Category: News

B2B 10 – we’ve been booting boredom out the barn door for a decade!

Posted on by Kerri Fullman

Who remembers those terrifying ice-bucket challenges?

What about when water was found on Mars?

Did you see Hamilton, the biggest show on Broadway? If you did, we bet you were wearing a long leather skirt with clashing colours (some of us still are), or minimalist whites, all while showing off your fancy new smartwatch tech.

Even worse than that, Korean boy bands had just been invented.

We’re talking about 2015…. 10 years ago!

While some things definitely get worse over time (exhibit A: that old bit of Red Leicester in the back of your fridge), some things only get better… like Barn to Boardroom 10, for instance.

GETTING BETTER WITH AGE

Yes… Barn to Boardroom has been booting boredom up the bum for a whole decade now, and like the best friendships, it just seems to get better with age.

As it was a special anniversary this year, we decided to do something a little different… B2B10 – Leaders Unplugged!

Our tenth B2B event focused on collaboration and working together to address the challenges and issues presented by a panel of senior leaders.

Our intrepid B2Bers all got together into teams (decided by the farm animal on their name badges) to present their solutions in front of the rest of the class.

They were asked to demonstrate how they would engage with colleagues about change when the audience was not particularly interested, and how they would provide employees with hope in uncertain times.

Congrats to Team Sheep by the way, who won the challenge by really throwing themselves into this year’s ‘Baa-rn’ to Boardroom (sorry/not sorry about the pun).

GETTING EVERYONE TOGETHER

This year’s theme proved to be a fantastic way to bring together a diverse group of creatively driven minds and form actionable insights and practical takeaways for our band of B2Bers to apply in their workplaces.

Some teams were so absorbed they didn’t even look up when the pre-arranged ice cream van came tinkling around the corner (we’re looking at you, Team Chicken).

There was also plenty of top-level advice and tips from IC pros, of course, including a brilliant keynote address from NATS Head of Employee Comms, Lynsey Davidson, who told delegates how they helped NATS leaders understand the benefits of IC and start displaying best practice every day.

We also heard from Elsevier’s Director of Internal Communication, Kevin Ferneyhough, on how they internalise their customer promises so their people really live and breathe them in everything they do.

And as ever, it was a golden opportunity to network and learn from others over a glass of fizz, a BBQ, and with a game of ‘Get to Know Me’ Do Si Do.

OVER TO YOU

We think B2B10 was the best ever. Here’s what you thought…

“A great day to connect with IC colleagues, sharing insights to help me become more professional in what I do.”

“It was a comms hive of expertise!”

“Relaxed, interesting and engaging!”

“A fun way to discuss topical issues and build relationships.”

“A brilliant day as always! Thank you to all the Surgery Team for a fab event.”

“I really enjoyed my first B2B event and all the inspiring conversations, as well as meeting so many IC pros. Already looking forward to B2B11!”

So, a big thank you to our leadership panellists Caroline Welsh, Faye Blakes, and Gerry Davies, and of course, our leadership panel moderator and IC Director Seb Hearmon.

Thanks to all our keynote speakers and, of course, to all our friends and clients, old and new, who we saw on the day.

B2B10 was so good, we should do it all again next year! One thing we can promise for B2B11… there’ll be no Korean boy bands. Unless they suddenly become IC experts. Which is unlikely.

To register your interest for THE event for IC and employee comms pros in 2026, just click here

And as ever, please get in touch if you need our help to ban the boring in your next IC project!

Why comms audits are sexy (bear with us on this one)

Posted on by Kerri Fullman

Right then, let’s talk internal comms audits. No, wait, come back! Internal Comms audits rock!

Alright, they might not be the sexiest bit of IC (and we’d love to know your thoughts on what the sexiest bit of IC is, but maybe that’s a blog for another day.)

Anyway, as we said, we think IC audits rock. How else can you get an overview of how your comms are received by your people?

How else can you truly understand the strengths, weaknesses, and how your people prefer to be communicated with, as well as where they go for information?

The building blocks of your IC strategies

Understanding all the above can help you build effective IC strategies and plans, providing people with what they want in the right way at the right time and in the right place.

Let’s face it, knowing your people’s preferences and being able to cut the channels which nobody uses (we’re looking at you, newsletters!) gives your messages at least a fighting chance of being read and acted upon.

Getting pre-and post-audit results is where the big bags of gold dust are. Whether you’ve spent the GDP of a small European country on a big IC change project or whether it’s just you working from home somewhere in the home counties, running audits really can show you the value of what you’re doing and how you’ve smashed those KPIs.

