When Frances Umeh became Global Head of Internal Communications at World Animal Protection she wanted to find mentoring support and strategic internal comms advice. She chose a 6-month VIP mentoring package with Rachel Miller.
Her role was new and while there wasn’t an established IC function, the organisation was committed to developing it. With Rachel’s support, Frances looked at the challenges she faced, the opportunities ahead, and how to adapt in order to take advantage of those opportunities. She developed her influencing and negotiation skills, making a case for increased resources to build a team, showing the role internal comms plays in different areas of the business, and being a trusted advisor as well as drilling down into what she needed to focus on.
She said: “There is strength in recognising that you don’t necessarily have all the answers but also recognising that in order to access some of the answers you need to have conversations with other people. The answers might be buried within you but there’s something about having that frank, open dialogue with someone in a coaching or mentoring format to unearth some of that.”
The confidential conversations enabled Frances to be open about self-doubt and gave her the space and mindset she needed to thrive.
Frances said: “Rachel’s purpose is very much about helping internal communicators thrive, that’s all she’s about, that pure desire to help others succeed. Who wouldn’t want to be around someone like that?
