 2017 internal comms survey
suggests more than one-third of businesses
have an internal app – more than double the
figure in 2013.
At SGN, channel surveys and focus
groups revealed that the company’s
internal digital channels were ineffective,
with laborious technology, and staff being
too time-pressed to look at the intranet.
That’s when talk of an app began.
Expectations are changing, says
SGN internal communications manager
Janet Lessells. “People want things
to be instantaneous. The younger guys
are used to being on their phones.”
SGN’s app is low cost and high impact
and can be downloaded to a work or
personal phone. “We knew the app build
wouldn’t be complicated, so we could focus
on content,” says Janet. “It’s very visual,
with news, blogs, job vacancies,
safety information, maps, shopping
promotions and discounts. We
took all our news and blogs off the
intranet, because we didn’t want
to duplicate work. That wasn’t
a particularly popular decision
at first, but we stuck our heels
in. Once you’ve made the
decision, stick to
it as much as
you can.”
Knowing
when to be
stubborn pays off.
Within a year, SGN had
around 3,900 employees
– more than 93 per cent
of its entire workforce –
actively using SGNapp.
This is considerably more
than the 500 people who
were using the
intranet.
VOICE.IOIC.ORG.UK

6
Don’t let your
channels go downhill
If you’re relying on a digital
channel, don’t let it spiral into
bad habits. A poorly maintained,
sprawling, unresponsive mess
of slow-loading pages and hard-
to-find content is nothing short
of useless.
At media group Schibsted,
communications manager
Cassandra Lord admits the
company intranet needs work,
with content spread too thinly.
“It’s where good stories go to
die,” she laughs. “It’s not user-
friendly. You have to enter a
password about six times to get
in. I don’t even know if you can
access it on a mobile – which you
need to be able to do if you have
a workforce where people are
often travelling.”
7
Cassandra works in the
company’s engineering arm,
which has its own quasi intranet
site. Intended for technical
documentation, it has become a
home for some IC messages.
“The good thing is it’s super
easy to create a web page and
post content,” says Cassandra.
“The bad news is it’s like the
wild west. Anyone can post
anything, which means we have
orphan pages, there’s no rhyme
and reason to the structure and
the search function is terrible.”
Review and monitor your
intranet. It if doesn’t reflect
where your company wants to
be, look at what works and what
needs fixing and draft an action
plan – pronto.
Map out your objectives
Effective channels need robust strategies behind them.
Everyone should be aware of those channels’ guiding
principles and what they have been set up to do. Otherwise
you’ll forever be handed CEO messages and press releases
and expected to “put them in the magazine”.
With a workforce of 18,000, most of whom were hard-
to-reach hotel staff, Premier Inn developed an app. The
specific intention of In Touch was to engage, with daily
news stories ranging from fundraising efforts to celebrity
hotel guests. Important information was sent by email to
line managers, who verbally cascaded it to their teams, but
reinforced via the app.
As In Touch picked up traction, the company operations
newsletter – previously a hodgepodge of everything –
became strictly operational. “You can’t blur the lines of
what your channels are for,” says Cassandra Lord, who was
then internal communications manager at Premier Inn.
Your channels should be appropriate to the messages
being delivered through that channel. Communications
consultant Rachal McHale advises: “If you have a chatty
newsletter, you shouldn’t use that to talk about a
transformational change. That channel will fail if you’ve set
it up to talk more informally and highlight achievements.”
If you have a chatty
newsletter, you shouldn’t
use that to talk about a
transformational change. That
channel will fail.
RACHAL McHALE

8
Put your and business. A 2016 Hubspot effects. Increasingly, IC teams edits throughout the evening,

pictures survey put video as the

channel option most internet
are training themselves to
film – on small cameras or
and backstage interviews with
the winners and execs. It was

in motion users consume thoroughly

Corporate video can get
your messages across in a
memorable way, drawing on
your audience’s senses.
Social media – from
Snapchat (10 billion videos
viewed per day) to YouTube –
is encouraging more people to
watch short films for pleasure
and pay most attention to.
It’s better to get your leaders
talking to camera than tapping
away at their keyboards.
Years ago, corporate videos
were the reserve of teams
with a big enough budget
to commission experts to
storyboard, script, film,
narrate, edit and add special
smartphones – and edit.
At SGN, video is set to
become a key channel over
the next year, from CEO vlogs
to live streaming of events.
“Video is a great way to
make content engaging,
instant and two-way,” says
IC manager Janet Lessells.
“We did a live stream for our
employee awards, with quick
a fast turnaround, filming,
editing and loading it onto our
app with copy, for people to
comment on, but it worked
brilliantly. Only 150 people
from the business could
attend the awards, so the
film was an opportunity for
everyone else to consume
the stories and emotions as
they happened.”

VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK JANUARY 2018 23

F E A T U R E Channel mix

9
Times change. Sometimes
the introduction of one
channel means shutting
down another – usually the
print magazine.
Within two weeks of joining
Yorkshire Water, Rachal
When setting up a channel,
think about whether – and
when – you are going to
kill it off, advises Rachal.
“You might be setting up
something that fits now, but
already know that in two
comms team’s suspicion that
people were not interested
in the print publication.
Cassandra Lord,
who was then internal
communications manager,
says no one complained

Know which
McHale closed down the years’ time the business when the print mag ended to
printed newsletter, which culture will change and you make way for an app. While

channels to
had become a repository for might not have the same she acknowledges some
anything and everything, from demographic. Your future older employees didn’t have

keep in service
CEO updates to fundraising
stories. Sometimes a
publication just loses its way.
But there are other channels
that may also have a limited
lifespan, depending on the
company vision.
strategy might be to target
people used to collaboration
and networking, rather
than people with individual
expertise.”
Similarly, an audit at
Premier Inn confirmed the
smartphones and might have
been restricted from getting
the messages, Cassandra
believes the main aim for a
channel mix is, she insists,
“to put information where
most people’s eyes are”.

10 There’s more than one way to travel

Ensure your mix has enough elements to it
so that you can choose the best channel for
your campaign.
“We wanted a multichannel mix,” says
Nicola Lally of BDO. “We see ourselves akin
to an internal advertising and PR team. If we
were external, we would never advocate one
media for a campaign. I see each member of
staff as a consumer.”
All the same, a multichannel comms
approach doesn’t mean using every channel
in your armoury; you only need those that are
right for the message.
“We did quick case studies for typical
employees around our organisation, to see if
we might be bombarding them with noise,”
says Nicola. “That was a good process for
checking our comms plan worked in reality.”
While you can’t scatter your message willy
nilly and hope it gets picked up, you don’t need
to be too reserved.
“If someone tells me, ‘I can’t believe I’m
hearing this again’, I take that as a positive,”
says Nicola. “We know from our research that
people of different generations engage with
Yammer post. You have to work hard to reach
everyone. If we’re doing our job properly,
employees should go to wherever they
normally go to read about the business.”
Spare a thought for how you might need to
deliver information in the future, but don’t be
tempted to shove the latest bright new thing in
your mix for the sake of it.
“As a comms professional, you have to keep
up to date with what’s happening and decide
whether your colleagues could embrace a new
fantastic way of communicating,” says Rachal
McHale. “If not, don’t use it. Go with your gut
feel. Move and morph the channels you have to
make them sing and work in conjunction with
other channels, so that they deliver an effective

ISTOCKPHOTO.COM: JORDIDELGADO, LESTERBEE

different channels, so it’s fine to share the communications chorus.”
same message in different ways. We know
you don’t win people’s hearts by sending an
email, but you don’t reach everyone with a

If we’re doing
our job properly,
employees
should go to wherever
they normally go to read
about the business.
NICOLA LALLY, BDO

24 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION VOICE.IOIC.ORG.UK

STRATEGY

CONTENT

DESIGN

DIGITAL

Too many
CHANNELS?
Switch to for a clearer view pressgang.eu
I N T E R V I E W Sally Otter

KEEPING UP
THE GOOD WORK
Making a good living financially is not the be all and end all.
Increasingly, people are choosing jobs that make them
feel good about what they do. Sally Otter, head of internal
communications at Oxfam GB, reflects on the rewards
and challenges of working in the charity sector.
WORDS : ROB JONES PORT R A ITS: KITTY NORWELL

ow many charities do you think you can
name? If pushed, you could probably come
up with a list of 20, maybe 30 – for some
of which you probably aren’t completely
certain of the correct name. There are
actually more than 167,000 charities in
the UK and it’s a fast-growing sector, with
politically astute young people increasingly
keen to join companies with high ethical
standards or take up roles where the
rewards are more emotional than financial.
There are about 800,000 people
working for charities in the UK – and it’s a
figure that grows by around 10,000 every
year. Increasingly, people are keen to make
a positive difference to individuals and
communities through their work. A Global
Tolerance report published in 2015 revealed
that half of millennials, born between 1981
and 1996, would choose purposeful work
over a high salary.
But the task for charities isn’t getting
any easier. The economic downturn has
meant fewer people are donating – or
the same number are giving less – and
a passing glance at the evening news
highlights that a lot of aid is needed to
support those with a disability or illness
or regions impacted by conflict or a
geological disaster.
Sally Otter has worked for two charities
over the past 12 years. She started out in
journalism and moved, “more by accident
than design”, into an elearning role – but
she had a desire to transfer her skills
somewhere more meaningful.
She started looking for work at
charities she felt strongly about, and
found a web-editing job at the Muscular
Dystrophy Campaign. After six years,
in 2010, she moved out of London and
got a job at Oxfam GB’s headquarters in
Oxford, where she is now head of internal
communications.
“A cause that’s close to my heart,
where Oxfam has had a massive impact
historically on people’s lives and continues
to do so, is the injustice of poverty,” says
Sally. “It’s a massive mission and I feel
proud to be making a small contribution.
I feel strongly about women’s rights, and
that’s at the heart of everything we do.
It’s hugely powerful and motivating.”
What kind of person works for
a charity?
I would say no one chooses the charity
sector for the pay. It’s a globally engaged
citizen, which is no reflection on anyone
who doesn’t work for a charity.
Our workforce is changing. People
are no longer looking for jobs for life.
Research suggests people are choosing
companies that are there for the general
good and make them feel as though they
are contributing. They want to work for a
cause and not just a salary. The whole piece
around millennials is huge, and we are
starting to look at that audience.
What are the rewards of working
for a charity?
The workforce is diverse and I have learned
an extraordinary amount. For me, one of the
benefits is the people – the superbrains, and
those who often give above and beyond.
Oxfam is good for flexible working and
enabling people to work from home. I’ve
changed my hours multiple times after
my children were born and it’s never been
questioned. Our approach is output-focused
rather than hours-focused.
But there are challenges, surely.
There are many. One challenge, which
I think is prevalent elsewhere, is showing
the impact of your work. We can learn
a lot from our surveys and also