Happy office bunnies

It’s not a bad way to show your people you care, too. If they think their views are important and lead to change, then you’re going to have a happy bunch of bunnies in the office.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, here are a few thoughts around the sort of objectives you might need when getting into audit mode…

  • Get a comprehensive understanding of our existing channels, how they perform, and current communication gaps.
  • Gain a clear picture of what excellent communication feels like across different internal audiences by involving employees across functions, geographies, and cultures.
  • Use the data to inform recommendations and actions which could help you deliver on your wider business strategy and a local or global IC strategy.

Insight, insight, insight

You can use online surveys, focus groups, drop-in sessions, or any forum where your people can speak freely and honestly about internal comms.

Not everyone will be interested, but make sure everyone who can have their say, wherever they work (and not just outspoken Margaret from Marketing).

It’s about insight, insight, insight, as you might have heard us say once or twice!

Link your questions to your objectives to make the results actionable and measurable.

And crucially, spend some time and effort to get your senior leaders on board.

We all know how busy they are, so help them as much as you can with pre-filled FAQs and leadership packs so they can advocate and explain why your audit is so important (and will help make people’s working lives better).

Get your results, collate the data and use them to inform your strategy and tactics.

Once your tactics and changes have had a chance to make a difference, check in again with your people and sit back and enjoy those positive results (before doing it all over again in a few years’ time).

Something which can give you a very clear picture of IC in your business, and provide the data you need to inform your strategy?

Sounds pretty sexy to us!

We’ve won awards for our comms audit work, so if you need a full overview of IC comms or need some help getting an audit up and running (and if you’re ready to join the anti-boring revolution), let’s talk!

Building better comms with LEGO

Posted on by Kerri Fullman

Fun and creativity have always been central to IC as a function. So it’s only natural that LEGO could click right into place as a powerful tool.

Let’s start with a confession. We love LEGO.

Come to our offices and you’ll see LEGO minifigures for each employee, a Star Wars millennium falcon and, depending what day, who knows what else.

So, investing in LEGO serious play was a seriously easy decision.

What is LEGO serious play?

If you’ve not heard of LEGO serious play before, it’s a means of using LEGO in a work environment.

It’s a way of building models to represent thinking, provide a visual representation of ideas, and it’s naturally very interactive and hands on.

But there’s some serious theory behind it. And we found that quite powerful.

Spoiler: LEGO serious play isn’t about LEGO

Here’s the surprising thing – it’s not actually about LEGO. Yes, there’s LEGO involved, but it’s actually about storytelling.

Have you heard of third point conversations? It’s a way of taking communication away from what can sometimes feel like a confrontational person to person approach, and making it about a thing (or third point).

It’s used in some therapies and means a move away from ‘me versus you’ to a place of looking at something together.

          Third point conversations

          Let’s say we asked a colleague how they were feeling about work. Depending on our relationship with them we may get different responses:

          • They might be tempted to censor their answer to protect our feelings
          • They may feel pressured to give a specific response they think we want
          • They may just give us both barrels, focussing on what’s really frustrating them!

            Instead, we could give them a framework of LEGO serious play and ask them to build a model showing how they feel about work.

            In this scenario:

            • They’re able to reflect as they go and build a model showing a more rounded view, allowing more detail
            • They can talk it through in a dispassionate way, “these blocks reflect the workload building up behind me”, making for an honest and free conversation
            • You have a visual model to discuss and ask questions about, allowing for rich conversation without feeling like you’re probing into difficult areas

            The collaboration really clicks

            Now if we have a group of people building individual models, it gets even better when we come together.

            When everyone has shared their stories, we work through a process of taking the best from each to create a single, larger shared model, updated and refined as a team.

            What you end up with is a story created together, showing a collective view, which anyone can talk through. And that can lead to some wonderful things.

            You can make anything with LEGO

            You may have got the gist – these little coloured blocks are a powerful tool for some great conversation and collaboration. And where you take that is up to you.

            Here’s where we think it can add real value:

            1. Employee experience. LEGO can be great for time travel. Create a model of how things are now, and rebuild it into how we’d like them to be. That can help improve the experience of onboarding, returning from leave or anything in between.
            2. IC strategies. Consider a workshop where your IC team is building individual models about how to use IC to support the business and employees for the year ahead, then they all come together to make a central model. You’ll have a great foundation to switch onto Post-Its to unpack the ideas, then develop, prioritise and refine.
            3. EVPs. Getting honest feedback from employees and a future vision of the organisation from leaders could become even better through the LEGO approach. There’s no ambiguity in the blocks, so you get an accurate shared view to tee up the all-important framework and creative process.

            We’re now officially certified to facilitate LEGO serious play and we’re seriously excited about it.

            If you’d like to see how LEGO can support your strategies, or you just want to come see the millennium falcon, give us a shout. It could be the building blocks of something rather special.

            AI: the colleague that won’t steal your mug

            Posted on by noegrus

            AI chatbots offer a human-like technology that can help you out with many tasks. But what a lot of people don’t realise is interacting with them is, well, surprisingly human. 

