700 words on what i’ve learned from a decade in internal comms
The feeling as we open the laptop at the start of the new year is always a little daunting. Do I know my network password? Can I remember what I was working on? How much caffeine do I need to get through till lunch?
But this year feels a little more unusual. For the first time in more than a decade, I am working outside internal communications.
by Ian Curwen
Having worked in IC, in one role or another, for such a long time, it feels like a big change.
Here are my reflections on a decade focused on meeting our employee’s communications needs.
The importance of IC
As you can imagine, I am a passionate advocate for both the power and importance of internal communication. I think it’s the place where you earn your stripes. It’s the place where problem solving, creative thinking and the bullsh*t detector are the tools of the trade.
Your employees are your most important audience. And they’re the toughest to satisfy. It’s more difficult to engage an internal audience than it is the outside world.
If you’ve delivered a successful internal comms plan, then you can do anything.
The twelve years have been nothing if not diverse. While 2014 already feels a long time ago, when you recount some of the internal communications challenges we’ve wrestled with since then, it’s striking.
They include:
· Changes to our ownership
· Changes to our mission
· The Covid pandemic
· The increase in agile working
· Technological modernisation
· Travel and site access changes
That’s before you consider countless restructures and office moves that have accompanied the above. These shape people’s lives and experiences just as much as any of the above.
While working in internal communication, I’ve kept a few principles in mind. We never get everything right, but if you keep these in mind, you won’t be too far wrong.
Think clarity
The best internal communications are those which are easiest to understand. It really is that simple.
Don’t assume people will understand what you’re saying – make sure they do.
People have very little time to consume your communications (the IOIC say it’s 15 minutes a day, at the most) and the cost is significant (each minute costs about 95p per person).
Think people
The most successful change communications are those which are focused on the impact on people.
Again, this feels like it should be common sense, but it’s easy to forget.
People are an organisation’s greatest asset. Start by thinking of them and that they need from what you’re communicating.
When people are going through change, they are thinking about how it’ll impact them:
· If there is a restructure, who will their new manager be? Will they have to work differently?
· If they’re moving offices, will they be able to get a parking space? Will they have time to drop the children off before the commute?
Think ‘so what’
When people contact me about some communications they’d like produced, the key question is always, ‘so what?’
It’s not glib, it’s just the best way of getting to the heart of the issue – why you are communicating.
We’ve got to make sure people understand what they’re reading/watching/listening to, and what we want them to do as a result.
If you can’t answer the ‘so what?’ question, then the audience has got no chance.
And if you’re answer is that you want to raise awareness, be prepared for my next question to be, ‘why?’
So, what’s next?
My new role is as interim head of corporate communications. This team has both an internal and external lens – covering brand, external communications channels, digital and communications materials.
As the team is responsible for so much of what the external world sees of Sellafield, they work hard to ensure our communications are both creative and clear.
Much of what I’ve learned in internal communications will serve me well here. After all the basics of simplicity, clarity and audience focus apply just as much here.
But I also need to quickly get up to speed with what our external audiences want from our channels.
It’s a challenge, but one I’m excited for.
Ian Curwen is interim head of communications in the nuclear industry
