At the third Big Yak event, back from a hiatus in 2015, internal communications professionals from across the UK gathered in London to discuss the maturing of the internal comms industry and the more strategic role internal communications is taking on within businesses.

How should IC approach change management?

“In the change environment, people are looking for symbols and signals. But it’s the day-to-day habits that need to change to create a culture for change.”

“It is just about legwork to raise the profile of a senior figure and sometimes leaders need coaching and they need to be able to show empathy.”

“It’s really important to look after the people who are just below board level.”
How can you ensure ROI on internal communications?

“We shoot ourselves in the foot by calling it ROI because we don’t have that causal relationship.”

“In communications, it’s often the stuff that didn’t happen as your result. How do you measure the stuff that isn’t happening?”

“Those people that want an ROI, you’ve got to go to them and say, ‘I can’t give you a number, but I can prove it’s worth,’ and then you’ve got them on board.”

“You need as much creativity in measurement as you do in content generation. Measurement, when done well, is not a dark art.”

What is the relationship between employee experience and customer experience?

“People are not staying in companies very long, so you’ve got to treat them as customers.”

“Your PR team has to pick up the pieces when your internal culture goes wrong.”

“There are no secrets anymore. Nothing is safe, but if it gets out, it will be yesterday’s news really soon.”

“I was shocked to find out how much our employees hate finding out about their company in the media.”

What role should IC play in brand communications?

“If employees are dong something to contradict your brand, they don’t believe in it.”

“The worst thing you can possibly do is introduce people to their own brand.”

“Part of your brand can be aspirational, but it has to be based in reality.”

Are employee social networks still relevant?

“It’s about connecting with people, but it’s not successful until you’ve found a way of engaging the rest of the workforce. Is it the right thing for the team? Are we trying to change a behaviour that we don’t need to change?”

Jenni Field, communications director, Perrigo Company and co-founder, the IC Crowd

The Big Yak is really important because we have loads of conversations online with the IC Crowd and it’s a real opportunity to bring everybody together.

I think what we’ve really learned today and what’s great for us is to get a whole view of the industry from all different places. And what was interesting today is that we’re not talking about digital as much as we were. It’s much more about leadership comms, it’s about comms strategy, it’s about comms structures, it’s about aligning yourself to the business. Whereas two or three years ago it was always about digital and how do we create a digital tool and how do we embed a digital tool and how do we fix it. So it’s great to see the conversation has shifted in the last two years.

And in terms of what’s next for the Big Yak, I couldn’t possibly comment. The ladies and I are getting together in a couple of weeks to talk about what’s next for the IC Crowd and what’s next for the Big Yak. Watch this space.