            ChatGPT, the chatbot from OpenAI, hit 100 million users in just two months. To give that some context, Instagram took 2.5 years to hit that number.

            So, it kind of exploded onto the scene.

            What came with it was lots of content claiming things like “The only 10 AI prompts you’ll ever need”. It made using something like ChatGPT seem complicated and, well, it’s not.

            See AI as that new team member

            If you asked your colleague to go and create a report on your biggest competitors, you might get a 10-page document giving you everything from their heritage to open job roles. Or you might get a really brief summary of each one’s main products, presented in a table. You’re leaving it to interpretation.

            Tell them which competitors to look at, what information to find, and how to present it – and now you’re getting somewhere.

            But what about when they come back and it’s not quite right? Do you a) get frustrated and never ask them to do anything again, or b) tell them how to improve it and ask them to update it?

            The beauty of AI is you don’t feel guilty asking for changes. Then more changes. And then even more changes. When your colleague might tell you stick your requests, AI will just keep on helping and do it all in a matter of seconds.

            Tips for AI or even just colleagues 😉

            Giving you tips kind of goes against our whole point here. Really, this is just some advice on setting expectations, iterating and being realistic with your outcome – which is arguably helpful for any team communication!

            • Give as much guidance as possible. Think about what you want to achieve, put some parameters around it, and specify what you want as an output.

            “Create strapline ideas for a wellbeing campaign we’re going to launch in the summer. Include clever wordplay around wellness trends. Create 10 ideas, each one with justification as to why it will work and ideas to bring it to life.” 

            • See it as a conversation. It’s unlikely anyone will deliver your request perfect first time. So, expect some back and forth as you get clearer on what you want and give guidance on ways to update and improve.

            “Create more ideas like idea number four. Include no more than 10 words in each. Create at least three that include humour.“

            • Be prepared to finish it yourself. No one is going to perfectly deliver a task you have in your head. They may get close and take a lot of the graft away, but the finishing touches are all yours. So get it in a format which makes it as easy as possible for you to take it on and use as you need.

            “Put these ideas in a table for me to copy and paste into excel. Include a column for the tagline, a column for the justification and a column for activation ideas.“

            Not all colleagues are equal

            There’s many AI tools out there but it’s worth considering what you’re prepared to share with them.

            Something like ChatGPT, that’s a colleague you can’t fully trust with sensitive information. They can still be incredibly useful but you may want to hold back on sensitive details (that’s where using dummy names and a find-and-replace can be really useful).

            A paid-for subscription to Copilot on the other hand, that’s like someone with full security clearance. No problem in getting them to look through your sensitive data. In fact, uploading a file of data and asking for analysis is great time-saving way to use it.

            In conclusion

            AI chatbots are designed to be simple to use. So just chat to them. Try things out, learn better ways, and see them as a helpful colleague. Whilst we don’t doubt your real colleagues are extremely lovely and supportive, AI has added benefits: it’s incredibly quick, it won’t get tired of your requests, it doesn’t have a birthday, and you can be sure – it definitely won’t steal your mug.

            If you and your internal comms team want an interactive walkthrough of how to make the most of AI, get in touch and we’ll be happy to help. 

            Right, why writing right is right for writing right internal comms… right?

            Posted on by noegrus

            What, why, where, who, and when are just five little words, helpfully, all starting with a w, so they are easy to remember. 

            The next time that horrifically blank Word document stares back at you, willing you to create an award-winning piece of internal comms content, but you’ve got nothing in the tank, start by answering your five Ws. What do I need to get across? Why are we doing it? Where is it happening? To who and when? 

            It’s a good place to start. 

            Of course, there are some nuances and other bits and pieces to consider when writing for an internal communications audience. But keeping those five little words in your mind and sketching out rough answers to each question should give you a nice basis from which to start your story, email, or that passive-aggressive note asking people not to nick your yoghurt from the shared work fridge. 

            Of course, as the Fun Boy Three and Bananarama so wisely once sang, it’s not what you do; it’s the way that you do it. (I did promise never to mention them again in a previous blog, but here we are—sorry!) 

            What the 80s pop funsters were obviously trying to say is that while what you say is important, it’s the way that you get it across that will keep everyone on tenterhooks eagerly awaiting your next beautifully composed piece of content. 

            Answering those five little questions is the bones of your story, your email (or that passive-aggressive note we spoke about earlier), and it’s a useful mantra to stick to.  

            Let’s get to the point already 

            If you like a bit of overly flowery prose good for you, but don’t forget to get to the point. It’s a crying shame, but people will scan and read what you put in front of them. In fact, you’re scanning this now I bet. 

            All those hours wrestling with your thesaurus (why isn’t there another name for thesaurus?) are to nought if you don’t get to the bleeding point up top.  

