Hello again, it’s your man in the North. Great to be back guest editing comms2point0 again from 55th parallel.
by Ross Wigham
Read moredon’t come here for a job
Telling people not to come for a job at your organisation might not seem like the smartest move for a recruitment campaign. But there’s method behind it…
by Dan Charlton
Read morethe comms profile debate: be invisible
A debate has been sparked about the profile that comms and PR people should have. Here's one view. Be invisible to all but senior manegers and finance.
by Julie Waddicor
Read morethree things that made this fire video a must-see
Here are three take-homes from a simple video that demanded public attention.
by James Morton
Read moreour very own identity crisis
It’s a fact of life that whenever some sectors invest in communications it sets parts of the media off on one. This post promotes the importance of NHS communicators communicating, and explains why managing your identity is absolutely a part of our role.
by Jack Adlam
Read moreputting a face to nhs pressures
Tweet-a-thons may not be ground-breaking in public sector communications any more but they still have their place in telling the stories of the services we use. Sarah Lay shares learning from the recent #1NHSDerbys day she co-ordinated for Southern Derbyshire CCG.
by PANEL WRITER Sarah Lay
Read moreslogans. i love them.
Slogans have been around for an age but can still be hugely influential important to the success of a campaign. This new post by one of the best creative minds around serves as a good reminder of their value and potential to communicators…
by PANEL WRITER Richard Elwell
Read moreidentified: the biggest challenge facing communicators in 2017
As communicators, pr practitioners and marketers we’ve never had access to more tools, tactics, data and platforms to make our work fly.
But there’s a bundle of challenges we have to navigate around in order to make the most of them. One has emerged as the THE challenge - the biggest barrier to us delivering great communications.
By Darren Caveney
Read moretalking heads 10 x 10: part 2 – brilliant top tips for getting that first management job in comms
The hardest part of getting a communications management role is often landing that all important first job. The second and the third then become a bit easier to secure. So what are the trade secrets to give you the best chance of landing that first leadership position? We asked 10 leading comms leaders for their advice.
by Darren Caveney
Read morehow kent fire and rescue used live streaming to help recruit firefighters
Facebook Live and Periscope has become a significant tool in the armoury. Here a fire and rescue service talk about how they used it to allow firefighters to explain what their job was about to potential recruits.
by Abdul Aziz
Here at Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) we finally launched into the world of social media live streaming with our very first Facebook Live and Periscope event. Some may say we’re a little late to the party but I’d like to look at it as well timed.
The aim of the inaugural broadcast was to promote our ‘On-call Recruitment’ campaign through a question and answer session with experienced and recently recruited firefighters and a member of our HR team.
The plan was to keep it informal and casual so people can relate to our guys and see it as a chat amongst friends where they’d be comfortable to ask questions.
As this was our very first broadcast, it would’ve been foolish to say that we weren’t expecting some hiccups, because nothing ever runs smoothly first time does it….
Overall, the broadcast went very well. However, as mentioned, we did come across some ‘technical issues’, which we will learn from for next time, some of which other people will already know, such as:
· Finding out that Facebook Live doesn’t work very well with android screen orientation, so you have to shoot in portrait, or adjust the phones rotation settings before going live. I can sense the smirks from all Apple users at this point because apparently they have no issues….
· Having a big whiteboard or a flip chart will be handy! If you need to get a message to your panel it’s the best way to do so. Don’t write on a little piece of paper and hope they can read it without their glasses.
· Making sure the Wi-Fi signal is strong, sounds simple enough but I’m sure we’re all aware of the ups and downs of IT.
We had planned to keep the broadcast relatively short but time seemed to fly by and questions kept pouring in, so the session ended up lasting 40 minutes and during that time the figures for those who joined the broadcast on Facebook alone was really encouraging:
• 423 views (live viewers 339) - Periscope
• 2,933 unique viewers (highest audience were men and women aged between 25 and 44 years) - Facebook
• Audience reach was 9,619 - Facebook
• 359 post engagements (likes, comments, shares) - Facebook
And it’s still growing to date.
All said and done, we were very happy with the results and how it all went on the night. Our panel had a great time and we got really good feedback, not only from our viewers but also from staff members within our service, which is always a bonus. But ultimately met our objective!
We will definitely be carrying out more live streams in the future and can see it playing a regular and big part in a number of our Comms plans.
Abdul Aziz is marketing officer at Kent Fire & Rescue Service.
the elements of ic needs you
A marvellous new online tool has been created for internal communicators everywhere.
by Caroline Roodhouse
Read moremedia law: brexit... and what happens when a member of staff libels someone from their own account?
We live in interesting times. Once media law covered the traditional media. Now it covers social media.But how will Brexit affect us? And what happens when a member of staff posts defamatory comments from their own account?
by David Banks
Read moretransforming our work by asking a few simple questions
If you work in communications you probably have responsibilities for a website or two. And you’ll know that improving them is an ongoing job and one which needs users to chip in. So how do you fancy helping colleagues in Wales on their web improvement journey? Read on and please help if you can…
by Louise Foster-Key
Read moreengaging with residents – it’s time for a new conversation
Public trust in many things has been badly damaged these past few years. Do we trust anyone anymore? Well we do but to very varying degrees - we know who we trust most and who we trust least. That’s helpful to know. What’s even more helpful is a new guide which aims to help communicators engage more effectively with their communities in order to increase trust.
by David Holdstock
Read morewhy did we let the bbc into our most secure service?
