Celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, the IoIC is the only independent professional body solely dedicated to internal comms and, since taking on the CEO role in 2016, Jen has grown the Institute’s membership base and established its reputation as the industry voice of internal communication.

Jen is a passionate advocate for the internal comms profession while also recognising where it needs to improve.

During our chat, Jen shares her views on:

• How the changing workplace is influencing the role of internal comms.
• Whether the internal comms sector has an inferiority complex and how much is of its own making.
• The need to better understand employee behaviours and motivations to meet their needs more effectively.
• What an internal campaign needs to deliver to win at the respected Institute of Internal Comms Awards.
• The age old challenge of improving the comms skills of middle managers.
• And the biggest challenges and opportunities facing internal communicators in the next five years.

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Sam Bleazard is employer brand content producer and self-titled storyteller at the high end Piccadilly dept store and heritage brand Fortnum & Mason.

Each week Sam goes behind the scenes to chat to his Fortnum's colleagues and brings their inspiring and everyday stories to life in his regular social posts.

Sam’s stories focus less on the C-suite and more on the cooks, security guards, doormen, concierge, warehouse workers, procurement, hospitality, shop floor and customer service colleagues that help make Fortnum & Mason the national treasure it is today.

Sam is a candid guest and talks openly about the challenges, triumphs and politics of a comms career that has taken in stints in Laing O’Rourke, John Lewis, Royal Mail and the Cabinet office.

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Generative AI leader Peter Gasston shares his expert view on the latest AI tools transforming text, image, audio and video generation in this episode of the Delete Delete Engage podcast.

Peter is innovation lead at VCCP’s AI creative agency Faith, which launched last year with Virgin Media O2 as a founding client.

While AI is a hot topic for businesses, much of the corporate world still appears to be warming up to the idea of embracing generative AI, mainly because of a lack of expertise within the organisation.

Peter is applying his extensive AI knowledge to help businesses understand and use the technology to boost creative productivity and cost-effective marketing reach. 

The themes covered in our chat should help you to get a better understanding of generative AI, how it’s evolving and what it might mean for you and the business you work for.

As well as sharing insight on the strengths and limitations of many of the gen AI tools on the market, he also talks about some of the creative AI innovations Faith has been developing for brands like O2. 

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Want to know the leadership traits recruiters are looking for in an interview? Or the secrets of organising a successful leadership event?

I cover all this and more in my latest podcast with Graeme Johnson, Group Director of Talent Leadership and Learning at Merlin Entertainments, the company behind visitor attractions and theme parks such as Legoland, Alton Towers, Cadbury World, Madame Tussauds and the London Eye.

Graeme’s career has evolved from attracting and recruiting talent to developing talent, taking in stints at Accenture, Virgin Media, BT Group, Entain and now Merlin Entertainments.

Graeme and I chat about:

• the secrets of a strong employer brand and value proposition
• the importance of showing your true culture - warts and all - to the outside world
• the leadership traits recruiters are looking for in job interviews
• the ingredients of a successful leadership event
• shifting the development focus from the top 10% to democratised learning
• and the importance of recruiting and developing neurodiverse talent

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How we can deal individually with stress and pressure in the workplace? And what should companies be doing to reduce that stress?

Paul Phillips has spent over 25 years working in agencies, in both the UK and US, including 14 years at VCCP, where he set up the specialist healthcare agency, VCCP Health.

He left the agency world in 2017 to offer training in various areas, including workshops on 'Managing pressure and stress and building resilience'. 

Paul’s approach is rooted in the science of how the body and brain respond to pressure and he offers a practical, evidence-based guide to handling the challenges we face in the business world. 

Paul and I discuss:

• what happens to our brain and body when we become stressed and how our amygdala (the part of the brain that detects danger) can hijack the prefrontal cortex (the rational part that regulates thoughts and emotions) causing the release of hormones and sugar into the bloodstream;
• the common thinking traps that we can fall into, including catastrophising; mind-reading; personalising / self-criticism; filtering; black and white thinking; and the tyranny of ‘shoulds’;
• what we can do to reframe our thinking;
• and what companies and business leaders and managers should be doing more (and less of) to reduce workplace stress and improve employee wellbeing.

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Bronwen Foster-Butler is Chief Marketing Officer at sustainable surfwear brand Finisterre and an expert in engaging employees and customers with the sustainability agenda and building and maintaining successful sustainable brands.

In my latest podcast I chat to Bronwen about:

the do’s and don’t of sustainability comms;

building and maintaining a sustainable brand;

the secrets of a good sustainability narrative;

and why manufacturing companies really shouldn’t be using the words sustainable and sustainability at all.

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Sophie Jones is Chief Strategy Officer at the British Phonographic Industry -  the trade body representing over 500 UK record labels including Universal Music UK, Sony Music Entertainment UK and Warner Music UK. Together, the BPI’s members account for 85% of all music sold in the United Kingdom.

In this episode of Delete Delete Engage, I chat to Sophie about:

How her public affairs background and time spent with politicians has influenced her comms approach

Her experience comms firefighting at Channel 4 and the BPI

The importance of targeted communications when your members include both the country’s largest and smallest record labels.

The challenges and opportunities that generative AI presents to the music industry

The impact of streaming on the music business

Her views on the recent crisis engulfing the CBI after a series of misconduct allegations.

And preparing for the BRITs and Mercury Awards, the two biggest events in the BPI's calendar

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Jim Thornton is Executive Creative Director at VCCP London and one of the most successful and respected advertising creatives in the UK.