            That’s why I started with the five ‘Ws’ in the first two paragraphs, that was the point I wanted you to remember. Of course, you may have dropped off to sleep by this paragraph, in which case you won’t be reading this bit anyway. 

            KISS! Thought that might wake you up. KISS, of course, stands for keep it simple, silly. That last S actually stands for stupid, but not being overly rude to your readers is another good takeaway to remember. 

            So, be less Dostoevsky and more Post-it note. Clarity of message is king. Keeping things simple and ensuring clarity of your message is king, and the king of your writing is clarity of message (a little bit of repeating your core message will help get it across, too, hopefully you saw what I did there). 

            Let’s utilise your leverage and deal with the shark 

            Write how you talk. Who in real life says utilise instead of use? Have you ever heard anyone say’ leverage’ in any conversation you’ve had throughout your life? What does leverage even mean? 

            It’s not big or clever to use long words. Or to tie lead weights to your writing with silly business speak that people will either laugh at or roll their eyes at. 

            One old boss of mine, when we were faced with putting out some crisis communications, said we should ‘deal with the shark closest to the boat’. I remember what they were saying, I guess, but it was difficult to take anything else they said seriously after that! 

            Slay that dragon

            KISS doesn’t mean what we say has to be boring. If you’ve got a bit of space to delve into a topic a bit more, then a bit of storytelling does wonders. People like to hear about other people. If you’ve had a brilliant fiscal year, maybe focus on the people who delivered it, why they did what they did, and what barriers they overcame. We want to know how and why they had to slay that financial dragon rather than getting bogged down in numbers.  

            People stories stimulate the soul and spark neurons. Adopting a more human approach means your communications can ring out across the corporate wilderness like a lonely wolf baying for the attention of its pack or a bellowed yodel across a pristine alpine valley. Sorry, got carried away there for a minute, should have kept it simple! 

            The point is that a human-inspired story is more likely to be remembered by your people and talked about and shared. 

            It’s what AI can’t do yet, it can’t be you. All those AI bots scrabbling across the internet for content helping you prepare that last-minute presentation to your boss can’t compete against your experience, your emotions, and your human responses. 

            Reject AI and bring a bit of yourself into your writing. This will keep it honest, genuine, and, importantly, relatable to your audience.  

            Rejecting AI will also keep copywriters like me in a job, of course (ahem). 

            So, remember your five WSs and KISS. 

            Oh, and let’s be more human… hah! Take that AI! 

            Remember, we’re here to help with copywriting, storytelling, design, digital strategy, internal communications, EVP, and more! 

            AI – the rise of the machines or a useful tool?

            Posted on by noegrus

            Head of Digital Matt Prudente shares his expert view.

            Q: Tell us what you know about AI. Do you see it as a positive or negative?

            It’s a funny one. I see lots of positives and a lot of potential. But I also get everyone’s concerns, although maybe people have been watching Terminator too much!

            Like anything, there are new tools that come along. I view AI as a tool. My simplest explanation is the development of a screwdriver. A basic screwdriver is great but requires a lot of effort. You can take some of that effort out by using an electric screwdriver. That’s progress, isn’t it? 

            It’s how I view AI. We have a lot of repetitive tasks that can be handled by technology. We do it all the time. The Industrial Revolution obviously had a huge impact. And now, with coding and computer tasks, I think AI has the potential to be a great tool. It already is.

            We’ve seen it problem solve and build websites. Platforms like ChatGPT can generate code for software like WordPress. If you want a particular function, you ask for it and it’ll create the code to drop into your website. AI handles those more mundane tasks, so you can focus on the bigger picture. 

            Take Wix, for example. You can create an entire e-commerce website. It provides content, imagery and a template of your choice. It knows what works and can even apply SEO principles to it. 

            And then there’s medicine and science. It’s helping come up with new drugs.

            AI will make many developers nervous but it still needs someone at the helm who knows what they’re doing. I think the future will be AI carrying out complete problem solving. It needs data input – visual, language or figures – to produce the solution.

            Q: Have you tested it out? Any thoughts on which platforms are performing best (ChatGPT, Bard, Code T5 etc)?

            We’re at the stage where we’re figuring out what suits us. We’re already using ChatGPT but there have been some failings. We create hybrid apps and use a framework called ‘ionic’. So I tasked ChatGPT with producing a particular kind of ionic app. It came back with a series of code and told me what to do. As I read, I could see that it was wrong and outdated. There’s a limitation there which means it must be checked constantly.

            Having said that, as developers, we’re meant to do code unit tests, to check something’s working correctly. We create our own code to check the code. AI could perform a task like that in a much simpler way. We want to use these tools to make the process less manual.

            Co-pilot, a Microsoft AI assistant, is something I’m really interested in it. The benefits will be spending less time on laborious tasks and seeing greater output – quantity and quality – meaning a better product for the client. It’d also reduce the cost of a project. As a business, we’ll be able to deliver faster and save money.