26 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION

I N T E R V I E W Sally Otter
click-through and read rates, but often some
of the feedback is colloquial, which makes it
difficult to be evidence-based with leaders.
Does that put a dent in how internal
comms is seen?
Charities usually have a crystal-clear focus,
which is at the top of the list of what
everyone in the organisation is working
towards. Internal comms’ role is seen as
engaging staff, but when I talk to peers in
the sector, there is a sense that this is not
a priority. I’ve noticed it happen less and
less in the organisations I’ve worked for,
but that’s perhaps because I’ve got better
at challenging leaders. It’s important to
build relationships – the more we as a
team network, the more respected internal
comms becomes, but it is still a challenge.
If salaries are low, presumably
charities also don’t see much of a
budget for comms.
We have a lean budget and it’s mostly
salaries, with some money for travel and
training. We have a good in-house creative
team. Our mantra is COPE: create once,
publish everywhere. We repurpose content
from short films and publications. It’s a
digital environment. We’ve got Workplace,
which Facebook gave us for free as part of
its pilot. I’d push to spend where we need to,
but we think creatively.
I attended a conference recently that was
promoting holographic videoconferencing.
I thought that was a bit out of my price
range…
In your experience of working for
charities, what tends to be the more
critical feedback from employees?
That we’re noisy. Oxfam does a huge
amount and there are so many stories
that are tempting to tell, but I need to be
more restrained and keep engaging staff
– whether we are operational or involved
in programmes or campaigning – with
our priorities. As a comms person, you’re
thinking about strategic objectives and how
to bring those stories to life, but also whether
they are stories you really need to share.
I’m in the process of touring our UK sites,
which I have found really useful and eye-
opening in terms of what employees think
we are doing well and where we need to
improve. From those discussions, I want to
make Oxfam’s internal comms more of a
journalist and editor function and be more
discerning about the stories we tell.
28 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
Sally Otter with Oxfam GB chief executive Mark Goldring, who hosts regular Chat with Mark sessions and team
breakfasts – opportunities for all staff anywhere to update Mark on their activities and hear directly from him
Is retention an issue in charities?
We try to make sure Oxfam is a good
place to work and people feel looked after.
We have a new head of talent, who has
helped us to become more prescriptive and
structured, more consistent in enabling staff
to move up a level, to where they can be
developed and take on new challenges.
We launched a scheme called I Caught You
Being Excellent. We wanted peer-to-peer
recognition – to send out a good message
that we are trying to be less hierarchical
and more networked. Employees can
nominate a colleague on the website
(icaughtyoubeingexcellent.co.uk). We had
a target of 40 a month, and we get about
115. It’s slick and neat. Shop managers and
volunteers have really engaged with it, as
have people at all levels in the organisation.
Has anything lately been less
successful?
You can’t please everyone all the time and
I’m open to that. You have to be resilient.
This morning, someone told me there is too
much spin in Oxfam, and then someone
later said they loved something we’d just
put out.
Research suggests
people are choosing
companies that are there
for the general good.
SALLY OTTER
I have a monthly one-to-one with our
CEO, Mark Goldring, and I said I’d like to
try a piece where he listened to around
a dozen employees. On paper, it looked
really good; host a session with the
chief executive, find out how messages
are landing. I thought it had all gone
shipshape, but at the end Mark laughed.
He said I had left him without a voice
and no chance for him to feed back: it felt
manufactured and false. He was sanguine
about it. He believes in failing fast and
learning quickly – we now run a more
successful format: Breakfast with Mark.
Are humanitarian situations more
prevalent than 20 or 30 years ago, or
are they just being reported more?
We have category 1 and category 2
emergencies. A category 1 is an absolute
priority, and we usually have one at a
time, but at the moment we have three
category 1s and six category 2s. There is an
unprecedented humanitarian need and
unprecedented number of people affected,
mainly as a result of conflict and climate
change.
Charities need to think carefully
about what they can say around certain
situations, and be clear on specific
language and the comms that go out – for
example, to shops on posters. We advise
people on what to focus on and what
to say about a humanitarian crisis. The
Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh, for instance,
is particularly sensitive.
VOICE.IOIC.ORG.UK
Oxfam America publicly offered
support to Puerto Rico when it
appeared to be lacking from the US
administration. How do charities work
with or around governments?
You have to be careful about how decisions
are made and whether you challenge
publicly or privately, through the press or
at leadership level. Oxfam America played
it cautiously. It was a very unusual step,
but it shows the level of frustration at
Trump’s administration.
We do a lot of advocacy work to drive
change behind the scenes with ministers,
MPs and their advisers. Andrew Mitchell
MP visited Oxfam’s work in Yemen last
year. We also campaign publicly, for
example by asking supporters to write to
their MPs to urge them to stop selling UK
arms to Saudi Arabia.
You collaborate with other charities
when you need to, but is it a
competitive industry?
If anyone is making noise about Yemen,
for example, that’s great and we would
want to add our voice and angle, but the
end game is to help people in Yemen.
Fundraising teams are probably more
competitive. Obviously, charities want
to raise as much as possible so they can
do more.
VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK
Either/or
Sally Otter makes
some big decisions.
Early bird or night owl? Early bird.
Oxford or London? Oxford now.
Gym or sofa? Fight Klub then sofa.
Headphones on or off when working?
Off – the audio doesn’t currently work!
Winter or spring? Spring.
Cereal or fry-up? Cereal – I’m vegan :)
Chocolate brownie or cheeseboard?
Crisps and houmous, always.
Modern or antique? Antique.
Corporate film or printed comms?
An inspiring film.
Diplomatic or analytical personality type?
Diplomatic.
Politics or sports? Both.
More productive at home or in the office?
Office.
But there is a value in “stronger together”.
We have spoken out with other agencies on
the Rohingya refugee crisis. The Arms Trade
Treaty adopted in 2013 was done as part of
10 years of activism and campaigning by
a coalition that included Oxfam. You can
achieve more as a sector, but each charity
has its own specific vision. We just need to
make sure we’re aligned.
In what ways are charities like
businesses? Is there as great a focus
on money and growth?
Charities have to keep a close eye on
reserves and income, but we are not-for-
profit organisations. We’re here to deliver
long-term programmes, or advocacy,
or emergency work. Charities need a
clear vision and strategy, and have to be
accountable with the resources with which
we are trusted, whether that’s $50 million
funding or a jerry bucket. Everything in
Oxfam is driven by the desire to end poverty.
Is there a challenge for charities in how
you talk to supporters?
You need to make a connection, and show
supporters something more meaningful
and immediate through stories around
how you’ve changed people’s lives. At
“As a comms person, you’re thinking
about how to bring stories to life.”
– Sally Otter, November 2017
Oxfam, we are transforming our customer
relationship management so that we can
communicate and engage supporters in
a more joined-up way. Charities need to
keep supporters up to date with the things
they are interested in, without bombarding
them with information.
Does that thinking apply internally?
There’s a piece – we call it “glass bricks
philosophy” – around the importance of
charity employees and volunteers knowing
things before supporters. But it’s important
that both audiences hear those same
stories.
At Oxfam, we’re trying to do more to link
up those messages. We host talks for staff,
but also invite supporters. We have 31,000
volunteers and we’re trying to make the
most of technology to better reach them all
at the same time.
Last year, Hassan Akkad, a Syrian refugee
who filmed his traumatic journey travelling
into Europe, and James Bluemel, the man
who converted the footage into the series
Exodus, talked at an event for staff and
supporters. Hassan was then interviewed
live on Facebook, and we syndicated that
on Workplace. We need to keep an eye out
for those opportunities.
Someone on our team looks at comms
trends, and she does a report every quarter.
That really lifts our eyes.
Is it important to keep your eye on
comms developments?
Technology is an investment for the
future. It has the potential to make a big
difference to the way a charity delivers its
programme. In Oxfam, in the long-term, we
want to move from a hierarchical structure
to a networked structure that allows our
people to be more agile. We know how to
respond to an emergency, but are we quick
enough in other opportunities? Are we
empowering people to take accountability?
There are technical changes that will
support us in doing that, but there is a
cultural change first that needs to come
from the top.
There are some trends that just
wouldn’t work in our culture – like desktop
notifications. Ping! And can we even afford
some trends?
The one constant is the need to build
relationships – to be networked. That’s a
key part of the IC team’s work. Keep your
eyes open and stay embedded. I can’t see
that changing.
JANUARY 2018 29
F E A T U R E Cross-culture working

HELLO
IT’S A
SMALL
WORLD
The business environment has changed in the past
10 years. Offices are going global at a rapid rate and
project teams are spread across multiple countries.
Understanding international cultures, behaviours BONJOUR
and language is increasingly becoming a part of
modern working life.
NI hAo
he world is shrinking.

Hallo
Innovation has
made it easier to
conduct business
with colleagues in
other countries as if
you were in the same
room – or at least in
the next room. But
while organisations
are quick to install These days, your boss might not even
the equipment be on the same continent. In a 2017 IoIC
to enable these poll, more than half of internal comms
conversations, there is still work to do to and marketing employees said they liaise
raise awareness of how global working and with colleagues and team members in
cultural differences can impact behaviour another country at least once a week,

Hi! and relationships.

Through globalisation, and thanks to
reliable and secure communication and
file-sharing technology, businesses have few
restrictions in acquiring companies in other
countries. Project and divisional teams are
spread out to create efficiencies in meeting
the needs of customers anywhere in the
world, and to encourage staff with different
cultural experiences to share good ideas.
with more than a third (37%) doing so
every day.
Flexible working patterns mean
mileage is no longer a barrier to
productive team relationships. Verity
Cash was based in Somerset for three
years as head of communications for
Clarks, with responsibility for the Asia-
Pacific region. It meant putting in some
unconventional business hours.

