Hello everyone, we’re back and better than ever with a second season of Comms In A Nutshell! A brand new look, a new episode format (episodes are now more appropriately nutshell sized) but all the same great internal communications insights you all know and love. To mark the first episode back we’ve got a great guest. She is an international speaker, author, podcaster and business communications strategist and having worked in communications for almost 20 years she specialises in helping teams and leaders use communication to take people, and organisations from chaos to calm. We're joined today by Jenni Field who we're going to be chatting to about how to create safe spaces for employees within your organisation.  Creating safe spaces is incredibly important when ensuring employees feel safe at work and feel like they can talk about their feelings and experiences.In our latest report with our partner, If U Care Share, we found that on average 58% of respondents have suffered mental or physical stress as a result of work in the past two years and we want to explore how businesses can deal with the factors that impact mental health in the workplace from creating a safe culture to the importance of values.  In this episode Vic, Scott & Jenny cover: Getting to know Jenni Field and her experience How important is the role of internal communications in creating a safe space for employees to talk/ how can they use their function to create a safe workspace?A culture that supports openness and feedback with help from leadersDo your internal comms encourage participation? Do the communication methods match the needs of your employees?How to drive awareness and communicate the values of the organisation, what the business stands for and what do they mean?Jenni's 5 tips in a Nutshell on how to create a safe space for employeesReading & Resources: Digital Body Language - Erica Dhawen Communication Channel Matrix Template Harvard Business Review: It's time to take a fresh look at your company's values - John Coleman Start with Why - Simon Sinek Inclusion on Purpose - Ruchika Tulshyan Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking - Matthew SyedRedefining Communications Website Redefining Communications with Jenni Field (Podcast)

Employee Experience is crucial in the world of business, it has a huge impact on your company culture that attracts top tier talent who become employees and confirm that the culture that appealed to them is genuine. Employee experience and company culture have an overall impact on your employer brand, a concept which is becoming hot on the radar for many employers. Having a strong employer brand helps businesses to bag the best talent and establish your brands credibility. In this episode we're joined by Dan Sodergren, Dan is a digital marketing and technology expert who studies and trains companies in how the future of marketing, work and technology will change our world. He is a TedxTalker, Keynote speaker, Ex marketing agency owner and serial tech startup co-founder. Having appeared on BBC Breakfast, BBC new channels, BBC Watchdog, the One Show, RipOffBritain and on countless radio shows, Dan's is an expert with 20 years of experience on all things tech and the future of work. Dan is also the founder of Your Flock, a team engagement platform that helps to build relationships within teams, develop company culture and ensure hybrid working, works. In this episode Dan gives us his insight and advice on how companies can create a successful employee experience which will in turn, impact their employer brand. References and links: Dan Sodergren, The Future of Work: Ted X Talk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiZJkod7h-4Your Flock: https://yourflock.co.uk/High Performance Podcast with Ben Francis, Founder of Gymshark:  https://www.thehighperformancepodcast.com/podcast/benfrancis

In this episode Vic & Scott are chatting to Kate Isichei, Managing Director of Where to look communications who has over 15 years of experience in the world of internal communications and who also has her own podcast ‘Engagement Express’. Kate is a lover of intranets, tech, employee apps and the subjects of leadership, strategy, collaboration and in this episode we spoke about all things future of work focusing on flexible working, hybrid work and work life balance. We covered:Is there a correct formula for flexible working?Trust in the workplaceHow to make hybrid work, workEncouraging employees back to the officeThe four day week The key to work life balance Articles referenced: https://www.oak.com/blog/wfa-new-employee-benefit-is-it-worth-it/https://www.oak.com/blog/diversity-and-inclusion-in-the-workplace-a-complete-guide/

Want to know the secrets to engaging internal communications, connecting your workforce and getting 99% of your workforce using your internal communications app?Vic & Scott are chatting all things intranets with our customer Five Guys to get the scoop on the success of their employee engagement app. Vic & Scott sat down with Five Guys’ Communications Manager, Bastian Bauermeister to discuss: Why Five Guys chose Oak to be their intranet partnerThe importance of internal communications as a global business The secrets to keeping your intranet content consistent and engaging and keep adoption rates highWhy employee engagement is essential to your business and how they pioneer employee engagement as a brandFrom games and competitions to communications secrets and methods that you might not have heard of, this interview should spark inspiration and show you just how important it is to have an internal communications strategy.

Comms In A Nutshell is your go to place to listen to discussions with industry experts, global brands and our hosts Vic McEwan & Scott Ritchie about the most pressing topics surrounding the world of work and internal communications. You might have noticed Adaptive Intelligence on our website, you might have seen that we’ve transformed NatWest’s employee experience through our new Adaptive Intelligence or you might not have heard of it at all but you’re curious. What is it? How does it work? How can it help internal communicators, HR professionals and more? In our latest podcast episode Vic & Scott sit down with of Director of Product, Dave Ferguson who teaches us all about:What Adaptive Intelligence isWhat features make up Adaptive IntelligenceWhat problems it solvesThe benefits of Adaptive IntelligenceHow it can help to personalise the employee experienceWhat the future of adaptive intelligence looks likeListen to the interview below, and be sure to subscribe to Comms In A Nutshell on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast player for all the latest episodes and discussions.  

