The comms blog

4 steps to reducing silo-working

Duplication. Inefficiency. Higher costs. Missed opportunities – for the organisation and for individuals. Bad feeling. Internal politics. Reputation issues. Loss of funding. If any of these problems sound familiar, your organisation may be suffering from silo-working patterns. There are a number of factors that can lead to this situation – such as conflicting priorities or … Read more

Celebrating my birthday with 10 comms tips

I love working with organisations that are making the world a kinder place. I’ve been doing it for more than 10 years but it was in March 2011 that I took things to a more formal level by setting up a company. To end my month of ‘birthday’ celebrations, here are my top 10 communication … Read more

Use stories to demonstrate skills

Stories are a great way to demonstrate what you know or understand. Telling a story helps you to connect with other people too, showing what you can bring to the party. A story from my past Years ago when I was working at Cancer Research UK we produced a staff magazine which went out in … Read more

Back to square one?

With #lockdown2 about to start in England tomorrow, it’s hard not to feel that we’re right back where we started earlier this year. Personally and professionally, I’ve heard a lot of heart-sinking, sighing and here-we-go-again-ing. Many communications teams and individuals are gathering themselves and setting to work once again for their colleagues. Finding the best … Read more

Aligning communication with overall direction

2020, as we are all painfully aware, is a year like no other. Many business strategies and plans written in January have long since been abandoned or postponed. The ongoing uncertainty of where we are headed means many organisations are re-evaluating what they can realistically achieve in the short-term and what might need to change … Read more

Guest post: Communication is the real work of leadership

My guest this month, leadership comms manager Shalini Gupta, shares her top tips for being our leaders’ trusted partners and supporting them to communicate well. She also describes us as unofficial ‘key workers’. Wouldn’t it be easy if our leaders could just push a button and say the right thing in the right tone and … Read more

How to frame messages that work

Sometimes it seems as though messages are the part of communication that gets forgotten. There is often much focus on format – whether to use video or text, how to make an Insta-ready image, the best time of day to send the e-newsletter etc. But I rarely hear as much deliberation about the actual messages. … Read more