30 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION IOIC.ORG.UK

 NI hAo
Hallo

NJOUR
BO

chiwa
Hola n’ni
Ko

Hi!
G’Day!

Kon’nich
iwa
Hola

“I made calls to Australia in my members to be “always on”. “Sometimes

pyjamas at 6am, while my colleague on
the other end of the phone was cooking
dinner for her family,” she recalls. “Five
minutes after waking up, I’d be talking
about strategy. Sometimes flexible
working doesn’t necessarily suit you –
more the needs of a global business.”
While France has introduced laws
around employers contacting their staff
outside business hours, for many people
in a senior comms role, working nine to
five is not a typical way to make a living.
Sharon Watson, interim internal
communications executive at North
P&I, wouldn’t encourage her team
55%
it’s necessary when you need quick
decisions, but you need to get the balance
right and respect people’s personal time,”
she says. “I would only ask someone to Percentage of
work out of hours if I needed to.” internal comms
or marketing
professionals who
Consistent technological thinking liaise with colleagues
The sophistication of social intranets and or team members in
mobile communications means you can another country at
swap messages quickly and conveniently least once a week
(37% every day).
any time of the day. And tools for Source: IoIC poll, 2017
videoconferencing – or telepresence, as it’s
now known – like Skype and Webex allow
team members who cannot travel to be
“present” together. Seeing each other’s

VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK JANUARY 2018 31

F E A T U R E Cross-culture working
expressions, responses and quirks can be
valuable for gauging how your ideas or
opinions are landing.
But when you’re planning such a
technology roll-out, make sure every
region is equally as advanced.
“We had a big fanfare at Clarks when
we launched a videoconferencing suite,”
says Verity. “But then we realised half
of our Asian teams didn’t have the IT
infrastructure or bandwidth to run it.”
Even when the innovation is
compatible, your mindset around how
you use it is important for avoiding the
wrath of your colleagues.
Judith Desporte, senior communications
consultant at ITG Groupe, says: “There
are great online tools for setting up
meetings, but organisers must think
about the other people they are inviting.
Some people don’t take into account
that they might be booking a meeting
at midnight for someone on the other
side of the planet. Or I’ve seen people set
timeslots for BST and I’ve had to Google
what that means.”
As an alternative to a traditional
teleconference discussion, WhatsApp
is proving to be effortlessly effective for
quick and direct conversations across
timezones on a one-to-one or group basis.
32 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
You want to do business with people you
have a rapport with. When you’re working
internationally, there can be misunderstandings
and that trust can quickly fall apart.
VERITY CASH
“At Clarks, our team was spread across
six countries,” says Verity. “WhatsApp
was the one thing that everyone knew
and was happy to use as it didn’t rely on
technology. It’s collaborative and good
for getting quick responses. We had been
using dial-in conference calls, but we had
connection issues. I spent my life saying,
‘Who have we got on the line? We’ve lost
Germany…’.”
Adapting to local behaviours
The best technology in the world can offer
you an uninterrupted conversation, but
they cannot translate cultural nuances
and language subtleties that may prevent
the information you’re trying to convey
being fully understood. That gulf can
cause frustrations and affect productivity.
Many companies would like to think
they have a global culture, but your
employees will likely feel a closer affinity
with their immediate neighbours.
“You care about something that
happens to someone in your city,” says
Judith. “But to feel the same about
something in a different country, it has
to happen to 10,000 people. People care
more about their local colleagues. That’s
a problem in an organisation when you
need to engage with everyone.”
There is a gradual blurring of cultural
lines. A country’s specific character – the
personalities, styles and methodologies of
the people who live there – is what makes
it special. But as people migrate and global
working requires people to adapt, mould
and relax their behaviours, elements of
one culture filter into another.
Some businesses are proactively
shifting their culture. Thecla Schreuders,
change communications consultant at
Lloyds Register, says: “Many companies
have an old-fashioned command-and-
control culture of men at the top telling
people what should be done and how it
should be done. It’s something of a default
culture, because everyone understands it.
What’s interesting to me is a progressive
business culture that is more open and is
becoming quite fashionable in European,
UK and US companies.”
Lloyds Register, a worldwide technical
and business services organisation, is
rolling out a culture change programme
for all 7,000 colleagues, which is trying to
move people out of their old habits and
promote new ways of working. In some
regions, this may go against the grain.
Can an organisation really promote a
worldwide corporate culture?
“I think so, yes,” says Thecla. “At Lloyds
Register, people strongly identify with the
brand, and there’s a great deal of pride in
the organisation and its legacy. People buy
in to the corporate identity and corporate
culture and it crosses boundaries. You
should be able to live one culture at home
and be another at work and have some
confluence between the two.”
Particularly, the Lloyd’s Register culture
shift will hone in on feedback and
IOIC.ORG.UK