            Q: How might AI benefit/impact your role in digital?

            There’s always a worry but in any role, we have to keep up. Companies pay for employees to attend training courses to improve their skills, or upskill to an area that’s needed. We should always find a place where we’re needed for work. It just adapts over time. My job changed from working as a printer’s apprentice at 16 years old, to where I am now, heading up digital for the Surgery. I’ve constantly adapted and changed, but there’s always been a job for me. We just don’t know what that’ll look like in the future.

            A hundred years ago, lots of labourers had their livelihoods taken away but people still have work and there are many more of us now. AI will replace some jobs, just as it has done in the past, but other jobs will come into play because human interaction is still needed.

            Q: Do you think we’ll get to a point where we can teach machines ethics, empathy and compassion?

            Those are human traits based on love – different kinds of love. As humans, love is there but we don’t always follow it. We don’t always show empathy and compassion. It’s something we need to cultivate in ourselves. That makes it a challenge, for me, to say that a computer could ever be sentient because it’s feelings, not data.

            With programming, humans set the rules but AI sets its own. Rules are ok but principles override rules. If you have principles, you can have two rules that cancel each other out. How will AI manage that, given that compassion and empathy feed in? Love overrides so many rules. Traffic laws, for example, are put in place to protect but what if a decision must be taken that doesn’t follow the rules, even though it’s the right and ethical course of action?

            I’ve been trying to think of another hypothetical situation that might relate to this. Let’s say you have an air-conditioned room full of people, that needs to be kept secure. How would AI deal with failed air conditioning while still considering the security threat? Would it open the doors to let fresh air in? The data set might dictate ‘if the temperature reaches 38C, open the door’. Or will it watch people’s expressions, to understand feelings and emotions, and respond? Might it respond intelligently by putting people in place to act as security? How might they feel? A lot of facial recognition AI can read expressions, but subtle nuances often don’t tell the whole picture.

            Q: How do you think AI and humans will co-exist?

             It depends on humans! We have choice. AI and technology all come from binary but with humans, we have a choice. It’s power. AI needs power. Computers. A man-made brain to be able to do this stuff.

            When we have a power cut, it’s a disaster. AI is just technology, again. When your power tool runs out of battery, we use it manually. As humans, we have a choice as to what we do with it.

            When the Industrial Revolution took place, it produced much bigger things and faster. And not long after that, we saw world wars and what was produced there. It can be great but destructive things were also created. There’s always the chance that humans can misuse tools. If you have a hammer, you can build or destroy. It comes down to human choice.

            Q: Any other thoughts on AI, now and in the future?

            It was 20-30 years ago that most of us were getting emails for the first time. From there, we’re using AI. We don’t have to be in an office – we can work remotely. That’s all come from huge, chunky computers. The advancements have been huge and it’s growing at breakneck exponential speed. Especially when computers are then figuring stuff out for you. The potential is amazing.

            The pandemic changed the way we worked. We all had to jump on the digital bandwagon, whether we liked it or not. I wonder if that accelerated the need for AI.

            Disruption… do it, deal with it and make it work for you!

            Posted on by Fran O'Maolain

            Disruption… it’s a fact of life these days.

            Like your toast landing butter side down, losing your socks in the laundry, or hastily updating your LinkedIn profile after a terrible day in the office, you’ve probably already experienced disruption at some level.

            If you haven’t, you will, sorry about that!

            As delegates at our recent Barn to Boardroom event (the networking and learning event for I/C pros) discovered, the good news is there are some solid tactics out there to help you embrace it, learn from it, cope with it and even make it work for you.

            In fact, sticking to great internal comms principles, driving an employee-led employee experience, adopting agility, putting out some authentic stories and being bold and resilient might all help, whether you’re being disruptive OR being The Disruptor (what a fab name that would be for a 1980s cartoon baddie, don’t you think?)

            A ‘north star’ employee experience

            As Barn to Boardroom co-founder and Elsevier’s VP Internal Communications Sarah Meurer and her lovely team Richard Etienne and Lisa Pantelli explained, defining your employee value proposition can give you a real anchor should the waters around you get a bit choppy.

            Making sure your EVP is clear and well-defined with employees and that it forms the basis of not just the employee experience but drives through to the external talent proposition means it can become your shiny and twinkling north star.

            It’s not something you can sit around with a cup of tea and come up with. Authentic EVPs are something you’ll uncover using insight, insight and more insight from your people.

            Giving it plenty of welly at launch and through drumbeat comms, and allowing your people to tell their stories will get your EVP messages ingrained in your BAU and get everyone feeling it every day.

            Ready for anything with agile thinking

            A bit of agility can also get you ready to disrupt or be The Disruptor (trademark pending).