Comms In A Nutshell is your go to place to listen to discussions with industry experts, global brands and our hosts Vic McEwan & Scott Ritchie about the most pressing topics surrounding the world of work and internal communications. It’s safe to say boohoo are making the most out of their intranet. They’re using their intranet ‘boohooforyou’ to host their internal company podcast, have used the in-built feedback tools to engage with their workforce about their celebrity designed collection with Megan Fox and use their intranet as an onboarding tool to welcome new starters and instantly become part of the boohoo family. With over 350k content views on their homepage, it’s safe to say they’ve got their internal communications strategy down and their content has got their employees engaged.  In this latest challenges by industry episode Vic & Scott chat to boohoo’s Internal communications manager, Madison Birtwistle about:Maddie’s Role as an IC professional and what internal communications looks like at boohoo group - boohoo group is made up of 13 major brands from Karen Millen, Pretty Little Thing, Debenhams, Nastygall and boohoo itself! How boohoo are driving employee engagement for their office based, remote and frontline workers through their intranet and their relatable contentTheir favourite features of Oak and how to make the most out of your intranetThe challenges boohoo have faced with internal communications and how the pandemic affected their internal communications strategyEnjoy this episode and why not check out some of our other interviews with big brands, HR journalists, wellbeing experts and more!?

In light of Mental Health Awareness week, Vic and Scott are talking to Aoife O’ Brien, Founder of Happier at Work. Aoife has 20 years of experience working in the FMCG and market research space and has worked in places all around the globe from Dublin and London as far as Perth and Sydney. Four years ago Aoife left the corporate world and set up her own business Happier At Work. Aoife is all about helping medium sized businesses create a happier working environment and become more people focused through data driven decisions and works with leaders and managers to facilitate creating these better working environments.Aoife also has her own podcast Happier at Work, a weekly podcast for business and HR leaders that focuses on the topics of leadership, wellbeing at work, diversity and inclusion, and the future of work. Aoife’s podcast is available on all major podcast platforms.  Here’s what you can listen to in this months episode:How mental health in the workplace has been impacted by the pandemicHow individuals and enterprises can begin to tackle the mental health crisis in the workplaceHow employers can start making mental health at work a priority How to create a culture that supports conversations and awareness of mental health in the workplace We hope you enjoy this episode and if you have any thoughts you'd like to share with us don't hesitate to message us on Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn! 

In this month's episode Vic & Scott are talking about all things company culture. As The Great Resignation powers on and as employee experience becomes more of a priority for businesses, having a healthy company culture is essential to the smooth running of your business and making your company somewhere that employees want to work. Vic & Scott spoke to Tamara Littleton, CEO & Founder of The Social Element and Lisa Seagroatt, Founder/ Director of HR Fit For Purpose. Both guests have a wealth of experience with company culture and are sharing their stories with us and talking about: What elements make a healthy workplace cultureWhat barriers or challenges are there when creating a healthy workplace culture and how to overcome themHow to create a healthy company culture when your business is fully remoteHow to create an environment where employees feel that they can disagree and challenge one another respectfullyListen below, and subscribe to us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast player for all the latest episodes and discussions! Referenced Material: 5 Dysfunctions Of A Team, Patrick Lencioni https://www.amazon.co.uk/Five-Dysfunctions-Team-Leadership-Lencioni/dp/0787960756BBC Article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59134371

In this episode Victoria & Scott speak to Kate Jones (Head of Internal Communications & Corporate Affairs at Tarmac), Charlotte Offord (Internal Communications Manager at Vistry Group) and Georgia Williams (Internal Communications Manager at EKFB) about the communications challenges that those in the construction industry have faced since the pandemic. 

Welcome 2022! January is upon us and what better time to consider what challenges we might face in the coming year. In this month's podcast episode Vic & Scott chat to Daniel Cave. Daniel has up until recently worked as the Head of Content for HR Grapevine, an award winning publication, to be an independent HR journalist covering HR, employment and work. Daniel was voted HR Journalist of the Year in 2020 at the Willis Tower Watson Virtual Media Awards and in this episode we asked Daniel what his predictions were on the challenges that those in HR & Comms will be faced with as we enter 2022. This episode sees us discuss 5 areas and how businesses can prepare for these challenges.  HR & CommsEmployer Brand PerceptionTalent AcquisitionTechnologyHR’s role within businessWe found one overarching theme when chatting about trends throughout this episode... Employee Experience - not a trend but more of an integral element for business success today. Listen to this episode to discover how you can enhance your employee experience in your organisation.