Talk Internal Communication

I have this afternoon come out of a truly inspiring session at the International Association of Business Communicators World Conference in Washington. I had the great privilege to meet Marco Greenberg who spoke about the work he has done on publicising the story of Ian Burkhart. Ian is using ground breaking technology, called NeuroLife, to bypass a spinal injury that left him with quadriplegia and he is regaining the use of his arms - amazing, uplifting and insightful story. Marco gave us a brief and fascinating look into exciting world of bionic technology, exploring the cutting edge ways in which humans are integrating computers into their bodies. Ian Burkhart, his client is one of world's foremost pioneers in this realm. Although paralyzed from the chest down, when he is hooked up to the computer, and the computer is connected to a special sleeve wrapped around his forearm, he can use his hands to pick up and put things down. The technology reanimates his arm and ...

What a great honour to be asked to give a keynote address at the Public Relations Institute of Ireland's Annual Conference held on Thursday 20th October in the Ballsbridge Hotel, Dublin. Fantastic to hear great case studies and examples of best practice from colleagues across the industry. Laoise O'Murchu, Keynote Address: Leading from within: the secret to business communication. If you would like to get a flavour of the event and the atmosphere on the day watch the video below.

What an honour - I've been invited to participate in a webinar series along-side my communication idols. Below is the information on the webinar series from the IABC website. The Best of Show webinar series is a global virtual learning experience that takes highly rated sessions from the World Conference and brings them directly to you. IABC are building on the success of the 2015 event and offering you a chance to draw from some of the best presentations at the conference and preview the kind of high-quality learning you can expect at the 2016 event in New Orleans. Choose from five outstanding webinar sessions—or get a discount and sign up for all five! The elite among our conference presenters are prepared to share their new ideas, best practices and innovative thinking with a global audience of thousands. Plus, these sessions are tailored to your specific needs. Sessions have been matched to IABC’s Global Standard and career paths , giving you the opportunity to map your learnin...

The IABC World Conference is an annual feast for communicators. It offers a mix of exceptional and visionary keynote speakers through to small expert workshops. I was delighted to once again be invited to speak at the world conference, this year in San Francisco. As always it was a fantastic chance to meet with leading communication experts from around the world, to pick up insights, socialize and make new friends. With almost 2000 delegates from all over the world and many exceptional speakers the most difficult challenge was to decide what sessions to go too. Too many sessions, too little time. A good complaint. Firstly we kicked off with Sally Hogshead’s opening session on the science of fascination. Her tests and presentation had everyone buzzing and was a conversation kicker for the welcome reception that evening. Her insights into how to capture people's attention and land that project were inspiring. Storytelling was a recurring theme, and according to Subhamoy Das...

I am just back from speaking at the International Association of Business Communicators World Conference in Toronto where I had the pleasure of meeting a fantastic group of professional communicators. Over this week I hope to post a number of key leanings and interesting information that was shared and discussed at the conference. The first key note speaker was Mike Walsh a leading digital futurist and authority on building businesses for the 21st century. Rather than focusing on the distant future, Mike takes an anthropological approach - scanning the near horizon for emerging technologies and disruptive shifts in human behavior, and then translating these into pragmatic plans for business transformation. One of the interesting anecdotes Mike shared was the list of words General Motors instructed their staff not to avoid using. The list included the following 68 words: annihilate, apocalyptic, asphyxiating, bad, Band-Aid, big time, brakes like an “X” car, cataclysmic, catastrophi...

I had the honour of presenting at the World Conference of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) in New York last week. The theme of my session was 'How to change behaviors, attitudes and outcomes'. More specifically, it outlined how the key to behaviour change lies in understanding that people are 80 percent emotional and 20 percent rational. My session demonstrated how to drive performance and change behavior by connecting with employees on an emotional level. It outlined how to make employees feel good about themselves, and how to transform their thinking and attitudes. Here is the connection to the presentation for those of you who have requested a copy. Dr Laoise O' Murchu, PhD, presentation at IABC World Conference, New York, 2013 Thank you to IABC for inviting me to present. It was a privilege to speak along side such high profile speakers as former Marvel CEO, Peter Cuneo, Edelman PR’s Richard Edelman, Duarte Inc.’s Nancy Duarte,...

I'm delighted to be speaking in London later this month at an event entitled 'Engaging Change' a half day seminar being run by IABC UK. Information on the event is outlined below. Looking forward to meeting everyone in London. IABC UK Seminar   Change can mean an exciting transformation for some – for others, it’s a revolution after which their lives are never the same. This is especially true in the workplace where employees are increasingly concerned, worried and disengaged. The very term ‘change’ is becoming redundant – in today’s world, change is a constant. As many studies reveal, employee engagement is falling while it continues to rise on the agendas of senior management. Will they be disappointed and frustrated when efforts to increase that engagement seem to fail? Is the world such a different place that engagement needs to be rethought? Can employees still be motivated and committed to business success and go the proverbial “extra mile?” These are some of the iss...

I was really inspired in two ways when I found how social media had been a key component of these marriage proposals!! Firstly, the proposals are compulsive watching and are really innovative. And secondly, how did they get so many of their friends and family organised to participate? Check out the videos, you too may be inspired but I warn, you may feel a little under pressure if you're planning to propose anytime soon! I'm always watching out for ideas from the non corporate world that I could translate into the business world and there is certainly food for thought in these videos. http://jamieleighevents.com  wedding planners helped arrange these proposals

Graphic from  http://www.nerdgraph.com/things-you-should-know-before-your-job-interview/

www. flick r .com Go to iabcireland's photostream As President of IABC Ireland I was delighted with the success of our recent event on best practices in social media, employee engagement and measurement held in April 2013. Thanks to the IABC event co-ordinators (Keith Hoare, Maxime Sattonnay, Marykate Collins and Catherine Lowe). Author of a leading book on employee engagement and measurement Susan Walker was joined by the digital communication strategy manager for the Council of the European Union Aurelie Valtat. Check out the photos which will give you a flavour of the event.

