The comms blog

How I help my clients put together communication strategies and plans

We’ve all heard the old cliché “Failing to plan is planning to fail”. Personally I’ve always found it a bit smug, but like most clichés, there is a truth at the heart of it. Regular readers of this blog will know that it has become my mission in life to inspire organisations to be more … Read more

How much does internal communication cost?

To be honest, there are no hard and fast rules about what it will cost. You might as well ask how long is a piece of string. But it is useful to think about what to include for internal communication when you are putting your comms budget together. A recent CharityComms report found that communication … Read more

Effective communicators listen to understand

One thing I have noticed coming through again and again in all the post-referendum Facebook posts, tweets and blog pieces is the sense that so many people don’t feel listened to. This has been picked up in newspaper articles and comment pieces too. It seems that many Leave voters were motivated to put their cross … Read more

Guest post: The communications lifecycle of an employee

Thanks to Neil Thompson from employee engagement company, WorkInConfidence, for this guest post. It is well understood that there is a need for a good channel of communications between an organisation and its employees, but have you considered what might be required both before and after any employment? At WorkInConfidence we believe that there is … Read more

No such thing as right or wrong communication

This morning I attended a local networking session, the Woodley Business Club, for the second time – I had enjoyed the first session so much last month that I wanted to go along again. I have lived in the town of Woodley for 12 years, but only discovered that it has a thriving business community … Read more

Don’t embarrass your mother and other thoughts on effective communication

This afternoon I am talking to the local Women’s Institute (WI) group about ABC to read, the literacy charity of which I am a trustee. It’s a chance to spread the word about the work we do to change children’s lives by supporting them to develop their literacy skills. As with many small organisations, we … Read more

Learning about leadership comms from #LCFC

I had planned to write today about leadership communication. That’s a big topic and I hadn’t quite decided which particular aspect I was going to focus on. Should it be the importance of harnessing your leaders’ personal style? Should it be the rise of ‘wonky comms’ and the need for comms professionals to facilitate leaders’ … Read more

3 tips for connecting with hard to reach audiences

Just about every organisation I know has groups of employees that are hard to reach, so as an internal communications professional you are not alone. But who are these groups? Their exact make-up will vary from organisation to organisation, but there are some characteristics that we can all identify with. Many of these groups are … Read more

How to communicate with frontline staff

As an internal communicator, there are man1y different types of audience you have to bear in mind. There is no such thing as a one-size fits all approach to internal communication – your communication plans should always acknowledge the groups within your staff body and use the golden thread of messaging to link everything together, … Read more