00:01
fm
0912
coaching – less familiar approaches in
some Asian countries.
“In Asia, you may receive
admonishment, but not guidance on how
to improve,” explains Thecla. “There isn’t
a habit of giving constructive feedback,
from boss to employee, or reverse
feedback from employee to boss.”
Verity picked up a few cultural
distinctions when visiting the region
for work. She realised she had to tailor
her approach to whoever she was
dealing with.
“The Japanese are subservient, but also
hierarchical,” she observes. “You have
to match seniority in your discussions.
As the head of comms, I was expected
to speak to the CEO, and not the PR
managers, which was unhelpful. When
you’re trying to deploy events, you want
to speak to the people doing them, but
there was a process you had to follow.
In India, it was the opposite. They were
extremely helpful and would do anything
I asked with bells and whistles.”
Be prepared for picking up some
unexpected customs as you go along.
There are some you might never read
about in any guide book. Take the simple
practice of accepting a business card. In
the UK or Europe, you take a quick glance
and tuck it away somewhere. In Asia, you
have to show people you have taken it
with both hands.
“You have to hold on to it for as long
as they are in your presence, to show
deference and care,” says Verity. “I didn’t
VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK
INSIGHT
THINK GLOBAL,
OPERATE LOCAL
ELIZABETH FILIPPOULI, GLOBAL THINKERS
The concept of global thinking has never
been more critical than now. The rapid
progress in communications technologies
and the internet has diminished physical
borders and hurdles.
When the productivity of labour in one
country becomes too costly, it is easy to
shift it to another country where people can
perform the same job for less. In fact, in most
service industries, the jobs are now conducted
online. Anyone in any location on earth with
internet connectivity and a phone line can
provide services.
It is up to us to learn the tools to
build a global business. Global thinking
means the production of new knowledge
and wisdom, and requires an understanding
and acceptance of doing business in
different ways, across borders. It means
finding common ground for collaboration,
goal achievement, profit maximisation and
sustainable growth. We must train managers
to “think global but operate local”.
Innovation and new technologies are
abolishing borders. At the same time, they
create challenges and push for a major mind
shift. We have the opportunity to participate
in a massive online conversation and
access new markets and opportunities. This
transforms the world as we know it and is
catapulting us beyond the limited and local,
to the sphere of unlimited and global.
It transforms our workplaces, too. Clearly, old
solutions cannot work in this new era.
Above all, the cross-fertilisation of
ideas, talent and expertise and development
of a new code of conduct can turn a good
company into a great company; it is the
opportunity that all organisations that wish to
secure sustainability and growth must seize.
The leader of the organisation needs
to have an innovative mind and embrace a
culture of diversity and continuous learning.
Leaders must examine local issues, domestic
demographics, and social and cultural
dynamics. It is important to pay particular
attention to cross-cultural awareness and
ensure there is an understanding of local
mindset when building local alliances.
Relationships with stakeholders is the last
driver of sustainable business value that gurus
have not seriously emphasised. This requires
dialogue and diplomacy skills – usually not
part of the armoury of CEOs. Aggressive
individualism is no longer a sustainable
basis for enterprises wishing to deliver both
economic and social value. They now need to
align organisational vision with cultural values.
A company must define its own corporate
values as a global entity. However, it must
take into account both its local markets and
potential clash of cultures among employees,
and accordingly adapt its internal policies and
initiatives.
One major concern is around the cultural
similarities, differences and histories between
host and guest. This issue can be addressed
through an intense study of cultures and by
bridging gaps through employing managers
that command the cultural fundamentals of
host countries.
Create organisational energy by sharing
the challenge, inspiration and vision and
by activating people to produce tangible
positive change. Internal communicators can
launch key initiatives and seek to achieve
breakthrough responses and results.
Introduce regular cross-cultural and diversity
training and team-building initiatives, and also
work with external experts who can assess
the level of cultural “disorder” within the
organisation.
In other words, review how aligned
the values of the organisation are with the
values of staff. Through the same process,
discover the negative values that prevent
the organisation from maximising its output
potential, employee engagement and growth.
Take advantage of the online tools that bring
your people closer – wherever they are based.
Employees need to cope with cultural
differences in positive ways, with a respect
towards new cultures and willingness to learn
and adapt to them. They need to acknowledge
the significance of cultural diversity, and
show a readiness to embrace initiatives and
opinions regardless of which culture they
come from.
JANUARY 2018 33
F E A T U R E Cross-culture working
know that until someone in China told
me I was being offensive by just putting it
in my handbag.”
The need for clarity
Of course, language continues to baffle.
When business colleagues from different
regions don’t share the same news or
cultural references and phrases, the only
vocabulary commonalities might be the
technical speak specific to their work.
Lloyds Register is a highly technical
organisation, explains Thecla. “There’s
terminology that everyone on the
technical side gets. But we have a UK-
based comms team that is proactive and
well networked, and wants to be more
engaging. We’re trying to draw people
into the product through engaging
headlines and a warmer, more informal
tone of voice. That’s great, but you have
the problem of colloquialism, puns and
pop culture – you can’t alienate your non-
native-English speakers. They won’t know
what on earth you’re talking about.
“It can be hard to be imaginative. You
have to be engaging, but literal – go back
to basics. You almost have to imagine
everyone is 10.”
Failure to be absolutely crystal clear in
what you are saying can cause confusion
and delays.
A casually worded instruction or
reply might seem crystal clear to you,
but someone else may infer an entirely
different meaning.
The first few months of working with
colleagues in Asia were challenging for
Verity. “English is a universal business
language, but in different ways. In China
and Japan, people say ‘Yes’, but only to
show they are listening to you – not
necessarily to say that they agree with you.
No one told me that. We’d have endless
In some
cultures, if
you don’t have
a relationship with
someone – if you haven’t
physically met them –
and you ask them to do
something by email, you
won’t even get a reply.
SHARON WATSON, NORTH P&I
34 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
AND OUR SURVEY SAYS
WE ASKED:
If you liaise regularly with
colleagues or clients in
another country, what is
your biggest challenge?
Source: IoIC poll
46%
Different timezones
7%
Incompatible
technology
conversations about, say, the strategy for
an event and they’d say, ‘Yes, yes, yes’, but
then I’d see photos come back and things
hadn’t been done as I’d suggested.”
Explicit vs implicit language
There are explicit and implicit cultures in
the way people communicate in different
countries. French or Spanish people, for
instance, are explicit – to the point, no messing
around. English people are more implicit.
If in doubt, spell it out and seek clarity.
Judith Desporte, a French native
working in Paris, recalls launching a
project and emailing a British colleague
to invite him to be a part of it. “My
impression was that he hadn’t answered
me, so I phoned him and he told me that
he had answered, but his answer had been
so implicit – so English and polite – that
I hadn’t understood.”
Sharon Watson is also familiar with
the differences between the written and
spoken word and the importance of not
judging someone based on one or the
other: “I’ve had emails from people that
look rude, but when I pick up the phone
and speak to them, they’re perfectly
polite. In some cultures, if you don’t have
a relationship with someone – if you
haven’t physically met them – and you
ask them to do something by email, you
won’t even get a reply.
“I’ve learned I have to be explicit with
some people to get my message across.
I have to say, ‘This is what I want you to do
with the information.’”
13%
Language
misunderstanding
34%
Different culture/
customs
In a previous role, Judith worked with
Sharon at Sage. She recalls an important
pan-European marketing meeting where
people had different expectations and,
therefore, different levels of satisfaction in
how the day went.
“Everyone who came from the south
of Europe was happy and thought it was
a useful opportunity to meet people and
build relationships,” says Judith. “But
the German and English colleagues felt
nothing had been achieved in terms of
our goals and that we’d wasted time.
After that, we agreed rules about meeting
structure – that we needed time at the
beginning to chat and find out how
people were, but then move on to a
business agenda. If you don’t find a way
to work together, you will have a problem
with inefficiency.”
Sharon recalls: “Some people thought
it was acceptable to be on their laptops
during the meeting, and it caused friction
because others thought they weren’t
listening. We learned from this meeting
and asked everyone what annoyed them
about it. We found ways to compromise
for future sessions. For example, we
included more five-minute breaks into
the meeting and asked people to use that
time for urgent calls and to check emails.
That helped smooth things over.”
Prompted by this meeting, Judith and
Sharon’s international business unit at
Sage had a valuable training session to
understand different cultural profiles.
“We discussed national stereotypes
IOIC.ORG.UK
and measured where we each were in
terms of things like communication and
management,” says Judith. “I discovered
in some areas I am almost English,
especially around meetings and deadlines.
But in culture and communicating, I am
definitely from the south of Europe. Some
people think I am being rude, when I’m
just direct. I am from an explicit culture.
It was an important step in raising
awareness of where meanings differ from
one country to another, and establishing
how we could bring some commonalities
to help each other.”
Value in face-to-face discussions
This spirit of openly exploring and
understanding differences, and
particularly meeting in person, is critical
to breaking down some of the blocks
to communicating effectively with
international colleagues.
“Even though it’s a hassle to travel
around, meeting people face to face is
important,” says Sharon. “There’s also
power in informal meetings. When I
was travelling to other offices, going for
lunch or dinner with people was just as
valuable for relationship building. People
let their guard down in social settings.
Once you’ve established that relationship
and you understand their quirks, it
VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK
should be enough to use the phone and
videoconferencing.”
Shoes retailer Clarks tried to bring a bit of
Asian culture to the office in rural Somerset.
Lunch-and-learn sessions explored Asian
food and celebrations, and explained
how working with colleagues in China
affected the company’s business cycle.
More significantly, team secondments of
up to two years – a Chinese employee in
Somerset and vice versa – helped everyone
understand different cultures.
“We are all human and have our own
frames of reference,” says Verity. “With
the best will in the world, it’s hard to
relate to someone brought up in Asia
with different cultures and values. You
have to do what you can to foster an
understanding. You want to do business
with people you have a rapport with. When
you’re working internationally, there can
be misunderstandings and that trust can
quickly fall apart.”
Even then, be prepared for not everyone
being at ease at the intermingling of
cultures.
“I had British colleagues who felt
uncomfortable when Chinese colleagues
sat within the team and talked in their
own language,” says Verity. “They thought
it was inappropriate. We got both groups
of people together and talked about
it honestly, to help them better work
together. But it was an unexpected issue
and HR had a challenging time helping
people not feel alienated.”
It sounds simple enough, but
technology that enables you to speak to
or see someone 10,000 miles away is no
substitute for being there in the flesh. If
you are operating in a global business and
need to build a relationship with a team
on the other side of the world, invest in
time to meet people and listen to their
requirements.
“You can’t beat meeting face to face –
and do it early on,” advises Verity. “I joined
Clarks in the summer and didn’t get to
China till December and by then we’d had
six months of confusion.”
“Being clear on your culture and
explaining where you come from is really
important,” says Judith. “Make an effort
with the language, even if it’s two words,
and speak slowly, especially to people who
aren’t fluent or native. And never assume
that people have understood what you
are saying.”
Be patient, concludes Thecla. “We have
great tools that allow us to communicate
instantly with people, but you have to be
more open to the fact that stuff gets lost in
translation. Just think to yourself: ‘I am not
other people. Other people are not me.’”
JANUARY 2018 35
I C S T O R I E S Ludicrous comms

“Smearin g o f t h e
toilet wa l ls i s
i ctly f o r b i dd en”
st r
As internal communicators, your focus is to get Back in the mists of time,
employees fired up and passionate about the corporate when my main job was editor
of the in-house mag, I was
strategy, the future of the business, the desire to innovate asked by an employee to
and collaborate. But sometimes you’re asked to talk advertise his dinner party.
I politely refused.
about toilets and conkers. We asked IC practitioners for Never did get an invite
the funniest, strangest or most ludicrous things they have either. Hey ho.
STUART MILLS, principal
been asked to communicate to employees. internal communications
business partner, BT Group

I was once called to an

emergency meeting with
the facilities management
Communications have a team who wanted me to
vital role to play in every urgently communicate with
organisation in making sure all employees that they shouldn’t
that the workforce is safe, block any toilets with underpants
secure and sensible. because it caused flooding and they
We have an armoury of digital and would class it as criminal damage
traditional tools to do this; we can if it happened again. We don’t know
change behaviours with the click of exactly how a pair of men’s pants got
our fingers. I was therefore delighted down the toilet – changing seemed
to be asked to put all my skills to the least outlandish reason – but
use in promoting the company’s new I had to talk the team down and
drone-flying policy. It covered, in six pages avoid them putting up posters.
of painstaking detail, such vital issues as I think they thought it was
the protocols that had to be complied with the start of office mayhem
before “one or more of these devices can rather than an accident.
be legitimately operated on our premises”. I bet the person it happened
The ‘authorisation to fly’ form left no stone to was embarrassed enough
unturned in covering UASs, UAVs, SUAs and that they caused a flood – and
SUSAs. I left work on cloud nine that day! were pantless for a day.
ANDY WILLIAMSON, head of internal communications ELLIE MURRAY, senior director of
and engagement, University of East London internal communications, Criteo

36 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION IOIC.ORG.UK

 I spent several years
working in transport
internal comms. When
passengers are sick on
trains, it’s a real issue
and my company changed its policy
from taking trains out of service for
cleaning, to be cleaned in service
instead – a very big deal for reliability.
Vomit has to be removed safely and
it was down to me to explain how.
Because of varying rolling stocks, each
communication had to be tailored to the
train in a step-by-step guide – meaning
I resized somewhere in the region of 20
jpgs of piles of sick, which will stay with
me forever. Bleugh!
SARAH CRITCHLEY, communications and
engagement manager

We’re always on the lookout for interesting people stories at work,

but weren’t expecting to find out that we had the world conker champion
in our midst. This was interesting enough as it was, but got even better
when he told us that he’d beaten opponents dressed as a water melon,
Bob the Builder and a bee. His wife also took part, but lost to a man in a
penguin suit in the second round. Somehow I had to try and get the right balance between
achievement and ridicule, which, hopefully, I just about managed.
STEIN DUNNE, internal communications adviser, Coventry Building Society

I was once asked to produce A long time ago, my

posters to encourage people to use team was asked to ban
the toilet brush after they’d been to the word “feedback”
the loo... I politely refused and now from all official internal
use the request for ‘poo comms’ as an example communications. It was claimed the
of our role’s boundaries! I’m pretty sure it was all word carried negative connotations,
down to one repeat offender, although the posters as the idea of pushing your thoughts
probably would have made others giggle... back to someone was aggressive
LAURA WAGER, head of internal communications, and confrontational. The proposed
Royal College of Nursing solution – and I’m being completely
serious – was to instead use the word
“feedforward”. For example, “Does
It was a few years back when a anyone have any ‘feedforward’ about
colleague from a facilities team our new strategy?” 
(in a previous organisation) asked We politely refused
for an email forbidding any further and common sense
smearing of the toilet walls with, shall we say, fresh eventually prevailed
organic produce. I felt terrible for them having to after we gently pointed
deal with that situation, but sometimes the only out that people wouldn’t
answer is a polite but firm “no”. have any idea what we
JOE TURRENT, internal communications content manager, were on about. 
British Heart Foundation MATT WARD, IC and employee
engagement specialist

VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK
F E A T U R E Disabilities

E V E R Y O N E ’ S

I N V I T E D

Millions of people have disabilities that affect how

they communicate. How can internal communications
professionals keep everyone in the loop and ensure
all employees feel welcome and included?
WORDS: ROBERT L ANGKJAER-BAIN
POLINA MALTSEVA/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

