Every organisation has its CAVE dwellers. You know, those people who greet every new initiative, improved process or attempt to build excitement with snorts of derision. “We have seen it all before!” “What a lot of tosh!” “That will never work here.” They are, in short, Constantly Against Virtually Everything. CAVE dwellers. I first came … Read more
I often talk about ‘effective communication’ in my presentations, comms strategy conversations and training workshops. But what does that phrase actually mean? A good friend asked me this question after reviewing some text for me. And I thought ‘If Pat wants to know what effective communication is, then other people will probably be wondering the same … Read more
Effective communication is not child’s play. It takes time and effort to make it work. But you can take inspiration from a simple playground game.
The term internal communication means many things to many people. The specifics of what is involved, who is involved and the channels that are used can vary greatly between organisations. Factors such as the number of employees, the roles they do, where in the world they are based and so on can make a real … Read more
Last week I ran an Effective Communication for your Charity training masterclass on behalf of Small Charities Coalition. With attendees from a range of different organisations in the room we had lots of discussion, lots of practice of communication skills and techniques and some laughs too. They may have come from different organisations with a … Read more
This month’s guest is internal comms manager, Andrew Hesselden, who shares his thoughts on why as internal communicators we sometimes get in a muddle with metrics. In any line of work, the ability to measure the impact of what you are doing is important to achieving success. After all, how will you know whether or … Read more
Earlier this week I had the great pleasure of chairing a panel discussion at the CharityComms Special Interest Group for internal communictors. This fantastic group of people with responsibility for IC in the not-for-profit world comes together quarterly to compare notes, share experiences and learn from each other. This month our speakers came from other … Read more
If so, I can help you to solve problems by communicating more effectively and motivating people to take actions. Communication is, apparently, the root of all evil – it is almost always cited in staff surveys and individual conversations at the water cooler as needing improvement. But there are always things you can do to … Read more
Whichever way you look at it, 2018 has been quite a year. There have been countless examples of communications, good and bad, that have influenced opinions and changed behaviours; helped people to live their lives and just plain entertained them; made them angry, made them laugh and made them cry. I asked some lovely people … Read more
I’m delighted to welcome communication specialist, Katie Jones, as my guest blogger this month. Katie shares with us her story of seeing the communication light as a student and her top tips for developing your organisational narrative. In a smoke and beer-filled room in Freshers Week I had a revelation. Angels sang and the clouds … Read more