            It’s about being efficient, reducing those processes that drag along behind you every day, stopping you from being innovative and coming up with those funky disruptive ideas. Like new names for ‘80s cartoon baddies, for instance.

            As Kate Hughes, Group Internal Comms Manager from Cambridge University Press and Assessment, shared, an iterative define-build-release model can help you constantly refine and learn on the go. It’s for BAU not just for projects and campaigns!

            Team scrums, project sprints, and development bursts. They’re all part of your wider agile armoury, helping to drive collaboration, to be slicker in what you do, to reduce risk, to visualise and prioritise the work, and to be on-your-toes ready for whatever is around the corner.

            Once upon a time

            Stories. We all love them. But if they’re not compelling, genuine or come from those who are actually living them then you’re missing a great chance to be disruptive.

            Sam Bleazard, Employer Brand Content Producer at Fortnum and Mason, knows a thing or two about disruption. In fact, he even created his job himself after persuading the bosses at the luxury brand a bit of storytelling is exactly what they need. Nice disruption, Sam!

            As he says, sharing great internal personal stories (every business has great people with a story to share) is about creating that genuine, emotional connection with customers, and of course, with potential new talent.

            Sam’s takeaway advice is to think about the stories you’re not telling. It’s likely they’ll be much more compelling than the one you’ve just posted on LinkedIn. Oh, and if you can get the CEO to share what they’ve been up to on your socials, it’s even better.

            Eating disruption for breakfast

            For Laura Campbell, Internal Communications Director at EasyJet, it’s all about resilience because resilience eats disruption for breakfast. She really should know. There can’t be many industries that have had to deal with as much disruption as aviation in recent years.

            Natural disasters, cancellations, delays, even a global pandemic. You can add all that to the comms challenges presented by having a remote, up-in-the-air, and desk-based workforce at a high-profile household-name brand which is very visible on social media. Think I’d take the toast landing butter side down anytime!

            Everything Laura and her team have dealt with has built real resilience. They use the power of their internal channels to integrate, to head off problems at the pass and to make their senior leaders visible and accessible. It means their strategy and responses to disruption are clearly signposted and out there. It’s really increased the value of their internal comms channels, too.

            It kinda goes back to those good old comms principles. When the going gets tough, keep going and keep communicating. As Laura says, it means they’ve been able to bring back the joy (and the fun) of working in travel.

            Be The Disruptor on LinkedIn

            Personal branding, ooff. It’s one of those things we need to think about if we want to be disruptive, stand out and be noticed. It’s not always comfortable talking about what you do and how good you are at it, though, right?

            As Vicki Marinker, Candid Career Coach, wonderfully told her attentive Barn to Boardroom audience, you can get yourself out there and grab attention without being a total $&*7.

            It’s not all about you, of course. LinkedIn is where all the talent is just hanging around, waiting for the next piece of inspiring content to thwack them over the head. It’s where the decision-makers are too. In fact, LinkedIn is 277% (yes, you read that right) more effective at generating leads than Facebook and Twitter. 81% of B2B buyers are more likely to engage with someone who has a strong personal brand. Vicki makes a very compelling case!

            So, whether it’s your brand or you’re updating the pages for Timpkins and Sons, remember Vicki’s seven Cs – complete your profile, curate your feed, connect, communicate, comment, create and be consistent.

            So, another brilliant Barn to Boardroom (which had its own fair share of pre-event disruption thanks to rail delays, torrential downpours and chairs for the event only just turning up in time!) is done and dusted.

            It was so good we should do it again next year!

            Interested in employer branding? Download our whitepaper to understand the context, case and considerations for a modern employer brand.

            The intriguing world of driving engagement through employee personas

            Posted on by Fran O'Maolain

            In the bustling realm of internal communications (IC), one pivotal element that often goes overlooked is the understanding of employee personas. These fascinating character profiles provide a window into a company’s workforce.

            From the diligent tech wizard who lives and breathes innovation to the enthusiastic social butterfly who sparks contagious energy, employee personas offer valuable insights for crafting effective IC strategies.
            So, how do they shape the fabric of corporate culture?

            The Visionary Trailblazer

            At the helm of every organisation, you’ll find the Visionary Trailblazer; someone who’s brimming with ideas and a tireless appetite for innovation. This persona thrives on opportunities to reshape the company’s future, eagerly seeking out the next big breakthrough. To engage the Visionary Trailblazer, IC should think about offering a platform for brainstorming sessions, sharing cutting-edge industry trends and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

            The Analytical Problem-Solver

            Meet the Analytical Problem-Solver, armed with spreadsheets, data-driven insights and an insatiable thirst for cracking complex challenges. This persona’s cerebral prowess and methodical approach ensures that no problem is left unsolved. IC should emphasise logical reasoning, present structured information, and provide opportunities for critical thinking and problem-solving exercises, to effectively communicate with the Analytical Problem-Solver.

