There are some seriously smart things happening in internal communication right now.
On Tuesday I had the privilege of attending PR Week’s Strategic Internal Communications conference in London and hearing about them first hand.
From monthly morale dashboards to innovative and creative employer brand strategies, it’s an exciting time to be working in this field.
I’m going to share six things I heard and what struck me from the day, which was expertly chaired by Jim Connor, Director of Communications, Commercial Banking at Lloyds Banking Group.
It was a pleasure to see clients, friends and meet fellow comms pros to discuss all things internal comms related. The stunning Royal Institute of British Architects building in London was a fitting host to an impressive day.
All Things IC was a media partner for the event. I’m thrilled to hear from PR Week that readers of my blog attended using my discount code. I hope you enjoyed the day as much as I did.
Brain buzzing from #PRWInternal. Impressed by calibre of talks & quality of research-led IC. Fab to see clients, friends & meet new people. pic.twitter.com/BmBNMk44mm
— Rachel Miller (@AllthingsIC) November 22, 2016
Further reading: Sign up for the upcoming Employer Brand Management conference on 6 December and save 10%.
Here’s what I heard…
1) If something isn’t working, be brave enough to scrap it
Virgin Trains decided to can its annual employee survey as it wasn’t working for them. Drew McMillan (pictured), Head of Internal Communications and Innovation described it as being as effective as a snake eating itself.
They’ve replaced it with frequent analysis and an ongoing conversation about the way employees are working (see point 2).
I audit companies regularly and find there are many reasons why employee surveys fail. However, one of the most common is the lack of action planning post-survey.
What’s your view? Who would miss your annual survey if you removed it?
Virgin Trains has removed its annual employee survey “Was just like a snake eating itself = didn’t get us anywhere” #PRWInternal pic.twitter.com/SruFibQrSN
— Rachel Miller (@AllthingsIC) November 22, 2016
2) Investing in internal insight is worth the effort
Leaders at Virgin Trains now have visibility of how employees are feeling thanks to a dashboard.
They realised managers needed to know this information and have it in an accessible format, so it’s delivered via an app on their phones. It’s updated monthly and categories include stress, pride, trust and empowerment.
James Tarbit, Head of Employee Insight at HSBC shared how they are using insight internally to shape the way they communicate.
Speaking on a panel with Telefonica’s Head of Change Communications, Sarah Mullins, he spoke passionately about the need for companies to invest in and understand the value of their internal information to help them make decisions.
Love this from @VirginTrains – monthly dashboard re: how employees are doing. Is app on leaders phones #PRWInternal pic.twitter.com/RveNUAFD2e
— Rachel Miller (@AllthingsIC) November 22, 2016
Have staff engagement surveys had their day? Drew McMillan @VirginTrains discusses their staff insight programme @PRWeekHub #PRWInternal pic.twitter.com/QUfWIXtdCs
— Sam Kandiyali (@skandiyali) November 22, 2016
How Virgin Trains applies excellent customer insight methodology internally. (Ace NPS score!). Visiting emp @ home to listen #PRWInternal pic.twitter.com/QlHYbb6QZ2
— Rachel Miller (@AllthingsIC) November 22, 2016
.@HSBC_UK head of employee insight James Tarbir has 8 researchers… His @Telefonica counterpart @SarahMRealIC a tad envious #prwinternal
— Sam Burne James (@samburnejames) November 22, 2016
“We can control the methodology as well as the insight by using our internal employee insight team” James Tarbit, HSBC #PRWInternal
— Rachel Miller (@AllthingsIC) November 22, 2016
Panel at #PRWInternal. @SarahMRealIC is talking about measurement. “You can’t quantify how people feel, you need to listen & go deeper” pic.twitter.com/6VEMaVR1su
— Rachel Miller (@AllthingsIC) November 22, 2016
3) TalkTalk is resetting its foundations
Louise Myson, Head of Culture and Engagement at TalkTalk Plc (pictured) shared a model showing how they are ensuring everything aligns in their organisation.
From values to vision, they’re making sure messages and actions go together. This is to provide employees with a clear line of sight around their strategic direction and inform their employee value proposition.
This is common sense, and we know it should be done. However, it’s rare to see it done in such a succinct way.
I like the way Louise spoke about “resetting the foundations” – it’s never too late to do this.
