Over 70 charities gathered for the 16th Charity Meetup event in London, which was kindly hosted by Workplace for Good by Facebook in September 2019. Our topic was Inspiring Internal Communications with expert speakers and panellists Beth Murray, Sarah Browning, Judith Davey and Natalie Peck.
Here are five key insights from the day:
1 – Reconnecting to purpose:
Sarah Browning, Internal Communications consultant, asked us to channel our inner toddler and Ask ‘Why’ 5 Times to really get to the root of what we’re trying to communicate internally. Here’s how you can try it in your own organisation: Mindtools. With internal communications we often jump straight to the ‘how’, but Sarah encouraged us to work through the ‘why’ first, then ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’ and finally the ‘how’ when crafting our communications.
2 – Transforming charities into connected communities:
Beth Murray, Program Manager at Workplace for Good, invited us to think of our charity like a community. How can you build networked communication (like a family) which celebrates diversity and drives commonality? Everyone should have clarity of vision and goals.
3 – Transparency is crucial:
Judith Davey, CEO of The Advocacy Project, shared her perspective as a leader. Back in 2016, the results of the staff survey were fairly dire. She used this information and insights to create a plan to improve internal comms and culture at the charity. she focused on creating an environment where staff could do their best work. Judith believes that internal comms is critical to culture. Since then, the charity has doubled its income and staff satisfaction has improved greatly!
Judith’s top tips for leaders are: be brave, dig deep, believe it’s possible, engage the team and focus on honest communication.
4 – Creating Unity:
Natalie Peck, Digital Workplace Manager at Citizens Advice, shared how they have rolled out Workplace by Facebook across their organisation over the last 18 months. She talked about how they were using the platform to celebrate and share successes with each other, helping everyone to feel part of one service.
5 – Whose responsibility is it? “Everyone’s!”
During the panel discussion, Beth asked whose responsibility is internal Comms and culture? Judith said it should be driven by leadership – you can’t lead effectively if you don’t understand internal Comms and how to communicate effectively so that your staff understand key strategic messages.
Whose responsibility is internal Comms and culture asks @bmbm? Judith says it should be driven by leadership – you can’t lead effectively if you don’t understand internal Comms and how to communicate effectively so that your staff understand key strategic messages #CharityMeetup
— Kirsty Marrins 📝 (@LondonKirsty) September 16, 2019
But also, it’s up to everyone to communicate with each other, to understand the organisation’s vision and how you all play a part, and to support each other.
Insights crowdsourced from our participants:
A final thought:
“What happens on the inside, is reflected on the outside.”
Quote from Rachel Miller – All things IC – Download visual
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Thank you to our host:
This Charity Meetup event was delivered in partnership with Workplace for Good. Workplace for Good is proud to have helped hundreds of thousands of people working at non-profits and educational institutions use Workplace to build meaningful communities and transform how they work. Find out more and sign up at www.workplace.com/workplaceforgood
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Event Photographs by Marcus Jamieson-Pond – Jam Pond Photography – (Microsite) (FB Album)
Further Reading:
Read all of the tweets from the event on Wakelet.
Related Blogs by Judith Davey:
charitycomms.org.uk/developing-sustainable-funding-by-improving-internal-communication
civilsociety.co.uk/governance/judith-davey-listen-learn-and-lead.htm
Related upcoming events:
CharityComms – The charity digital conference – 20 November 2019
Big Yak – Internal Communications event in 2020.