What should communicators read and stop complaining about? Nicholas Wardle is here with the answers to these questions and many more.
He’s Global Internal Communications Manager at Alshaya, based in Kuwait, and is the latest practitioner to 
sit in my #questionofcomms hot seat.
I’ll hand you over to him…
1. When did you know internal communication was what you wanted to do?
When I discovered it was a sure-fire route to get my words read. (I have matured since then!)
2. What do you like most about working in this field?
That you can dip in and out of every area of your business. Few have this privilege, and few will have your rounded view of a company.
3. What’s the best career advice you’ve been given?
Don’t be fooled by someone in a suit – they go to the bathroom the same as you. (Although the words were more ‘industrial’.)
4. What advice would you give someone thinking about starting a career in comms?
Spend your first 8-10 years working in as many different comms disciplines as possible. The experience will enable you to articulate with authority on most topics later.
5. What does a typical day or working week look like for you?
My day starts with a review of my ‘to-do’ list. A good day ends with not being able to get near most of it, because things are happening which needs comms attention.
If nothing else happens, you either work for a dull company or you have zero networking skills.
6. Name a book you think every communicator must read, and why you’ve chosen it.
I would say you should find the time to read one comms article a day; then apply critical thinking to it. Was the article useful? Why? What’s missing? Is the author credible? How could it apply to your role?
7. What’s the one thing you couldn’t do your job without?
I appreciate this sounds schmaltzy, but my team.
Alone I am an average communicator; with my team we are, together, damn good communicators.
8. What is the future of internal communication?
Stop complaining about wanting a seat at the ‘top table’ and make your team indispensable. Shift from just sending stuff out, to business partnering, to the sweet spot of business transformation.
If can drive business transformation projects, you will become a vital voice.
9.Where can people find you online?
LinkedIn – and feel free to apply critical thinking to anything I blog. I offer only my opinions – yours could be much better.
Post author: Nicholas Wardle.
First published on the All Things IC blog 7 May 2017.
Thank you Nicholas. Want to be featured? Here are the questions to answer.
Thanks for stopping by, have a great week.
Rachel.