38 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION VOICE.IOIC.ORG.UK

 n email to all staff. A
sales presentation. A job interview. A chat by the water
cooler. All pretty routine occurrences for an internal
communications professional. But what if one or more
of the people involved has a disability that affects their
communication?
Nine million people in the UK have hearing loss,
and another two million have sight loss. Some of them
probably work for your organisation. Conditions such
as dyslexia and autism can also affect how people
communicate.
There’s no reason that people with these conditions
can’t do most jobs as well as anyone else. In fact, in the
UK, the law requires employers to make “reasonable
adjustments” so that workers with disabilities can get on
with their jobs.
For blind and partially sighted people, this might
mean providing software that magnifies text, or screen
readers that read text out loud, such as ZoomText or
JAWS (Job Access With Speech). It could also involve
altering lighting levels, allowing people to bring a guide
dog to work, or assigning some duties to other staff. For
people with hearing loss, it might mean providing video-
calling software such as Skype, using text messages to
communicate, or providing speech-to-text services.
Employees can also apply for grants under the
government’s Access to Work scheme to cover the cost
of more specialised support, although recent spending
cuts have made these harder to get, and a cap on the
value of grants means support for those who rely on sign
language interpreting is limited.
Building intelligence on disability
For internal comms practitioners, there are plenty of
ways to provide more support to colleagues who need it.
The Business Disability Forum (BDF), which helps
employers become “disability smart”, publishes extensive
advice on communication at work.
For written communications, the BDF
suggests a number of measures to make
materials accessible to those with visual
impairments, dyslexia or autism. These
sight loss has different
include using a sans serif font in a large preferences. Don’t make
point size; avoiding italics, underlining, the assumption that
capitalisation and coloured text; explaining
images to those who can’t see them; and everyone is the same.
adding subtitles to videos. PAT MOSSOP, RNIB
VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK
MONIKA WISNIEWSKA/ADOBESTOCK.COM
As well as detailed practical guidance, the BDF offers
A cap on government
grants is having a
more general tips on how to treat people with disabilities.
detrimental impact
Some of it is common sense – and some of it is probably
on sign language
services in thenot-so-common sense.
First of all, treat people like you would anyone else,
workplace, which in
don’t make assumptions and, if in doubt about what
turn is affecting some
employees’ career
someone needs, ask.
development
Most disabilities, the BDF points out, are not obvious,
and “you are unlikely to know whether or not even
someone in a small, internal audience has a disability. It is
therefore essential to remove barriers wherever possible,
and regularly offer to provide material in alternative
formats”.
Jo Clay is head of inclusive resourcing at Equal
Approach, which helps organisations make their
recruitment processes more inclusive. She says the
technical challenges of making communications
accessible are relatively straightforward. The real
challenges are the barriers in the recruitment process –
such as jobs boards that don’t work with screen readers,
or not offering the option of phone interviews – and the
views of employees.
“Perception is probably the biggest challenge,” says Jo.
“The fear of ‘getting it wrong’ can often steer recruiters
and hiring managers into a fixed mindset where they
focus on reasons why a person with a
visual or hearing impairment may not be
Everyone with able to perform elements of a role, rather
than focusing on the areas they could excel
at and the value their unique perspective
would bring.”
Organisations can improve, she says,
by simply asking employees or candidates
who have sight or hearing loss to give
feedback on the recruitment process.
JANUARY 2018 39
 F E A T U R E Disabilities

We asked: 7% 0%
How would you rate the
Good Excellent
support your company
offers employees with
disabilities to hear/read
comms in your
company

40%
OK – could
be better

53% Poll by IoIC

Poor – little/no support
RNIB

“Progress is being made in this area by many large
employers, as they look to become more inclusive,” says
Jo. “But in general, many employers are still a long way
from being exemplary in supporting those with visual
and hearing impairments.”
Everyone is different
One employer that takes inclusion very seriously is the
Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB).
Pat Mossop, the charity’s head of internal
communications and engagement, says: “We have a really
specific and consistent way of laying out documents so
they can be converted easily by someone using assistive
technology, like digital braille outputs and screen readers.
This way, someone with sight loss can engage with the
content on as equal as possible a basis with someone
who is sighted.”
Everyone at RNIB uses a Word template to create
documents, with heading styles, font size and so on. “All
staff go through specialist training to create accessible
documents, as well as on how to guide someone who’s
partially sighted,” says Pat. “In meetings, everyone
always introduces themselves and says who they are, so
everyone knows who is in the room. It’s the simple stuff
that matters most.”
Alongside practical steps like these, Pat says it is vital to
realise that everybody is different.
“Everyone with sight loss has different
preferences and manages in different ways,
and that’s really personal to them. So don’t
make the assumption that everyone is the
same. The way you clarify it is just by asking
the person: does this work for you? How
would you like that information? What are
your preferences? Have that conversation.”
For instance, since some people with sight
loss have some form of vision, they may be
Handheld magnifiers happy to read short documents in an accessible format,
and dictaphones, but for longer documents they may prefer an audio tool,
which can record such as a screen reader. It’s up to the individual.
audio notes to be
transcribed into text,
Understanding how different people work and absorb
are simple tools information is key, says Pat, and is exactly the kind of
that can support thing internal comms people ought to be doing anyway.
employees with sight It’s also important to have “respect for the value
or hearing loss
that diversity brings”, he says. “Different people bring
different things. By having sight loss, you have that lived
experience that sighted people don’t and that hugely
adds to our work.”
Best practice intranets
Many employers are following RNIB’s lead and starting to
see the value in making improvements.
Rosaleen Kelly is internal communications delivery
lead at Scottish Water, which has been increasing its
focus on making communications accessible, and has
recently launched an upgraded intranet with accessibility
at its heart.
Rosaleen says: “When we reviewed our content, we
found a few easy things we could improve, like adding
text alternatives for images, adding transcripts for video
and audio, and subtitling video. On text pages, using
proper heading structures and contextual links helps
technologies like screen readers make sense of our pages.
“For me, it’s just part of the good practice
that includes varying your communication
Even people who don’t styles, using plain English, using visuals
have hearing loss can and tailoring your content. Even people
who don’t have hearing loss can benefit
benefit from subtitles. from subtitles on a video, and if everyone
If everyone can access can access the same version, I hope it feels
more inclusive.”
the same version, I hope it The company has an internal disability
feels more inclusive. forum, a group of employees who support
ROSALEEN KELLY, SCOTTISH WATER each other, broaden understanding across

40 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION VOICE.IOIC.ORG.UK

the organisation and help test emerging IT systems.
Rosaleen’s team works with the forum to help test
communications and suggest improvements.
I N S I G H T
Jonathan Bryson, chair of Scottish Water’s internal

“Not hearing well is often

disability forum, says that effective communication is
vital for supporting people with disabilities. “Making
adjustments to internal communication channels and
materials ensures that people with hearing loss or visual
impairments are included and get the messages that
misunderstood as just not listening”
the rest of their colleagues receive. Those changes are an Being open about hearing loss with colleagues and
important signal about the values of the company – that employers can be difficult. Ralph, an architect working in
all employees are important and the company wants to
support all colleagues in delivering their work and being
London, found it was not always encouraged or well received.
part of the organisation.” I was born with significant They then had a discussion with
Internal communications can also be used to raise hearing loss. Over the years, the employer about it, and from
awareness of specific medical conditions and diversity as I have found ways to overcome that moment the employer realised
a whole. Colleagues with invisible disabilities or health and manage it, by being careful that just changing the way they
issues particularly might not identify themselves as where I sit in meetings or by lip communicated meant the problem
living with these conditions. reading. went away or could be managed.
“Some people may prefer to keep things private, One thing I have often They didn’t have to do anything
and others may feel it will reflect negatively on them,” struggled with is when bar just acknowledging it, and
says Jonathan. “If internal communications can spread colleagues ask a question from speaking directly, clearly or more
awareness of conditions or the support the organisation over a computer or the other slowly, for example.
can give, this can create a more open culture and side of the office, and I simply do I think it’s a good lesson that
encourage staff to talk about their circumstances and not hear them. It often leads to there can be simple ways of
seek support where needed. It can also help colleagues awkwardness or frustration for managing or dealing with things.
better relate to disabled team members, and perhaps both parties. I rely on lip reading But I think many companies do see
also customers that have disabilities.” or sometimes simply guessing hearing loss as a negative, which
Rosaleen sees her team’s work with the forum as part and interpreting what people makes you feel like you are starting
of regular stakeholder planning and considerations. “It’s say if I don’t hear everything. on the back foot if you tell them
not always about doing something differently,” she says. Sometimes I just have to ask everything from the outset.
“We coach leaders to understand their team, their needs people to repeat things, which I have always tried to keep my
and create the environment where people can speak to can easily be interpreted as not hearing problem quiet or private,
their manager about anything they need to do their job listening or not paying attention. although I’ve always declared it
and feel part of the Scottish Water community. Sometimes I think I am talking when asked or required to. I find
“It’s about more than just making sure we don’t quietly. However, to others, this most people and companies I have
accidentally exclude anyone, it’s crucial to explore what is not the case, which can often worked for don’t really know what
we can do to ensure all our communities – stakeholders, lead to comments because to do about it. It inevitably leads
colleagues, peers – are able to engage and contribute.” people don’t know the reason to a number of questions, but not
behind it and I am not always many answers. I have always felt
Fighting feelings of helplessness conscious of doing it. the onus is on me to devise ways to
But even when employers are sympathetic, cultural On the flip side, there are manage or live with it.
issues can create challenges for those with hearing many instances when I don’t I would like to think that
and sight loss. struggle or experience any I could rely on my company if
Mike works in marketing in the building services effect of the condition. I needed something from them
industry in San Francisco and has hearing loss in both ears. A few years ago, I was in a or if I was having issues. At the
He doesn’t mince his words about what’s it’s like to be situation where an employer same time, in my experience it is
hard of hearing at work. was getting annoyed with a often misunderstood as a sign of
“It’s really hell,” he says. “It’s a competitive world, and colleague and said to me that weakness or not being engaged if
people will use any sign of weakness to attack or ignore this person was not listening you don’t hear something.
you. It can be hard to get ahead.” to them. And what works for one person
Often, it’s a case of “missing random parts of words, Having a hearing problem may not work for another, so I don’t
sentences and conversations, then trying to cover your myself, I said that I thought think there is an easy way to tackle
ass when asked a direct question”, he says. “I guess I this person did too, although issues like this.
kind of appreciate the sharpened focus of being a better they had never said anything. I would be lying if I said it didn’t
‘non-verbal’ listener, but this is not entirely sufficient. The So I went away and asked the frustrate me sometimes, but my
overall feeling is one of helplessness and being left out.” person, who confirmed that they mentality is to remain positive and
Mike’s view of hearing aids is that they “suck”, are did have a hearing problem. never let it get me down.

VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK JANUARY 2018 41

F E A T U R E Disabilities

5 TIPS:
COMMUNICATING
WITH EMPLOYEES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
WITH DISABILITIES When using written
materials, remember
Provide partially
sighted people
Stick to the
agenda in
Do not speak
with your back
Speak directly
to people, even
Simple changes to the way you that people with with papers meetings, so to a light source. if they are
hearing problems for meetings in everyone can People with accompanied
talk and share information can can’t read at the advance. follow easily. hearing loss by an
make a significant difference. same time as lip won’t be able to interpreter or
reading or watching read your lips. assistant.
an interpreter.

expensive and perform poorly. “Mine fail all the time,

at the most crucial moments.” He believes employers
should do more to raise awareness of disability and age
discrimination – “There’s a deep fear of being seen as old
and weak” – but on an individual level.
“First you have to recognise the problem, which is often
really difficult,” he says. “Then I might counsel someone
to tell trusted colleagues about their disability so they
have that person’s back in meetings. It’s not realistic to
expect everyone to be really ‘out front’ about a disability.”
The experiences of Mike and others chime with
comments from members of the UK’s British Deaf
Association in a 2012 survey on workplace issues. One
person said they were stuck at the bottom rung of
their organisation for eight years and that “as a deaf
person, I couldn’t get promoted”. Others blamed cuts in
government grants for making it “virtually impossible”
to get promoted if you relied on sign language.
Many deaf people reported trouble getting job Visually impaired visually impaired councillors to participate fully in
interviews, and even those who didn’t reveal they were employees may rely on political debates, and even installing audio and visual
deaf before an interview found that employers would software that zooms in controls in the lifts.
on text or ‘reads’ their
“back off” once they found out. Pat Mossop of the RNIB says the key to making things
screen aloud
better is focusing on what people can do, not what they
Changing perceptions can’t. “People with sight loss work and flourish across
It’s clear that the cultural challenges facing people with all sectors and are super-talented,” he says. “All over the
disabilities in the workplace are deeply ingrained. But world, people are doing jobs that others might think
many companies are taking concrete steps to make the couldn’t be done with sight loss. What needs to be
necessary shift in thinking. improved is people challenging those perceptions and
In 2015, CGI began using live captioning for its thinking what the opportunities could be. It’s just about
EVGENII_BOBROV/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM, DI_STUDIO/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

quarterly staff teleconferences, allowing deaf employees
to participate in real-time. The IT company runs a
capability network to encourage employees to share
experiences. Its president of UK operations, Steve Thorn,
i
has said he has been “overwhelmed by the stories which
our members had previously kept to themselves and,
through the network, finally had the courage to share. It
starts the ripples of confidence and conversation.”
In London, Brent Council has taken communications
into account in a major refurbishment of its civic centre,
introducing audio and visual notifications to enable
respecting other people, thinking about the contribution
they can make and not putting barriers up.”
MORE INFORMATION
• The BDF’s Disability Communication Guide can be downloaded
from bit.ly/disabilitycommsguide
• T
 he RNIB’s guide to working with blind and partially sighted
colleagues can be found at bit.ly/workingwithbpspeople
• T
 he Royal Association for Deaf People has a team of employment
advisers to help deaf people succeed at work: bit.ly/rademployment

42 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION VOICE.IOIC.ORG.UK


Everyone needs a bit of uninterrupted time in the office
to reach a deadline. For many, that means plugging in
to Adele, Michael Ball or the Ministry of Sound to tune
out the noise around them. To others, this can look
like an antisocial colleague shutting himself or herself
away. Lisa Riemers and Lucy Eckley consider whether
wearing headphones in the office is an essential of
modern working life or poor workplace etiquette.
THE CASE FOR
HEADPHONES – and coffee – can, for me, be the difference between
getting a tonne of planning, research and writing done, or leaving work
feeling like I’ve achieved nothing on my to-do list.
Gone are the days of offices with closed doors; in today’s
open-plan working environment, people are more
accessible than ever, although occasionally to the
detriment of Getting Stuff Done.
There’s a lot of value in happenstance.
Casual desk drop-ins can be a quick and
easy way to have conversations that FOR/AGAINST
would otherwise take several emails.
They can also swing you wildly off
course onto someone else’s priorities if IS IT ACCEPTABLE
you’re not careful.
If there’s something that demands
TO WEAR
my undivided attention, I’m yet to find
a better way of focusing than grabbing
HEADPHONES WHILE
a coffee and donning my headphones.
Whether that’s with fast-paced, repetitive
WORKING IN THE
music or a mindfulness track to give that
two-minute pause. And it’s not just in noisy
OFFICE?
environments either – I might even wear them
in an eerily quiet office or while working at home.
Headphones can be a useful warning that you are on
“do not disturb”, and may reduce the number of interruptions
in your flow, although don’t shut yourself off completely. Stay
approachable and be clear with your colleagues if you’re on a
deadline – and be open if someone does need your attention.
With meeting rooms at a premium and working from home
not always viable, headphones can help provide short, focused
bursts, letting distractions fade into the ether. And when you’re
done, be sure to check in with your colleagues – although
respect their space if they’ve got their headphones on.
surprised what you discover.
LISA RIEMERS,
FREELANCE DIGITAL
COMMUNICATIONS
SPECIALIST
VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK
F O R / A G A I N S T Headphones
LUCY ECKLEY,
DIRECTOR,
BUILD YOUR
BRAND STORY
THE CASE AGAINST
GETTING work done in an open-plan office can be
challenging at the best of times. Add a crazy deadline
or the need for some serious creative thinking, and your
productivity can plummet.
For many people, the answer is to reach for the
headphones. I’m the first to do this in a coffee
shop or on the train. It helps me drown out the
background noise and concentrate. But I’ll
never do it in the office. Why? Because,
as communicators, it’s our duty to stay
connected to what’s going on around
us; to understand the culture and the
current issues of the organisations we
work with.
To do our jobs effectively, we
need to build relationships. Great
teamwork and collaboration happen
when people are connecting with each
other, not when they’re shut away in
their own worlds.
There are many alternatives to retreating
behind your headphones. It’s just about finding
the one that works for you. Does your office have
a quiet space you can move to when you need to focus?
Can you book a meeting room?
Be open and tell your colleagues when you need to spend a couple
of hours immersed in something. Know your most productive times
and schedule chunky projects for then.
Do you need to be in the office at all? Plan your diary so you can
work from home when you’ve got a big piece of work that demands
your full attention. Then, when you are at your desk, you can be fully
present in what’s going on.
So go on, ditch the headphones in the office – you might be
i WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Does wearing headphones in the office improve your
productivity? Or does shouting and waving to get a
colleague’s attention, not to mention the tinny sound of
their music, drive you mad? Email us at voice@ioic.org.uk
JANUARY 2018 43
YOUR IoIC
AND MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS FROM IoIC
NETWORKING
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE: UNIQUE NETWORK
WILL INSPIRE NEXT GENERATION OF IC EXPERTS
T
he next generation of internal
comms professionals will
be given increased support
to progress and build their
knowledge and skills through a new
network being launched by IoIC – the first
of its kind.
FutureNet is aimed at people just
starting on their IC journey and will be an
essential component of IoIC’s dedicated
offering to anyone entering the internal
communication profession.
Sarah Magee, IoIC professional
development manager, says: “We want to
increase the number of people working
in internal comms – both young people
joining the world of work, and others
making a career change or moving into
internal comms from a similar discipline.
In order to motivate them to stay in IC and
to prepare and protect the future of the
profession, it’s important that
they feel supported, promoted,
11.5%
developed and enabled.”
FutureNet’s mission is to
support practitioners under
the age of 30 and anyone of Percentage of internal
any age new to the world of comms professionals
internal comms through regular between the ages of
learning and networking events 20 and 30.
Source: VMA, Inside Insight
especially for them. FutureNet report, 2017
members will also get support
to move up the career ladder, with expert
guidance on topics such as preparing a
CV and interview skills, as well as other
advice through a careers clinic and job-
shadowing opportunities.
The initiative will help build the
next generation of senior leaders and
In order to prepare and
protect the future of the IC
profession, people need to
feel supported , promoted,
developed and enabled.
SARAH MAGEE, IoIC
44 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
A ROUND-UP OF NEWS, KNOWLEDGE
managers who can continue to raise the
profile and standards of IC, says Sarah. “We
want to show them the positive contribution
they can make to businesses and how they
can continue the work of more experienced
IC executives and managers
in improving how employees
are communicated with and
increasing engagement and
happiness in the workplace.
We hope FutureNet will help
develop future ambassadors for
our industry.”
FutureNet will be managed
and supported by IoIC and
run by one chairperson and a
committee of up to 10 members from the
network, voted in by the other members.
IoIC chief executive Jennifer Sproul says
FutureNet will be critical to IoIC’s work to
help members be the best they can be. “To
be seen as the professional body driving
the future of IC, we need to be continually
encouraging and supporting the next
generation of communicators.
“There is nothing else like FutureNet
for young and aspiring internal comms
people out there at the moment, and this
will be hugely beneficial to the Institute
and our overall strategy, and ultimately the
entire profession.”
JOINING FUTURENET
Who can join?
• You must be a member of IoIC.
• You must be 30 or under or have
less than three years’ experience
in internal communication.
• You must be willing to
demonstrate your commitment
to the network and offer your
support in event planning.
• You must be an advocate of the
profession and IoIC.
Why join?
• There will be dedicated annual
events across regions – a mix
of learning and networking
sessions.
• Extend your network and share
knowledge with people at the
same stage in their career as you.
• Get a discount on applications for
IoIC awards related to individual
rising talent.
• Career progression support
is offered through CV reviews,
interview preparation guidance,
job shadowing, internship
placements and a careers clinic.
• There are opportunities to
steer FutureNet by sitting on or
chairing the committee.
MONKEY BUSINESS IMAGES/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
i More information
To find out more or apply to join, visit
ioic.org.uk/FutureNet.
VOICE.IOIC.ORG.UK
 HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?
What information and support do you need from IoIC?
Tell us by emailing voice@ioic.org.uk

