Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. This week's comes from an internal comms manager in Germany who's wrestling with something I think you'll all recognise: "One thing I often struggle with is saying no to colleagues, especially someone senior to me. I'm a manager and I can't imagine saying no to a leader in the company, but sometimes they ask me to do things that I don't think are right, and I really should figure out a way to say no. How can I do this...
13 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 an Internal Comms Manager in Manchester who asks: "Our line managers are our most important comms channel but I find them hard to work with. Half the time they don't cascade my messages, or they do but they do it badly. I'm at a loss. Any tips on how to work with them to improve things?" Working with line managers is one of those internal comms themes that comes up again and again. It's...
21 days ago • 5 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I take a question from a reader. This week's question comes all the way from beautiful New Zealand: "My company has a lot of change coming this year and I'll be leading the comms for it. Our company has a lot of frontline workers and I rely heavily on their managers to communicate effectively and get their people on board with changes (no easy feat!). I'm eager to use AI to help me as much as I can to make the work more manageable. Any ideas for how I...
27 days ago • 6 min read
Hey Reader, In a break from normal programming, today I'm not answering a question from a reader. Instead I shall indulge your curiosity and give you an insider look at how The Curious Tribe Global Gathering unfolded last week in Barcelona. This was our first in-person event and although I had a feeling it would be good, you just never know what will happen on the day. Let's have a look at what happened, shall we? (Spoiler: it was bloody AMAZING) What we set out to achieve Twenty of us flew...
about 1 month ago • 9 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. Today’s question comes from a Comms Manager based in Belgium, who writes: "I should probably be using AI more in my work but I feel a bit stuck on where to start. Everyone seems to be ahead of me and I feel like I'm falling behind, it’s like a mental block for me at this point. What should I do?" This is a really interesting take on the AI topic, one that I am keen to talk about. I get lots of questions about using AI...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Hey Reader, Each week in this newsletter I take a question from a reader. This week’s question feels timely, it comes from a Head of Internal Comms in Belfast: “I’ve been tasked with planning our annual leaders offsite. It’s a two day event and each year it’s a bit stuffy and dull, I feel like I have an opportunity to do something different this year, do you have any inspo or ideas?” Well lucky you because I’ve spent the last 6 months designing my own in-person event for The Curious Tribe so...
about 2 months ago • 6 min read
This edition is sponsored by Workvivo Hey Reader, Each week I answer a question from a reader. This week’s question is about AI and the leadership demand we all dread to hear, “do more with less” (I winced writing that). Our reader says: "Our leadership keep mentioning AI in every conversation about resourcing like it's the answer to us not having enough people, and their mantra this year seems to be “do more with less”. I want to do as much as I can but I honestly don't know what 'using AI...
2 months ago • 3 min read
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...
2 months 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...
3 months ago • 5 min read