Letting a TV crew into your organisation is a scary prospect for any communicator. Even more so if you work in the NHS - an ever present in the media spotlight.
by Hannah Clubb
Read moreunveiling the mysteries of the dark art - organisational development
Organisational development: What is it, and where does it fit with good internal communications?
by Pamela Moffat
Read moresweat the small stuff
In the era of dwindling local government comms budgets place marketing a region is a real challenge. But it can be done. This new post is a case study for councils across the UK.
by Dawn Tindle
Read morei don't have time to look at the intranet
It seems it doesn’t matter how much, or how well, you communicate internally the job is never fully done. This post explores how to be effective with staff who claim to be too busy even to look at the intranet
by Lindsay Narey
Sat on the beach one holiday, my sunbathing was interrupted by the sound of a rumbling engine in the sky. Looking up, I spotted a small plane trailing a banner advertising BOGOF drinks offer at a nearby bar. Back and forth it flew, with the colourful banner and its big bold lettering trailing in the breeze.
Unless sleeping off the effects of taking advantage of said offer, there’s no way anyone could claim not to have seen it.
On another occasion, when driving home from work, I waved at a man in a roast turkey costume. He was stood on a city centre roundabout at rush hour, advertising the Christmas menu at a local restaurant. Again, if I’d wanted to ignore this message, I wouldn’t have had much choice. Cheery Mr Turkey was unavoidable.
Clearly I never truly switch off from work, as both of these encounters got me thinking about effective communication.
In our Communications team, and I’m sure this will be familiar with the majority of readers, there are lots of sayings we hear on a regular basis. Along with perennial favourite “Can you just jazz up this leaflet/poster for me?” the title of this blog post is one of them. Conversations usually go like this:
“I didn’t know about X”
“It’s on the front page of the intranet”
“I don’t have time to look at the intranet”
End of chat.
We’re all busy. And when you’ve got customers to deal with, a team to manage, mandatory training to complete and endless other tasks it can be hard to cram everything into a day. Reading a newsletter, or looking at the intranet can seem like the obvious things to sacrifice.
A digital 24/7 world also means there are endless ways in which we can send and receive information in both our work and personal lives. How many of you have got multiple exchanges going on with your friends and family via WhatsApp, Messenger, Twitter, text and email? It can be overwhelming and a challenge to keep up.
In our organisation, a large housing association with 1300 colleagues working anywhere from inner London to rural Cambridgeshire , if you want to stay informed, be savvy on the direction of the business, and learn about what your colleagues are doing, you’ve got a number of options, including:
- Going along to a snappy, one hour face to face update on what’s gone on/what’s coming up across the business from our Exec Team
- Our intranet, a central hub for news, policies, procedures, contact details, blogs.
- Monthly Manager e-briefings
- A fortnightly round-up of what’s been on the intranet – emailed to all.
- A bi-monthly magazine - sharing news and features about successes, achievements and more.
- Posters – on notice boards in kitchens, break out areas and a toilet door near you.
- From your manager
- By job shadowing
- By talking to people – asking them what they’re working on!
This might seem a lot, but there’s hopefully something to suit most situations and personal preferences. Whether office-based or remote, working in a housing scheme in Essex, or a call centre in Nottingham, or favour face to face over digital.
Whatever is right for our colleagues, what connects all of our communication channels is personal responsibility. Although the Comms team are here to support, advise, manage the majority of communications tools and try our best to make them interesting, when all is said and done, we can’t force anyone to look at them (although messages with ‘pay’ or ‘annual leave’ in the title often seem to get through). Unfortunately, we don’t have the budget to charter a banner-wielding plane over our offices when we want to impart a big message, and delivering bespoke updates dressed in roast turkey outfits is probably not efficient or appropriate.
If you’ve found the time to read this blog post, then I’d love to hear your ideas on how we best spread this message to those who say they ‘don’t have time’.
We can’t magically change embedded behaviour by posting a blog on our intranet, but if we could hammer home to our colleagues the importance and benefits of staying informed, and encourage them to take advantage of the varied communications methods we’ve got, we might hear fewer mentions of the title of this post.
Lindsay Narey is Communications Executive at Metropolitan Housing and has her own blog site here.
image via Jeremy Noble
It seems it doesn’t matter how much, or how well, you communicate internally the job is never fully done. This post explores how to be effective with staff who claim to be too busy even to look at the intranet
by Lindsay Narey
Read morewhy i joined the head of comms slack group and why you should too
Every one of us needs support in our working lives. We can be more effective, more knowledgeable and even happier in our roles, with some quality peer support and encouragement. Not realising that we all need support is a real barrier and a missed opportunity. A new support group for in-house comms leads aims to fill this important gap.
by Sarah Yates
Read morecomms planning lessons - 'created by me versus created by we'
New trends in comms and marketing rush by at the speed of light. Platforms launch, algorithms change. But there is a constant in our industry and that’s the need for a good comms plan. So what’s the best way of achieving this?
By Darren Caveney
Read more