EVENTS

IoIC LIVE: TRANSFORMING REPUTATION IN SHORT

R
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

IoIC news in
eputation matters. Whether it’s stories, so that we help to broaden
a nutshell
corporate reputation, how an knowledge and inspire delegates to think
IC team is perceived internally about what is the ‘new normal’ for IC in a
or your own personal reputation-driven world.”
brand, internal communicators The conference will include Membership figures soar
can influence, transform and breakout sessions, giving IoIC’s membership has hit a record
reset reputation. delegates choice of content and figure. To the end of November, 427
“Transforming reputation” is more networking opportunities new members joined throughout 2017
the theme of the IoIC Live 2018 in smaller groups, with practical – more than in any other year (the
conference in Birmingham, case studies and thought- previous record was 236). The total
10-11 May 2018. IoIC director provoking keynote sessions membership is now at nearly 1,300 –
of awards and events Justine blended in. also a record. Chief executive Jennifer
Stevenson says: “We’re bringing together IoIC will announce the full programme in Sproul says: “I am thrilled to see such
speakers with different perspectives and the coming months. an increase in membership. This
shows a profession that is growing,
Fancy an early, early bird saving? but also determined to demonstrate
Bookings are open for full-time conference delegates, with £100 off the cost. Book by the its unique and vital role in business.”
end of December, quoting EEB18, by emailing brenda@ioic.org.uk to secure your place at
the discounted rate of £450 – excellent value for an overnight stay in a four-star hotel, with Mission Excellence touches down
all meals and sessions from Thursday 10 May to Friday 11 May 2018. The IoIC Central & North celebration
dinner at the National Space
Centre in Leicester promises to be
WHAT’S ON? a glittering celebration of the best
internal communicators from the
Around the UK and Ireland, there is plenty going on to work your brain’s comms muscles. two regions. The space-age themed
8 FEBRUARY 21 FEBRUARY 8 MARCH event on Thursday 1 March promises
STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS HANDLING DIFFICULT COPY EMERGENETICS: INDIVIDUAL to be a spectacular networking
DUBLIN LONDON COMMUNICATION event. Even if you’re not up for an
This course highlights how Sometimes internal PREFERENCES LONDON award, there is fine dining and even
external factors impact communicators need to This course explores finer dancing to be enjoyed. Tickets
business, and how you can write more than engaging how much more impact are £89 plus VAT for IoIC members
respond through comms business stories and top-line you could have if you and £100 plus VAT for non-members.
that align with the business strategic messages. How communicated with others For information, including details of
strategy and keep people do you make technical in the way they wish to be local hotels offering discounts, and
informed of changes. reporting engaging and easy communicated with. to book, email brenda@ioic.org.uk.
to understand for everyone?
15 FEBRUARY 22 MARCH Diploma graduates flying high
BECOMING A TRUSTED ADVISER 22 FEBRUARY MAXIMISING THE VALUE OF The latest cohort of the Foundation
LONDON CREATING VIDEO COMMS COMMUNICATION CHANNELS and Advanced Diplomas of
With so much noise within LONDON LEEDS Proficiency in Internal Communication
any organisation, leaders This new course will equip How do you choose the have completed their courses,
must ensure their messages you with the skills and most appropriate comms with Rob Leaney from pet charity
are clear and consistent – knowledge to produce methods? This course will Blue Cross and Siobhan Biggane
and internal communicators’ compelling and engaging tell you how to get the most from Community Integrated Care
guidance is key to achieving video content, including out of your channels and recognised as the highest achievers
this and preventing leaders sessions on scriptwriting, use them to reinforce, not respectively in each course. Read an
from looking foolish. production and presentation. duplicate, key messages. interview with Rob and Siobhan in the
News section of ioic.org.uk.
For information on these and other upcoming courses, follow IoIC on Twitter at @IoICNews.
i For details of all upcoming courses and to register your place, visit the Professional development >
Upcoming courses or Events > Events calendar pages on ioic.org.uk

VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK JANUARY 2018 45

YOUR VOICE
Inb x
As pleased as Punch with Voice mag
I just wanted to say how impressed I
have been with Voice magazine since its
introduction. It’s a publication that packs
a real punch, tackles some big issues and
provides snippets of ‘quickfire’ info that are
interesting/useful. I don’t always see that
from membership magazines, so wanted
to pass on the feedback.
PAUL SWEETMAN, director, Sweet Comms
Honesty is the only policy when
the ‘R’-word comes up
Re: redundancies (Voice,
issue 4). When there are
redundancies, communicate
honestly. Tell employees as
much as you can as soon as you
can, engage with them frequently
and keep the dialogue going, offer
empathy and support with CV writing,
give them time out for job hunting, provide
professional career guidance and coaching,
a training allowance and an external
counselling service, if this is needed.
Organisations often underestimate the
huge and devastating impact of redundancy
– the word itself isn’t great for a person’s
self esteem and confidence when trying
to look for a new job. A good redundancy
package will also lessen the blow. The
reputation of the organisation depends very
much on how redundancy is handled.
NAOMI BLACKWELL, communications
consultant
Lean and soft metrics can clear
up measurement muddle
Re: measurement (Voice, issue 4). Employee
engagement is a difficult one to measure
and track because it
is so poorly defined.
What confuses and
muddies the water
further is when
people use the
term engagement
interchangeably or
as a blanket term
46 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF IoIC
MEMBERS AND INDUSTRY EXPERTS
Your opinions on Voice, and thoughts, worries and rants about the
world of internal communication. Email us at voice@ioic.org.uk
(subject: Inbox). Letters may be edited.
for multiple metrics. I always recommend a
blend of lean sigma metrics coupled with
soft metrics like employee satisfaction
surveys and employee benefits programme
utilisation.
If people aren’t making use of benefits
like annual leave and perks, then you need
to dig deeper.
OMAR NAWAZ, freelance innovation strategist
Getting leadership off on the right foot
What makes a good leader (Voice,
issue 4)? It’s someone who can – and
does – put themselves in others’
shoes, using that perspective to
build strong connections; who
actively encourages genuine two-
way discussion and contribution
and thanks people for their input;
who admits when they’re wrong.
SARAH BROWNING, culture and communications
specialist
Have you successfully embedded values?
I have recently started work in a new role
at a time when the organisation is looking
carefully at its values and vision. Before my
arrival, the organisation went through a really
collaborative development process to create
a new vision statement and a set of four
brand values, with input and engagement
from across the organisation.
We are now at a stage where I will be
working to build on those values to help us
all understand what they mean in practice,
and to embed them in the way we work and
behave. Of course what works depends on
the organisational culture, size, channels,
etc, but I’m curious to learn about others’
experiences of embedding values and making
them meaningful in
practice.
Does anyone have
OUR INTRANET
examples of how they
have successfully
done this?
EMMA KEMP, internal
engagement manager,
National Galleries of
Scotland
Keeping it social
Views and musings from
IoIC’s social media channels.
TWITTER
SUE PALFREY (@suepacomms)
I can’t even begin to describe how
proud I am to have been awarded
Internal Communicator of the Year by
@IoICNews #ioicicons17 #InternalComms
#bursting #lovemyjob #lovewhatwedo
TINA BURTON (@Tina_in_Comms)
On alternatives to the word
“engagement”: I like the word
“belonging”. Some words/terms that I’m
hearing across the field, too: balance,
work-life, work wellness, work-family
On IoIC’s Twitter poll about the most effective
way of reaching staff:
INÊS (@ines_onrcomms)
You need to think about actual
reach versus potential reach. We
send a newsletter that reaches all staff but
only a proportion read; f2f reaches out
CLAIRE HOLT (@_holtygirl)
I make it a policy never to employ
someone who calls people ‘staff’
at interview. #pethate
LINKEDIN
On the value of mid-career qualifications:
For change comms, it’s the ability
to see clearly with two black eyes
and still influence while nursing a
split lip. Supplemented by the IoIC strategic
internal comms course which I had
delivered to me by Ian Harris. BEN TODD
Most IC teams are swamped
with requests to negotiate with
MATEJ KASTELIC/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
very little time for on-the-job
development. Uni/College doesn’t prepare
you for the differences in each business,
and IoIC courses allow you to use your day-
to-day IC experiences as the foundation to
tailor your own points of learning.
CLARE ELEVIQUE
VOICE.IOIC.ORG.UK
 GOT SOMETHING TO TELL US?
If you have a comment you would like to share, email us at
voice@ioic.org.uk

Ask an expert

JACOBLUND/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
How do I produce an engaging

F
internal film?
ilm is one of the most powerful ways of
getting your message across. If it’s short,
sweet and to the point, people will tune in.
TV producer Carlton Walls runs the
Smartphone Film School to teach businesses
how to make engaging video content on any
device with a camera.
“Video content can be used to deliver
company-wide messages, for quantifiable
training or company orientation and to generate
high-value testimonial feedback,” says Carlton.
“It’s a great way to showcase results, introduce
team members and distribute feedback from
customers. It also offers a different approach
to ‘the corporate voice’ and can be a fun and
interesting way of engaging any team members
involved in production.”