            The Social Connector

            There’s a Social Connector in every office; a vivacious persona whose mere presence electrifies the room. They possess an uncanny ability to forge connections, build camaraderie and bring diverse teams together. To capture the attention of the Social Connector, IC should consider incorporating elements of fun, team-building activities, and foster an inclusive, collaborative environment.

            The Detail-Oriented Perfectionist

            Ever met that colleague who spots the smallest typo from a mile away? That’s the Detail-Oriented Perfectionist. This meticulous persona ensures that every comma is in its place, every PowerPoint slide is pixel-perfect and every document is flawlessly formatted. To engage the Detail-Oriented Perfectionist, IC should focus on precision, accuracy, and attention to detail, providing well-structured guidelines and templates.

            The Enthusiastic Learner

            Enter the Enthusiastic Learner, a perpetual student who craves knowledge and growth opportunities. This persona views each new project as an opportunity to acquire new skills and broaden their horizons. To captivate the Enthusiastic Learner, IC should offer a variety of learning resources, training programmes and platforms for knowledge sharing.

            The Empathetic Supporter

            Behind every successful team, there’s an Empathetic Supporter. This persona possesses exceptional listening skills and a genuine desire to help colleagues overcome challenges. They are the go-to person for advice, encouragement and an empathetic ear. Providing opportunities for team recognition and promoting employee well-being initiatives is a great way to tap into this persona’s needs.

            Good stuff but how do we build our own employee personas?

            • First of all, talk to your colleagues with experience in building personas.
            • Talk to your employees. Set up working or focus groups. Understand their wants, needs and niggles.
            • Decide what criteria you’ll use to categorise your personas.
            • Build and store your new personas.
            • Test them out. They’ll naturally evolve over time but keep going.

            Making use of personas

            Having realistic expectations is important. In reality, you won’t be able to generate an optimum number of personas to cater for everyone but you can create examples highlighting common problems, based on your research or data. Addressing key challenges, segmenting your audience, deciding on preferred channels for communication and understanding what motivates your employees are all hugely beneficial learnings for cultivating positive engagement and hanging on to your staff. These learnings often have a domino effect, resulting in meeting your customers’ needs, meaning the business wins too.

            Employee personas should serve as a guide to understanding your workforce’s needs. By striking the right balance between personalisation and authenticity, organisations can create a workplace culture where IC thrives, driving engagement to new heights.

            Virtual work events: the good, the bad and the Wi-Fi woes

            Posted on by Fran O'Maolain

            In a post-pandemic world, virtual work events have become all the rage. We’ve bid farewell to the days of stuffy conference rooms and awkward icebreakers and said ‘hello’ to the convenience of online gatherings. But, as with anything in life, there are good bits and bad bits.

            The pros…

            Super convenient

            No more commuting long distances, getting stuck in traffic, or rushing to make it on time. With virtual events, you can join from the comfort of your own home, or anywhere with a stable internet connection. Plus, it opens up opportunities for employees globally to participate and collaborate more easily.

            Kinder to the purse strings

            Hosting an in-person event can be a hefty financial burden. Think about it: venue rentals, catering, travel expenses and accommodation can quickly add up. Virtual events, on the other hand, eliminate these costs. All you need is a reliable platform, and you’re good to go. So, not only can companies save a ton of money, but they can also allocate those resources to other important areas of their business.

            Being inclusive

            Traditional in-person events can be challenging for employees with disabilities or those who have difficulty attending due to personal commitments. Virtual events allow everyone to participate on an equal footing, creating a more inclusive and diverse environment. Moreover, introverts, who may feel overwhelmed by large gatherings, can find online events more comfortable and less intimidating.

            And the cons…

            Lack of in-person interaction

            While technology is wonderful, it can’t fully replicate the experience of being physically present with others. Non-verbal cues, spontaneous conversations and building personal connections can be more challenging in a virtual setting. It can be harder to establish rapport and develop strong relationships with colleagues and clients, sometimes leading to feeling isolated or disconnected.

            Screen freeze and other glitches

            We’ve all been there – frozen screens, lagging audio or poor internet connections. Technical issues can disrupt the flow of the event, cause frustration, and hinder effective communication. Backup plans are a must. Test the technology in advance and be prepared to troubleshoot problems on the fly, before it turns into a tech nightmare.

            The buzz

            Virtual events can seriously lack the energy and excitement that come with in-person gatherings. The buzz in the air, the shared laughter and the spontaneous moments of inspiration can be harder to replicate virtually. Engagement and motivation can suffer too.

