Hill+Knowlton Strategies

I had a fascinating converstaion with my friend Judith the other night.

We had a wide-ranging and at times quite deep conversation (although that may have been the wine) about the future of internal communications. We saw some positive signs. Leaders – perhaps driven by the current uncertainty – have never taken internal communications so seriously.

Then there is the role internal communications plays in supporting employee engagement. The recent MacLeod Report highlighted just how vital this is to UK PLC’s ongoing success. That engaged employees are more productive will not exactly be a surprise to many of you.

But if leaders and politicians are taking us more seriously what about some of our colleagues? What about our relationships with the Sales and Marketing teams? Or with Finance? or with HR?

My view is that we’ve still not proven ourselves there. I was speaking to Sharon Saxton who is HR Director at City & Guilds Group on Friday. We talked about the evolution that HR practitioners have gone through in the last 15-20 years. She described it as a shift from transactional responsibilities like payroll to having an increasingly strategic role.

Our journey may well be similar. Instead of payroll maybe it’s newsletters and intranets… and perhaps we’re moving towards helping to develop the vision and strategy?

It sounds like a journey worth being on. And you can ask Sharon about it at the CIPR’s annual conference next Monday. Hope to see you there.