An overlooked ally
Works councils in Europe: an opportunity for IC You’ve worked on an initiative for weeks. Near the launch date, you’re on a planning call with your international support team, and someone in Europe asks, “Have you cleared this with works councils?” You wonder, what’s a works council? If you don’t know the answer, I’ve […]
Job Sharing: Will it Ever Arrive?
Amid layoffs, so-called quiet quitting, and talk of renewed personal priorities, why isn’t the concept of job sharing getting more buzz? Job sharing is an arrangement where two or more people collaborate on what would normally be one role, where each one works less than full time. Sounds great to me! A job share, of […]
“Thanks for having me!”
I am a regular guest on podcasts, webinars and blogs. Below is a selection. If you’d like me to contribute to any of your channels, please get in touch (contact below).
Shining a light on shadow localization
Independent channels for local comms are inevitable. Can we improve quality and reduce rogue messaging? We know “shadow IT” to be the technical workarounds that people devise without the approval of the IT department, like a WhatsApp group that employees use for work topics. “Shadow localization” is a close relative. Local workplaces devise their own […]
The Corporate Newsroom is Dead
Photo by Kevin Grieve on Unsplash If we’re serious about Diversity and Inclusion, we need to enable other voices I was once talking with a woman who grew up in Romania, and she was telling me about how people there used to regard the news. She told me that before 1989, hardly anyone believed state […]
Communicating COVID-19 do’s and don’ts: what we can learn (and unlearn) from H&S
As more people return to the workplace, internal communicators will no doubt be working to inform and remind people of safe and hygienic work practices. I hope we do this without repeating many of the mistakes from most communications around health and safety (H&S). If you work in employee communications, you’ve probably had to work […]
“Build it and they will come”
A hopeful metaphor for traditional corporate content I still occasionally hear someone say, “Build it and they will come.” Wikipedia says it’s a misquote from the 1989 movie Field of Dreams. It says the actual words are from a voice in the head of hero Ray Kinsella, which told him several times, “If you build […]
Rest of World tells USA: we don’t care about your bracket
In the next few days, a much-loved national basketball tournament will start in the US, and on countless conference calls originating there, the first few minutes will be spent talking about scores and how participants’ predictions are faring in the local office pool. They call their selections their ‘bracket.’ Many people’s bracket will be ‘busted’ […]
Corporate goals vs. local realities
In global companies, there’s frequent tension between corporate functions and local business units. In formal communications, the corporate office may stress the company’s purpose and mission, safety performance, or its commitment to sustainability. Yet when local leaders communicate with employees, they talk about what drives performance metrics (and their annual bonus). Drivers for local businesses […]
Culture is local
Corporate communication departments often cite company culture, thinking it something that everyone feels. They should give that a rest. We must be careful not to confuse company culture as it is expressed in the head office with a global corporate culture. Despite the appeal of a unified corporate culture, national culture still matters more. When […]
