The employee lifecycle typically consists of six stages: attraction, recruitment, onboarding, development, retention, and separation. Each stage presents its own challenges and opportunities, so it’s important to focus on them individually rather than one big, long journey. Attraction: getting the right people to join your company. You want to make sure that the company’s values and culture align with the potential employee’s values and career goals, and you do this by making sure your employer brand is authentic and truthful. You might use certain language and channels to do this. This stage ..read more

In this episode of A View From The Top, Adrian Cropley talks to Jenni about her career trajectory from communication officer to business entrepreneur and how she uses her strategic prowess to get business outcomes for her clients. The pair speak  in depth about delivering value to an organisation and leading as a senior advisor, and even take a trip down memory lane, exploring the early days of internal communication. “The common thing that I tend to see is making sure that you’re addressing the business problems through improving communication. That’s something I learned early on. You c ..read more

We work with clients to help them build a more inclusive workplace – something that should be on the agenda for all organisations. We support through activity such as consultative workshops or awareness campaigns. When we do this, we work with Advita Patel, who is part of our collective team and an inclusion and communication strategist. We asked Advita to share her thoughts on unconscious bias training. Is it something that addresses the symptoms, rather than the root cause of bias in the workplace? Now, this might be topic that’s a tad controversial. Some of you reading may feel slightly unc ..read more

I’ve previously talked about the issue of focusing on employee engagement and how this has been a distraction for leaders and communicators. The phrases “employee engagement” and “internal communications” are often used interchangeably and this also takes me into soapbox territory! I recently had a lightbulb moment about this topic while listening to Jacob Morgan’s book, The Employee Experience Advantage. The book is all about winning the war on talent, giving employees what they want from their workplace, as well as the tools they need and a culture they can celebrate. He says: “Engagement l ..read more

In this podcast episode of Comms In A Nutshell by Oak Engage, Jenni talks empowering and supporting change, what processes to use, and how managers can better support their teams with communications. She explains how to stop change from becoming  dehumanised and why people respond differently, accepting the stages at different speeds.   . “Change is always really interesting. As human beings we don’t like change and that’s really because our brains are designed to keep us safe and when things are changing, the brain then says,” I don’t know if I can keep you safe, I can’t predict wh ..read more

In Influential Internal Communication, I talk about how communication can be the antidote to the difficult issues causing chaos in an organisation or team. The good thing is, we have the antidote, and it can be used any time to halt a downward spiral. Of course, there’s no quick fix, but communication really is the agent of change. “The antidote will bring calm to the organization… it brings things under control and it brings a sense of order to the chaos. Investing in communication as the antidote is an easy investment to make. We all communicate all the time so honing those skills to ensure ..read more

In this podcast episode of ICON by Sparrow Connected, Jenni speaks to Julie Ford, Sparrow Connected Head of Content, as together they challenge conventional thinking about internal communication and employee engagement. “Internal communication and employee engagement aren’t the same thing. “When it comes to looking at an engaged workforce and how you can drive engagement, you have to define what you mean by that in your organisation. “The reason I’ve put efficiency and engagement together in my book is because I think communication  can do both of those things. You can use co ..read more

Four years ago, we did some research into remote and non-desk based workers. The research resulted in the Remotely interested? report. Working with SocialOptic, we explored why remote workers or non-desk based workers were cited as one of the biggest barriers to effective internal communication*, and why it wasn’t being made a priority. The findings have been referenced widely and I have spoken about the research to global audiences. Back then, the data told us that only 63% of remote workers believed they had all the information they needed to do their job well. Only 36% believed their manage ..read more

We’ve recently been watching the latest docu-series of Couples Therapy, which follows four couples over six months of weekly treatment. It’s addictive and the fascinating fly on the wall nature gives an insight that we rarely see as the viewer follows couples visiting a New York psychologist and psychoanalyst, Dr Orna Guralnik. What’s critical that comes across in all the couples is communication. All relationships need nurturing with open communication, honesty and a safe space to talk through differences. Repeatedly, we see couples unable to deeply listen to each other. But, while the series ..read more

As leaders, we’re often tackling a range of organisational issues, including: lack of accountability, toxic culture, team friction, a disengaged workforce, or people blocking change. It’s creates a sense of confusion and it comes down to one main thing… communication. In this article for Forbes Business Council, Jenni shares six common organisational issues and the ways in which communication is the antidote. “Outside of work, we can’t maintain good relationships with our partner, friends, or family without clear, open, and honest communication – and a heavy dose of listening. In the sam ..read more