            Winning with virtual events

            There’s no exact formula for producing a gold-star virtual event but you can follow some easy steps to make it much more likely. Here’s how to engage your audience and add some digital dynamism:

            • Trying creating a fully managed vision-mixed broadcast with production levels that’ll make the audience feel like they’re watching a TV show – as opposed to it feeling like ‘yet another virtual meeting’.
            •  Share real stories that capture the attention and imagination.
            • Mix up the content with live speakers, interviews, video, Slido (or similar), and chat.
            • Ensure the content is fast paced, with no one presenting live without interaction for longer than nine minutes. There’s even some proper neuroscience research from Inc to back this up.
            • Give people a reason not to switch off with a ticker tape teaser – ‘coming up next is….’
            • Make sure everyone knows it’s fully live (and not just a recording they can snooze through).
            • Let people interact with the speakers via the chat and Slido.
            • Keep it interactive and fluid with quizzes, questions and polls.

            Let’s champion the virtual work event revolution, adapt to its challenges and make the most of our digital connections.

            Employer brand content: quick and dirty or highly polished?

            Posted on by Fran O'Maolain

            Employer branding content is a conundrum. You want candidates to get an authentic feel of the business, whilst demonstrating how much you care. But does that point to film-on-a-phone style stories, or something a little more high end?

            Forget Charles, content is king right. We all need content these days, it’s what we all trade in. It gets traffic to our websites, makes us look good and can help us spread good vibes (cat videos anyone?).

            When it comes to employer branding, content is our way of showing who we really are. It’s a way of getting stories out to potential candidates, keeping us in the minds of future employees and generally helping people understand what we’re all about.

            But does it matter how we go about it?

            Personal and credible 

            The approach to your content can say a lot about you. It can showcase your skills for one thing. And whether we like it or not, people will make judgements off the back of it.

            Remember hearing about the halo effect in GCSE psychology? When someone or something looks good, we generally expect it to be good in other ways. So, if you make good content, we assume that you may be good at other things too.

            Let’s say for a minute you get a handwritten note through the door. It’s a bit of lined paper, torn from a pad, with handwriting written in biro…

            • If that’s a neighbour asking you round for a barbecue, then you probably see it as a nice touch and think little more of it.
            • But, what about if it was a local restaurant that just opened?

            Would you still see it as a nice touch, or would you wonder why it’s not something more polished? Would you see the lack of professionalism as something to worry about? If they can’t even create a proper advert, how can they cook us a decent carbonara.

            Believability

            There’s a danger that things that seem put together cheaply and quickly don’t capture the quality we want to convey. When we’re selling anything – whether it’s our role as an employer, or our latest pasta extravaganza – that can be a problem.

            So, what about if we add some real production value?

            In the context of employer branding, a cheap and quick approach may be getting an employee to talk to your smartphone, and putting the video out as a story. A polished alternative, may be using a videographer, with some professional lighting, directing and post-production to create a high quality video.

            Based on our halo effect, a top-notch video should convey the quality we want right? Content that has clearly had some real care put into its creation, will mimic the care an employee could expect when joining. Right?

            Er. Maybe.

            Here’s the thing – there’s a lot of research that tells us (younger candidates especially) don’t really trust companies. Content created by the company with time and budget signifies something that fits the brand’s agenda – and therefore maybe shows their less than authentic spin on life.

            Persuasive content

            Beyond the woes of credibility and quality, we should also consider the goal. Anyone from a comms or marketing background will know there’s a real challenge in matching your strategy to your audience and creating something that gathers attention, builds interest, and drives some action. It takes skill and hard work.

            Can we really hit the mark without the time, effort and budget to produce something carefully crafted? Can we really create something engaging enough on the fly?

            Head f#ck

            It feels like an oxymoron. Create regular authentic content that feels personal and trustworthy, but also captures the quality and care that conveys your approach as an employer. Unless you have a team of people with an empty diary that work for free – it’s a head f#ck.

            But – perhaps it’s not quite as bad as we’ve made out (sorry not sorry).

            All approaches have merit. Standing alone they are open to scrutiny, but together they can appeal to different aspects of the psyche:

            • Regular digestible content – can provide a baseline authentic view of who you are, through regular short conversations with real employees, filmed on a phone or put out as audio clips
            • Creative campaigns and more permanent content – can showcase what you can do with a little time and budget, reinforcing the care and standards you hold dear as a business

            Let’s be honest, getting regular content out is a challenge. We need willing employees, endless ideas, and a cycle of speedy production. So keeping it a little quick and dirty will give us a realistic way to create a baseline of believable stories.

            Then we can layer on content designed to showcase how good you really are. Think creative campaigns, or career site videos – opportunities to really capture the imagination.

            Quick and dirty, highly polished, they’re both winners here. The trick is to make the best of both. Think of the end user, think of your capabilities, and find the balance that draws it all together. And if you get time in between to visit to the local pasta place, all the better, even if their promotion didn’t blow you away.

            Interested in employer branding? Download our whitepaper to understand the context, case and considerations for a modern employer brand.