What happens when two leading communication experts invite you to an event designed for PR pros, corporate communicators, social media strategists and employee engagement execs? YOU PROFIT! The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Ireland and event partner Diageo have invited two leaders in the communications industry to teach an event in Dublin emphasizing best practices in social media, employee engagement and measurement.  Author of a leading book on employee engagement and measurement Susan Walker is joine d by  the digital communication strategy Manager of the Council of the European Union to present at this seminar. Event Details Date:  Friday 5 th  April, 2013 Time:  6pm-8pm  (Refreshments served 5.15 - 5.45pm) Venue: The Master Brewer Suite, “The Guinness Storehouse”, St. James’s Gate Booking:   http://iabcireland. eventbrite.ie .  If you are a manager wo...

Here is a great free ebook for B2B marketers and strategic communicators on creating great digital content. An easy to follow seven step process. It explains what makes successful content in the social media world. Created by Steve Seager it is available on http://www.steveseager.com/the-anatomy-of-great-content/

This video by INVOLVE is based on statistics from the Harvard Business Review. It  summaries the importance of employee engagement and the impact it has on an organisation's bottom line.  I like it. 

Inspired by Suzanne Salvo at the EMELI European Leadership Institute in Paris recently I took this photo before returning home. Suzanne a multi-award winning photographer believes that quantity has won out over quality when it comes to photography and video production. She explained that, 'any image that can be had cheap and that vaguely resembles the who, what or why of a story - no matter how badly exposed, haphazardly composed, no matter how poorly lit - is being published.'  After showing us a sample of these 'poor' photos (many of which looked uncomfortably familiar to me) she provided us all with some useful tips on achieving more interesting photos.  Look at your subject from a more interesting perspective  Tell a story with your photos Inspired but not confident, I decided to start with inanimate objects in my quest to take more interesting photos! I'll let you know how I get on when I progress to humans.  Suzanne and her husband ...

I am delighted to be able to give you details about a text book on internal communications to which I have contributed, entitled Exploring Internal Communication. Chapter 5 entitled 'Auditing internal communication: four quadrants of internal communication success', is based on my PhD research and provides readers with a powerful tool to measure and improve internal communication quality. The tool helps build successful communication in a business. Edited by Kevin Ruck the book is both a companion for UK's Chartered Institute of Public Relations qualifications in internal communication and a general introduction to the fast developing fields of internal communication and employee engagement. It is relevant to people currently working in these areas, from either a corporate communication or human resources background, and also to operational managers seeking a better understanding of internal communication. The book is available on amazon.co.uk at  Exploring Internal Co...

Remember Gallup’s landmark research on the drivers of organizational success. Two of the twelve most powerful drivers were: My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person. At work, my opinions seem to count. Caring about what your employees have to say has a huge bottom line impact. Successful communication in a business a essential key to delivering bottom line results.  However, a word of warning, you must take action on the feedback you receive. People often ask me, do employees not get tired of being asked for their opinion and their feedback? The answer is no, not if their views are listened to and acted upon. If action is taken, asking for employee feedback is the easiest way of building employee engagement and morale.  Here's an interesting article from David Lee on this very topic  http://www.humannatureatwork.com/articles/employee_morale/Employee-Feedback.htm

Have you ever struggled to explain the difference between leadership and management when it comes to your role. In this You Tube video Tom Peters explains it in a very clear and simple manner.

I really liked this article I read recently by Paul Hebert from Bloomberg. The recession is no time to worry about employee engagement. Sure, go ahead and worry about employee engagement. After all, you’re in this fix because of a lack of engagement, right? The lack of sales, lack of new product and service innovation, and the high cost to build, produce, sell, and service are all engagement issues. If only you had engaged employees, all those problems would disappear. “Damn those employees. They should be engaged, and they’re not. We have to engage our employees to survive (cue dramatic fist pound on mahogany table in senior executive conference room.)” Everyone is focusing on the employee engagement problem. But in reality, now is not the time to worry about finding ways to engage employees. Now is the time to be reflective and address the real issues in business today. Let’s take a cue from the late Michael Jackson: I’m starting with the man in the mirror I’m asking hi...

I have been absent from my blog over the past few months as I was working night and day on getting the final stage of my PhD over the line. I am delighted to say that it is now complete and has received the official seal of approval - much to my relief! So starting today I hope to be able to continue to post thought provoking articles for internal communication professionals.

It’s that time of year. Edelman have just published their 2012 Trust Barometer. Unsurprisingly, trust in government has massively dropped. But what’s the score for businesses and the implications for internal communication? There are a few significant findings: 1. There has been a dramatic increase in trust in social media – it is now at almost the same level as corporate information sources. This is a important consideration for internal communications as employees now have ready access to information about the company from external social media sources. 2. There has also been a massive drop in trust in CEOs, the most trusted resource within an organization is the average employee (60 percent). This highlights the importance of face-to-face communication as well as employee "communication champions". 3. The average person needs to hear a story three to five times from different sources before they believe it. This reinforces the fact that our internal messages have to...