Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. This week's comes from a comms lead at a university: "I recently got some feedback from colleagues and one resounding theme was that I should be more creative and take more risks. But when I try to proactively work on this, my brain just freezes up and I feel like I've never had a creative thought in my life. Do you have any advice for how I could work on my creative skills and find sources of inspiration, while...
9 days ago • 5 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. This week's question comes from a Senior Internal Comms Manager in the UK who asks: "We run loads of internal campaigns but I'm never really sure if they actually change anything. People read our content and watch our videos but do they actually do anything differently afterwards? I'm not sure. Any tips of how to shift from just keeping people informed to actually changing their behaviour?" Ooooh, great question. I...
16 days ago • 5 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. This week's question comes from a reader in Singapore: I've been asked by my boss to prove the ROI of our internal communications. But I am stumped and not sure where to start. I do collect data, things like newsletter open rates and engagement scores and townhall attendance but I can’t seem to make the link between this and ROI. What should I actually be measuring, should I think about this differently?? Please help!...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader, I've never been on a cruise ship in my life. My only reference point is watching episodes of Below Deck, which I'm pretty sure doesn't count as research. (Although it’s pretty entertaining to be fair) But I'm fascinated by cruise ships. Perhaps it’s the sheer SIZE of them that intrigues me. They’re so huge they’re basically floating cities. We're talking restaurants, fully kitted gyms, casinos, theatres, spas, multiple bars... the whole shebang. And it’s all moving across the...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. This week's question came in from a Corporate Comms Manager in Canada who asks: "How do you get the organisation to see communications as a strategic function? I feel like I just create a lot of content and do lots of editing and writing but I’d like to figure out how to do more strategic work and get taken more seriously. Any advice?" Ah you are not alone my friend. I think everyone who works in comms has, at some...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. This week’s question comes from an internal comms manager in the UK: “I know my team does good work but I struggle to explain how or why. My boss keeps asking me how we compare to our competitors or to high performing teams elsewhere and I don’t really have a clear answer. How do you know what a good internal comms team looks like?” I like this question because it's one we've all asked ourselves a million times. How...
about 2 months ago • 6 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. This week we’re tackling a question that came in from an internal comms manager in New Zealand: I've been doing pretty well in my role and as a result my to-do list is getting longer and everyone wants my help. It's not a terrible problem to have but there's a limit to how much I can do by myself (I'm a team of one). Have you any tips on how I can ask my boss if we can hire another person to help me? First of all,...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I take a question from a reader. This week let's dive into this question which came in from an internal communications manager in the Netherlands: "Joanna I need your help. I ran my first employee focus group last month and it was a disaster. One guy talked for the entire conversation and he barely gave anyone else a chance to speak. At some point it turned into an angry rant about the CEO and I couldn't get back on track. My boss is asking for...
2 months ago • 5 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I take a question from a reader. This week let's dive into this question which came in from an internal communications manager in Australia: "I'm struggling to say no to stakeholders. Everyone comes to me with requests and I end up saying yes to everything, even when I know I shouldn't. I'm drowning in work that I probably shouldn't even be doing and I don't know how to push back without damaging relationships. How do you say no without being seen as...
2 months ago • 5 min read