26 April 2007
Leaders are key to effective internal comms, Hub speakers say
Hub's breakfast briefing focuses on how to get senior executives to understand and support internal communications.
Making sure senior executives can communicate with employees is an internal communicator’s most important job, according to speakers at the Internal Comms Hub's first ever breakfast briefing.
The
event, held in London, featured presentations from Bill
Quirke (right), MD of Synopsis communication
consultancy; Nicole
Dempster, head of internal communications for newspaper organization, Guardian
News & Media; and Anthea Cudworth and Jo Alexander, communicators
from global energy and petrochemical group, Shell.
Internal communicators adding value
Speaking first, Quirke told the invited audience of more than 80 Hub
members that while senior executives value internal communications more
than ever, many don't understand it.
"Chief executives think internal communications is one of the top four issues facing their organization," Quirke said. "However, only about 28% think their internal communicators are doing a good job of it," he said.
Establishing
communications
Dempster (left) spoke about her work establishing internal communications
at Guardian News & Media.
She told the audience that while journalists are good at communicating
externally, they can be reluctant to communicate effectively internally.
But having introduced initiatives like online conferences between the
organization's business leadership (Tim
Brooks) and employees, internal interaction has improved.
"Our staff e-mail in their questions, and every single one receives an answer, which has been brilliant for engaging employees and making them feel their issues are being addressed," Dempster said.
Leveraging skills
The
impact of having leaders who understand internal communications was underlined
by Shell global finance communication manager, Jo Alexander (right), who
told the audience about her own experiences in helping executives communicate
better with employees.
"We want to leverage the skill, experience and strengths that leaders already have," Alexander said. "Most of the time, internal communicators shouldn't be the ones doing the communicating, instead they should be advising leaders on how to communicate themselves," she said.
Cudworth
(left), mentioned that Shell's most senior executive in the communications
field described its internal communicators as "like
the violin players on the hockey team."
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