What’s top of mind for Comms pros in 2022

This time of year is always a mixed one for Comms pros.

We’re focusing on the remaining actions and aspirations from the year to date, while looking ahead to the next 12 months.

You may be grappling with annual budgets, resourcing plans and training requests, while planning end of year leadership communication, measurement reports and reconfiguring recognition and award celebrations in a hybrid world.

Sound familiar? You’re not alone.

2022 internal communication

My team and I have just launched our latest Online Masterclass to support internal communicators as you review 2021 and plan 2022.

We understand how split your time is and wanted to create a new course to encourage you to pause, reflect and analyse your work. It will give you cause to celebrate your efforts, before you head into next year and all that lies ahead.

This brand new 2021-2022 internal comms course will guide you through how to analyse your work and help you confidently plan the next 12 months. It will save you so much time!

There are 44 lessons and the course has videos, text lessons, surveys and quizzes that you can work through at your own pace. There are no live lessons, so this is your course, done your way.

Last year 1400 Comms professionals around the globe accessed the course we created for you. We know how much you enjoyed it, so this year it’s back and bigger and better than ever.

See the dedicated website and enrol in How to review and plan your 2021-2022 internal comms today. The site contains a detailed overview of the curriculum and what you can expect. Your investment is only £299 and you’ll have access for four months from the date you enrol.

How to review 2021 and plan 2022

What’s top of mind for Comms pros in 2022?

On Saturday 9 October 2021 I hosted The Big Yak unconference with my fellow The IC Crowd co-founders Jenni Field and Dana Leeson.

This year’s unconference was attended by 100 Comms professionals and everyone had the opportunity to set the agenda on the day. Delegates wrote topics on sticky notes and we collated them into the sessions.

Having hosted this event for the fifth time in a decade, I was left with a full heart and head from the conversations. I find the methodology to be an excellent temperature check in terms of what’s top of mind for Comms pros.

The internal communicators in the room start conversations about topics they are curious about, want to learn more about or are struggling with. Together we share advice and guidance as peers to help each other learn and build confidence.

So what’s ahead?
I’ve already started receiving press requests from industry journalists who want me to help them predict what’s important.

My answer for the past few years has been face-to-face communication. I think they’re always disappointed as they want me to say the robots are coming.

But I digress.

For 2022, being able to connect the heads and hearts of your employees will continue to be important. You need to combine your mindset and skillset to unlock excellent internal communication in your organisation.

Further reading on the All Things IC blog: Why you need to focus on mindset and skillset.

And face-to-face communication? We’re valuing it more than ever.

We’ve been trying to replicate it for years through technology. If the past 20 months or so have taught us anything, it’s the importance of nurturing in-person conversations, fostering a sense of belonging and being intentional with the way we communicate.

As we head towards the end of the year, face-to-face communication feels like a luxury.

The pandemic meant we had to reschedule The Big Yak three times – June 2020, February 2021, then October 2021. The event works best face-to-face and we wanted to retain that format.

It was worth the wait.

As you look ahead to next year, I encourage you to really examine your face-to-face communication channels. Work hard to protect them, refresh them and create more of them.

Further reading on the All Things IC blog: How to plan your IC channels – featuring an episode of my Candid Comms podcast.

Let’s get back to The Big Yak and what’s top of mind for Comms pros at the moment.

According to the 100 IC professional in the room, the hot topics are:

  • Hybrid working – what does it mean for our organisation’s culture, leaders and Comms channels?
  • Women’s safety
  • Personal brand
  • Wellbeing
  • Behavioural science
  • Purpose
  • Diversity and inclusion
  • Hybrid events
  • Accessibility
  • Creating an IC team
  • Channel strategy
  • Leadership after COVID-19
  • Line managers
  • Measurement
  • Engagement in tech
  • Frontline worker comms
  • How to stay relevant.

Thank you Tynesight Photographic Services for taking the photographs on this page for us and to our sponsors for helping us put this non-profit event on for Comms pros.

At the event, my fellow The IC Crowd co-founders and I announced we’ll be drawing the crowd to a close at the end of the year and retiring @TheICCrowd on Twitter.

Thank you to everyone who has joined our conversations – all 9000 Tweets!, three Christmas drinks events and five The Big Yak unconferences. It’s been a joy to create opportunities for face-to-face communication and been a personal privilege to serve the Comms community in that way for the past decade.

The Big Yak 2021

TheBigYak2021

The Big Yak 2021

The Big Yak 2021

The Big Yak 2021

The Big Yak 2021

The Big Yak 2021

The Big Yak 2021

Do these topics resonate with you?

All Things IC Comms Consultant Debbie West and I were finalising the How to review and plan your 2021-2022 internal comms Online Masterclass when The Big Yak took place.

Based on our conversations with clients and Comms friends, we had created content on many of these topics to help IC professionals through the new course.

Lessons include:

  • hybrid working
  • accessibility
  • diversity and inclusion
  • changing channels.

Sign me up!

Putting them into lessons in this new course gave us the space to gather the threads together, share our tips and signpost some practical resources for communicators.

I hope you’ve found this article useful. What else is on your list for the year ahead? As ever, you’re welcome to comment below or find me on Twitter @AllThingsIC.

Further reading via the All Things IC blog

How to review and plan your 2021-2022 internal comms

Thank you for stopping by,

Rachel.

Post author: Rachel Miller

First published on the All Things IC blog 26 October 2021.

 

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