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 Boston who asks: "I work in a company with limited tech and tools, for example our intranet is on a very old version of Sharepoint and I have no email tool other than Outlook. I've asked for budget for a new digital platform to improve all of this but I've been told no. It was a pretty quick and firm no which left me feeling disheartened! How are other...
9 days ago • 7 min read
Hey Reader, Every week in this newsletter, I answer a question from a reader. Today’s question comes from a Head of Internal Comms in Edinburgh, Scotland. He asks: “I'm looking for a new role and I’m seeing so many job ads that require specific industry experience, for example they want 5+ years experience working in the manufacturing sector or at least one job working in finance etc. Should I not bother applying if I don’t have the industry experience they want?” Hey thanks for sending in...
16 days ago • 6 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. This week's question comes from a Head of Internal Comms in Belgium who asks: "I've recently taken up a new role and it looks like the company has a problem with communication channels. There are so many channels and no one is clear what they're all for or when they should use them (or not use them!). I don't have a budget to hire a consultant to do an audit for me and I'm wondering if I could do it myself on top of...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. Today's question comes from close to home, from a reader in Dublin who is working as an Internal Comms Manager. "My leadership team has basically told employees that we're expected to 'use AI for everything' to save time and money. I get the efficiency argument, but it doesn't feel right to run our whole comms function through AI. Am I being a dinosaur, or are my instincts right? is there a real case for keeping some...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Hey Reader, When I was 11 years old, my teacher told us about a new train that was running between England and France. She told me it goes under the sea. Young-me was baffled. How was it going under the sea? Did it not leak if you opened a window? Could you pet fish as you went by? I think I was picturing something like this: My teacher was, of course, talking about the Eurostar train that was running through the Channel Tunnel, an incredible feat of engineering that enabled people to travel...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
Hey Reader, Last year I went viral on LinkedIn for a post I flung together quickly on a whim, but that clearly struck a nerve: It talked about the absolutely suffocating, overwhelming and confusing environment most employees find themselves in, pulled from one platform to another and expected to navigate multiple tools and platforms simply to keep up to date with what’s happening in work. It’s exhausting, isn’t it? This kind of fragmented workplace has been a serious problem for years and I...
about 2 months ago • 6 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. This week's question comes from Ontario, Canada, from an internal comms manager who is feeling a bit tired and fed up. "I love my job and I work hard, really hard! I am able to work fast and efficiently and am good with helping lots of people in the company. I get lots of positive feedback from colleagues on my work. But I don't think the leaders in my company take me seriously or see me as someone who does a job that...
about 2 months ago • 6 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader, and this week's comes from a senior internal communications specialist in Australia. "I've been in internal comms for years and I'm good at what I do, but I work on my own and lately I've started to feel like I've plateaued. There's nobody around me who really gets the work, I've no one to bounce ideas off, no one to learn from, no one in my corner. How do you keep growing in this field when you're doing it solo?" I...
2 months ago • 6 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. This week's comes from someone who's clearly feeling the squeeze, and I suspect a lot of you will resonate with this question: "My leadership team is completely sold on AI and clearly have an expectation that it'll make everything faster and easier, especially for us in the comms team. But sometimes I can't tell if AI is actually helping us or just adding more work and tools to the pile. How are comms teams getting...
2 months ago • 6 min read