The Smartphone Film

CARLTON WALLS’ TOP FIVE TIPS FOR PRODUCING AN ENGAGING INTERNAL FILM
• Work out which types of video are best for
getting your message across. From staff
and customer testimonials to experience
films and training videos – different
approaches can really change the way
a message is received.
• Learn and practise the ‘golden rules’
of filming. Find the best light, steer
clear of noise interference and position
your camera and subject properly – you’ll
be amazed at the difference a few easy
tricks can make.
• Be prepared. Whether you are showcasing
a new product or service, or planning a
company-wide Facebook Live event – and
even if you only have five minutes to spare
– get some notes down on what you hope
to achieve and why.
• Know where you are going to broadcast.
You may be uploading to YouTube, the
company Facebook group, internal email
or Instagram. Think about your destination
and film accordingly.
• Think about bringing in a professional
crew. While doing it yourself is often the
ideal solution, staff often relax and open up
more when being interviewed and filmed
by external professionals who are trained
to make any appearance on camera as
painless as possible.
School runs video production
workshops for companies
and individuals. Training
covers how to make stand-
out video with a smartphone
or DSLR. Workshops
include a comprehensive
introduction and easy-to-
follow guides covering the essentials of video
production and presenter skills for business.
For details, visit smartphonefilmschool.co.uk
or get in touch with Carlton Walls by emailing
carlton@smartphonefilmschool.co.uk.
i Do you have a question about an IC or
employee engagement technique or
technology? If you have a problem, if no
one else can help, maybe email us at
voice@ioic.org.uk and we’ll try and find
an expert to offer some advice.

84
AND OUR SURVEY SAYS

WE ASKED: Where is
your preferred place
to work in order to be
most productive?
Coffee shop
Open-plan
office
Work from
home
% Percentage of people
who said Twitter’s plan
to double its character
Closed limit to 280 characters
office/ is a “terrible idea”.
booths

Polls by IoIC, 2017

VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK JANUARY 2018 47

 YOUR VOICE

I say, Do you remember the days of long, leisurely lunches, big teams and
I say... even bigger budgets? Now you’re probably understaffed and working
I say, on a shoestring – but are you more creative, more focused and more
respected? Is the creative and internal comms industry better
or worse than it was 15 years ago?

Fifteen years ago,
getting results out of an
non-existent budget was
the briefing. Nowadays,
larger budgets are a
threat: there is more
room for ‘the slippery
surface of irrelevant
creative brilliance’,
as Ogilvy once said.”
BRUNO CHAVES, founder, Invitro
Internal Communications Europe
There is a need to
be more nimble as
resources are stretched
and there are more
channels to populate;
but this forces people
to be more creative.
To stand out from the
crowd, IC output needs
to be exceptional.”
DANIEL LAMBIE, head of client
services, Connect Communications
Our value is now There’s a much
better understood and greater understanding
accepted by execs, but we of engagement and
could do more to develop why it’s important,
professional standards. which brings greater
We’re behind the curve influence and focus.
in adopting technology, In that vein, we’re better
which has the potential at measurement and
to transform employee proving the worth
experience.” of internal comms.”
PHILIPPA MELANIPHY, transformation JO LAIDLAW, freelance comms
comms manager, Wesleyan Assurance consultant and copywriter

WORK IT OUT WITH A PENCIL Review

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT – A LITTLE BOOK
OF BIG IDEAS Jasmine Gartner
The author sets out to identify the reasons
behind the low levels of engagement and to provide
tips for re-engaging our workforce, and links the
development of employee engagement with the growth
in productivity. The core of the book explores the five
lenses through which engagement can be viewed: the
company, the work itself, the team, the wider network and
society. In a short second section of the book, a simple
checklist for each of the spheres is provided, which the
reader can use in their own organisational environment.
It is well-written, largely jargon-free and enjoyable, quite
manageably digested in the course of a week’s commute.
It offers some useful examples and provides some simple
checklists, written with commitment and an evident
CPPHOTO/ADOBESTOCK

passion for the subject matter.

For more cartoons by Hel Reynolds about comms and the workplace, visit David Evans, Primeast Ltd
workitoutwithapencil.com or follow @HelReynolds on Twitter.

48 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION


If you have a comment you would like to share, email us at
A little more
conversation
Think of digital projects as boats and user experience
(UX) as your paddle, advises Robert Fransgaard,
VP of experience design at Sage.
Can you summarise user experience
– or UX – into something short and
snappy? The essence of UX is making a
product that is easy to use, fits the user’s
expectations, and also meets the business
goals. It should be usable and useful.
Snappy enough?
Very. Why is UX a hot topic? Because we
are all sophisticated digital consumers and
expect an easy, intuitive experience – and
when we don’t get that, we switch off.
And why should IC managers factor
UX into their work? Because they don’t
want their employees to switch off. User
satisfaction is intrinsically linked to
communication – if communication isn’t
relevant and easily accessible, it cannot be
effective.
Where should they start? Good
communication comes down to effectively
using each channel. A graphic designer
wouldn’t be doing his job effectively if
the typography and page layout were not
carefully designed to make it simple for the
reader to navigate, so they continue reading.
In digital design, the goal is the same –
helping the user obtain the information
they need, and possibly even surpass
their needs, by ensuring digital output is
designed with the user in mind.
What are some of the downsides
of ignoring the role of UX? A poor
user experience leads to a disengaged
employee, uninterested in whatever is
being communicated to him or her. If IC
is all about getting messages across – and
encouraging communication back – then
the speed, efficiency and relevance of the
vehicle delivering them is clearly vital.
Spending time and money on UX is about
getting a product right early on.
VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK
GOT SOMETHING TO TELL US?
voice@ioic.org.uk
How early on in a project are we
talking? Think of a digital project as a boat.
ONLINE
It starts out as a tiny dinghy, easy to push,
agile – changing something at this early
stage is easy. UX experience involvement
at this stage ensures efficient planning,
design and testing. Further down the
line, with increased buy-in from decision-
Where IC professionals
makers, the project has become an oil come to talk about the
tanker – no longer agile, with changes of challenges, triumphs
direction and speed much more difficult.
and evolution of
How do we convince the bean counters internal comms
we need to buy in expertise? Point out
that effective UX planning upfront could
lead to a host of cost savings: reduced
training costs, reduced errors that cost
money to correct, saved time – time l Content from
is money – and improved employee the print magaz
retention. Getting UX right isn’t a quick fix ine
and needs to be embedded into all digital l Extended ve
rsions
products from an early stage, so the goal of interviews an
d features
would always be to have this role in-house. l Downloadabl
e PDF
l Online-only
If we still can’t wangle budget for articles
specialists, how do we start? Look and columns
online for UX tutorials and best practice
advice to give you the basis to set up
and follow key UX design phases; from
discovery and defining goals to planning
and documenting functionality and
content, through to designing, building and
user testing.
Any final tips? Firstly, know your
audience. This is about their experience.
How are they segmented? What
differentiates their requirements? How do
they like or need to receive information?
Secondly, focus on the business needs
– remember UX is about being usable
voice.ioic.org.uk
PHOTO: WINDAHL FINNIGAN
and useful. It can’t just work efficiently
as software, it has to do its job of
communicating business messages. And
user testing is everything.
JANUARY 2018 49
V O I C E O V E R Lesley Allman
VOICE OVER
“Don’t speak up if you’ve
got nothing to say”
Lesley Allmann, internal communication and employee engagement
F
consultant, reflects on a career spent never taking no for an answer.
rom an early age, my parents
encouraged me to say yes to
everything. They didn’t, of course,
want me to take unnecessary risks,
but they did want me to seize every
opportunity that came my way. I still err on
the side of saying yes to things. This
makes for a very full life, which can
be tiring, but has resulted in meeting
fabulous people and having lots of great
experiences over the years.
Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to take
yourself out of your comfort zone.
The flip side of saying yes to everything is
never taking no for an answer. When the ironically
named ‘Success’ Comprehensive School told my
twin brother and me that they didn’t have
any UCAS forms because “no one from
this school ever goes to university”, we
were determined to prove them wrong
and applied to UCAS ourselves. We got to
Birmingham (him) and Aston (me).
At Aston, I met my husband and got a
degree in business administration,
which set me on track for a career
in communication.
Takeaway: Don’t let others make decisions for you.
When I was director of communication for a major
brewing company, I spent a lot of my time outnumbered
by blokes. This not only meant there was never a
queue at the ladies’ loo, but it also gave me plenty of
opportunity to see things from a male point of
view. This is really useful as I’m often advising
organisations where the majority of employees
are men. It’s so important to put yourself in
the shoes of your audience. Beware looking
at things through a white collar/head
office filter and make sure that
what you assume will work
for your audience really will
be received, understood and
Do you have key lessons from life and work that you’d like to share? Write to us at voice@ioic.org.uk
50 INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
ideally acted upon. Any decent communication
strategy will start with A for audience.
Takeaway: Your business is not made up
entirely of people who are just like you. Tailor
your communications for those who will be
receiving them.
It’s often said that we have one mouth and two
ears and should use them in that proportion – listen
more than talk. The temptation as communication
professionals is to be in broadcast mode – telling people
about our experiences and ideas. However, before diving
in with solutions, it is important to define the desired
outcome. Always ask first: what is it you want your
audience to know, feel or do differently as an outcome
of your communication? Only once the answer to that
question is understood can recommendations for
effective, sustainable ways to achieve your
communication objectives be made and
success be measured.
Takeaway: Start with the end in mind –
communicate for a defined, measurable purpose.
I’ve got two framed Anthony Burrill prints on my office
wall. One says, “Work hard and be nice to
people” – my motto as an independent
communication consultant. The other says,
“Don’t say nothing” – which could mean
speak up, but could also mean don’t speak
DON’T
up when you’ve got nothing to say. Social SAY
media makes it easy to speak up. It can
be like going to a party where everyone
NOTHING
is standing on their own shouting stuff
HONG VO/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM; TURK_STOCK_PHOTOGRAPHER/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
about themselves. Communication starts
with quality, two-way conversations.
Takeaway: Think before you speak. Have meaningful
dialogues, not just loosely connected monologues.
Lesley Allman is an internal communication and employee
engagement specialist. As an independent consultant, she has
provided expertise to leadership teams at companies including
Kuehne + Nagel, Pukka Pies, Domestic & General, Hovis and PepsiCo.
Lesley previously held senior communication roles at Premier Foods
and Coors Brewers. She is an IoIC Fellow. @allmancomms
VOICE.IOIC.ORG.UK
 Learn powerful ways to revolutionise
your internal communications in this
two-part development programme
designed and delivered by Gatehouse
and accredited by the Institute of
Internal Communication.

To find out more visit www.gatehouse.co.uk/accelerate

IoIC Training
Recognised learning and
development courses to build
and fine-tune your skills.

Upcoming
courses include:
Communicating culture,
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crisis communication, social
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www.ioic.org.uk/training

EMAIL US AT VOICE@IOIC.ORG.UK INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION 21

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