How TalkTalk is (re)setting the foundations of its org. They will create EVP (employee value proposition) based on this info #PRWInternal pic.twitter.com/vCCiTEJBxI
— Rachel Miller (@AllthingsIC) November 22, 2016
4) Facebook at Work (Workplace) is helping employees get stuff done
The Financial Times became one of the first companies to trial Facebook at Work (Workplace). Rebecca Heptinstall, Head of Brand and Employee Communications talked about how it is enhancing their sense of community.
Rebecca described how it has become part of the way they communicate and how the ease of use “we didn’t need to train people, it’s Facebook, so it’s easy to use” was helping adoption.
Further reading via the All Things IC blog: All you need to know about Workplace.
“We’re using Workplace (FB @ Work) at the FT. It’s enhancing our sense of community + emp see CEO updates in their newsfeed” #PRWInternal pic.twitter.com/vSwUzIuXnp
— Rachel Miller (@AllthingsIC) November 22, 2016
Further reading via the All Things IC blog: How a Brewery is using Facebook at Work.
5) Employer branding is becoming increasingly important for companies
Over the past few years, the conversations about employer branding have become noisier.
There were some excellent examples shared at the conference including the Financial Times and ODEON.
Further reading via the All Things IC blog: How ODEON designed its employer brand strategy.
Further reading via the All Things IC blog: Why you need to focus on employee experience.
Listening to @rebeccah talking about the importance of employer brand at the Financial Times #PRWInternal pic.twitter.com/FTTGcjyRbm
— Rachel Miller (@AllthingsIC) November 22, 2016
I enjoyed hearing Caroline Rhodes, Global Employee Engagement Director at Diageo speak.
Listening to Diageo talking about importance of employee advocacy. They collated these stats #PRWInternal pic.twitter.com/Bp3mlcspbS
— Rachel Miller (@AllthingsIC) November 22, 2016
6) Internal is external
We know this. We’ve always known this. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve written “the lines are blurring between internal and external comms.”
The time for the blurring to become a reality is here.
I heard it countless times during this conference. It was highlighted by the converged team at O2 (who combined internal and external skills four years ago), the joined up internal and external storytelling at Diageo and many more.
Further reading via the All Things IC blog: Do you have the right skills to do your job?
Internal is External – The unofficial resounding theme at #PRWInternal @VirginTrains @FT pic.twitter.com/4teQ9qRpAo
— Silverman Research (@Silverman_R) November 22, 2016
Diageo using Swoop analytics to measure Yammer. Excellent to see measurement at heart of comms #PRWInternal pic.twitter.com/7KIoxnAlEa
— Rachel Miller (@AllthingsIC) November 22, 2016
Diageo currently trialling an app to help emp tell the brand story using ext + int content #PRWInternal pic.twitter.com/eDg4LH3OwL
— Rachel Miller (@AllthingsIC) November 22, 2016
Excellent example from Diageo of consistent stories across int + ext channels. Highlighting “What we’re proud of” #PRWInternal pic.twitter.com/M3BfxbQ5HS
— Rachel Miller (@AllthingsIC) November 22, 2016
The power of colleague advocacy and crowdsourcing – great talk from Diageo @PRWeekHub #PRWInternal
— Jim Connor (@Jimmer3) November 22, 2016
Good to see Office 365 video channel being used – Diageo using for “Diageo TV”
#PRWInternal pic.twitter.com/RNBUbnjtO8— Rachel Miller (@AllthingsIC) November 22, 2016
Reality of multiple platforms – how Diageo use digital channels int + externally #PRWInternal pic.twitter.com/XpGxxQfsFj
— Rachel Miller (@AllthingsIC) November 22, 2016
Well done PR Week for organising this conference, I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought the quality of the conversations and speakers was first-rate.
I learnt a lot and would attend again in the future. It worked for me because it was rooted in comms theory and focused on skills rather than merely case studies.
Have a great weekend, thank you for stopping by.
If you’re looking for a comms conference to attend or awards to enter, check out my comms calendar.
Rachel.
P.s. If you want to learn about strategic internal comms, there’s one space left for my Strategic IC Masterclass on 1 December in London.
See the Masterclasses website for full info and to save your space.
If you work for a nonprofit organisation, contact me for your 20 per cent discount code.
Post author: Rachel Miller.
First published on the All Things IC blog 25 November 2016.
(Disclosure: As a media partner I received a complimentary ticket to attend).