As featured in The Communications Agency’s ‘Who’s Who Wednesday’
Vicki featured in The Communications Agency’s ‘Who’s Who Wednesday’ article in November: a weekly profile about who’s who in internal communication. Here is a taster:
Tell us a bit about your role:
I’m one of the four partners at Comms Leaders. We’re a specialist recruiter for the corporate communications industry. We connect exceptional talent with our clients the old fashioned way, through building relationships.
What’s on your internal comms agenda right now?
I’ll answer this from the point of view of a third party – as we don’t have our own internal comms agenda, but can see what’s important to the industry. Internal comms professionals need to be all-rounders these days. They need to understand business and the impact of good (and bad) communications on the bottom line; they need to be at the forefront of the digital revolution; and they need to be strong relationship builders and influencers. The market demands really strong all-rounders.
Who or what has had the biggest impact on internal comms in your organisation in the past year?
Brexit. No one yet really knows the impact that Brexit will have on businesses, which makes communications planning particularly difficult. We anticipate there will be an increase in interim assignments to handle Brexit communications/business transformation in 2018.
What’s your proudest achievement or best day in your current role?
Hosting our inaugural advisory board meeting in 2016: with 14 Directors of Comms, from FTSE100 companies and global organisations, who came together to advise us on how to take our business forward, as well as giving us incredible insights into the communications challenges they face.
How would you advise someone considering a career in internal comms?
Get some experience in business first, whether you do that through business studies or work experience. Understanding how business functions work and interact with each other will allow you to become a more empathic and influential communicator.
What do you think are the top three trends in internal communications to watch out for in 2018?
1. Social media and influencer networks: the growth in importance of reaching internal and external influencers. Their influence might not have any bearing on their place in the organisational hierarchy.
2. The growth of the generalist: internal comms professionals need to have an understanding of the creative process; of digital comms; of how it fits in with external comms/PR etc etc..
3. Authenticity. The internal communicator needs to be the authentic voice of the organisation in order to build trust with its employees. In the age of Glass Door and other reviewer sites, we are all consumers who expect to be given the truth.
You can read the full article on The Communications Agency’s website, which includes a few interesting facts you might now know about Vicki.
© pfk the communications agency.