Jim began his career as a copywriter at J Walter Thompson, London back in the late 90s and his career has taken in lead creative roles at GGT, TBWA, Mother, Leo Burnett and Arnold KLP before joining VCCP in 2012.

He has also run his own advertising consultancy and even launched the world’s first death magazine, to help people cope with bereavement, 

I chatted to Jim about....

Why great copy should have charm and memorability.

The importance of humour in beer commercials.

The ad campaigns he’s most proud of…. from Persil to Nationwide.

Why memorability matters.

Writing improv ads for actor Martin Freeman before he became famous.

Why his favourite newsletter comes from a jeans manufacturer in Wales.

And how he’s helping to nurture creative talent in Stoke.

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Scott is the Director responsible for communications, marketing and digital at the British Olympic Association, more commonly known as Team GB.

Here are some of the topics we covered in our chat:

The 24/7 demands of football comms versus the event-driven nature of the Olympics 

Planning for the greatest sporting event on earth.

The BOA’s relationship with athletes

Telling stories of ordinary people and their extraordinary abilities

Putting lesser-known sports in the spotlight

Team GB’s diversity

Dealing with politics, pandemics and drug scandals

Working closely with the BOA’s CEO and Chairman

The role of the Olympic charter and the BOA’s relationship with other countries’ Committees

Subscribe to the podcast at deletedeleteengage.substack.com

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My latest Delete Delete Engage podcast guest is Drew McMillan, Director of UK Comms & Engagement at management consultancy, Deloitte.

Drew has been honing his engagement skills over a career spanning 26 years and has led colleague comms at BA, Virgin Trains and Ladbrokes along the way.

Our conversation covered some of the biggest challenges facing employee communications today, including:

Helping people in a hybrid workforce to stay connected.

How engagement can benefit from behavioural science. 

How we can help line managers to be better communicators.

Why organisations shouldn’t get too hung up on engagement surveys.

Why it's time to stop relying on email as a comms channel.

How a shared purpose can bring cultures together.

And why employees should be treated more like customers.

Subscribe to the newsletter at deletedeleteengage.substack.com

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Lynette Huntley is a founding Director of Peers for the Planet, the House of Lords climate action and biodiversity group and was previously Chief of Staff at Channel 4. These were the headlines from our conversation.

(1.44) What Channel 4 taught Lynette about inspiring change

(4.12) The mission for Peers for the Planet

(7.15) The peers that have most impressed Lynette

(9.56) Why what we do domestically matters globally

(12.00) How to rally a diverse group of prominent people to drive change

(16.12) The importance of communicating that the climate crisis and the a cost of living crisis are one and the same

(17:48) On taking a ‘polluter pays’ approach

(20:27) UK businesses leading the way with the climate agenda

(22.48)  Why businesses want stability not deregulation

(23:50) Sustainable and green investing

(25:19) On the importance of the 2008 Climate Change Act

(26:50) On advice to corporate comms teams looking to drive internal and external engagement around sustainability and climate change

(30:40) What we can do at an individual level

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Wil Lewis is Global Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at consumer credit reporting company Experian, a company with 20,000 employees and operations in 55 global locations. 

These were the key talking points:

(5:37) On the importance of financial inclusion during a cost of living crisis.

(9:03) How the D&I role has evolved over the past 10 years.

(11.34) On collaborating with other pioneering D&I leaders and businesses.

(13:25) On the businesses and industries leading the way with D&I.

(15.08) Addressing the challenge that business leaders and communicators are so terrified of saying the wrong thing that they're “paralysed into inaction”.

(18:24) Ensuring that ‘straight white middle aged men’ and people from traditionally less marginalised groups feel as though they are part of this agenda and the solution.

(20:45) On male leaders taking more accountability for D&I.

(21:30) On invisible disability and needing advocates.

(22:50) On taking different approaches for different countries, creating safe spaces and being careful not to put LGBT+ people in danger.

(25:02) On recognising and supporting neurodiversity and removing barriers to success.

(28:40) On the opportunity and risk of using humour in D&I communications.

(30:55) On authenticity, avoiding tokenism and conscious inclusion.

(33:55) On coaching leaders and managers at all levels.

(35:20) Businesses getting started with D&I - be honest, deliberate and keep it focused.

(37:18) On measuring D&I.

(38:45) Choose 3 people - the one big takeaway and action for every listener.

(39:45) On the people who have mentored and sponsored Wil in his career.

(42:27) On learning from mistakes.

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Zoe Vafadari is Chief Brand and Corporate Affairs Officer at Bupa and one of those rare individuals who has led Brand, Internal Comms and Customer Experience in her career so understands better than most the positive impact that engaged employees can have on the health and vitality of the brand and a positive customer experience.

Here are the headlines from our conversation.

(1.30) Why she initially moved from brand comms into internal comms

(3:50) The vital link between employee engagement and customer experience

(4.30) How Bupa is using an app to connect back office roles to the customer experience 

(5.55) The critical role employee engagement plays in the health and vitality of the brand

(6.59) What she’s learned from her internal comms experience that she can apply to brand strategy

(7.53) What internal comms can learn from the brand discipline

(8:21) Internal comms budgets versus brand budgets and tackling the perception challenge

(9.33) On how the sponsorship of the GB Paralympics team helps engage employees with the D&I agenda

(12.25) On managing comms in a large global business

(15:08) On brand purpose, its authenticity and the role it plays at Bupa

(17:24) On the link between purpose and values, supporting Ukrainian refugees and taking inspiration from Dolly Parton

(20:29) On the unexpected role that data and PPE masks can play in storytelling

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