Practitioners Raise Their Game at Internal Communications 201 Workshop at Bangalore

The Internal Communications 201 Workshop held on July 7 at Bangalore had participants from leading organizations and emerging consultants engage in wide ranging discussions to raise their game and build a shared future for this growing function. Simply Communicate carries a complete report of this workshop on their site.

Practitioners from companies such as HCL, Philips, Subex and VMware debated the implications for change management and communication, ideas to strengthen the role of managers in driving engagement and strategies to elevate presence and educate leaders on internal communications.

Since the participants evinced a lot of interest and passion for measuring internal communications we spent time discussing methods of building a dashboard and demonstrate ROI. At the workshop I shared templates for change management and communications, a ‘presence building map’, a manager communication framework, an ‘internal communications maturity guide’ and a sensemaking approach for executive communications. The workshop kit also cotained articles on change management, manager communications and building presence.

I personally learnt immensely from my interactions with this dynamic and committed group who took time off on a weekend to participate in a dialogue on best practices and share better ways of making a difference in their careers.   It became evident that everyone faced similar challenges at their workplace in getting internal communications on their leaders’ radar and to drive change within their firms. However, the group also realized that to change the game it needed focus, resilience and the drive to be seen as experts at internal communications.

The humility to unlearn and the curiosity to learn newer ways of approaching this subject gives me hope that the future of internal communications is bright and is in the right hands. At the end of the session, the group committed to staying in touch and continuing the conversations and knowledge sharing.

This workshop, the 2^nd in the series of internal communications engagements for practitioners in the industry is India’s first and only such forum for sharing knowledge, learning and practice.

In October 2011 the Internal Communications 101 workshop covered topics such as integrated internal communication planning, selecting channels, messaging, crisis communications, storytelling and measurement. The next workshop in the series will cover themes such as social media integration in internal communications, employee engagement and culture.

If you are interested to participate or have a point of view on the themes recommended please feel free to write back to me at [email protected]. I will be delighted to have you participate.

You can also download a free article – 9 Expectations of an Internal Communicator here!