Podcast: The future of fearless communications

Jonathan Davies

21 mins read

Table of Contents

Our guests this week, Andrew Brown & Elizabeth Williams, are the co-founders of the Academy of Business Communications, and have come armed with secrets to meaningful and authentic communications, and how to achieve fearlessness.

You can listen, watch the podcast, or read the full transcript down below. We hope you find this conversation as insightful as we did.

The Internal Communications Podcast - Episode 13 from Happeo on Vimeo

Playing in picture-in-picture

Jonathan Davies: Here we are back again with another episode. Today I've got a special treat for our audience, in the form of Andrew Brown and Elizabeth Williams, who are both from the Academy for Business of Communications, which is amazing because there was a very key point in the way that they communicate and how to differentiate from all of the other Business Comms Academies out there, that we're really going to be talking about today, which is fearlessness.

Facilitating fearless communication in organizations

Andrew Brown: Yep.

Jonathan Davies: That's an amazingly interesting part because I think that fearlessness is increasingly becoming very important for Internal Communicators.

Andrew Brown: Let me talk about the, what I see is three forces pushing employee communications, to the side, or to the back corner.

Pandemic-related challenges: Humans are built to learn and adapt, and part of our inherent defense mechanism is to try to forget or minimize things that we don't like, like pandemics.
Budgetary constraints: Companies may cut down on employee communications teams due to reduced revenues.
Shifts in power dynamics: Comms professionals have taken roles at the decision-making table which may be challenged post-pandemic.

Now do you want to hear what I think are the forces that are pushing communications to the strategic table?

Jonathan Davies: Absolutely.

The challenges to employee communications within organizations

Andrew Brown: Assuming that the employee communications professionals successfully strengthened that emotional bond with your organization, there will be employees who expect the increased frequency of communications and heightened transparency.

Increased trust in communications teams.
Demand for better communication around major changes and decisions.
The realization of the importance of internal communications during times of crisis.

Building connection between employees

Elizabeth Williams: We're certainly seeing this across particularly services that are essential. People on the frontlines need to feel like their work matters.

Andrew Brown: The pandemic has ostensibly isolated us more from one another. Connection through shared experiences is vital.

Communicators need to find ways to celebrate the meaning and shared purpose that employees feel in organizations.

What should Internal Communications keep in mind before building a strategy?

Elizabeth Williams: As communicators, we've been working hard for months. In this time, we should:

Assess our communications infrastructure.
Analyze the processes we use for decision-making.
Evaluate the impact our communications had on employees' understanding and engagement.

We must prepare our leaders for ongoing uncertainty and ensure that our messaging is centered around employee experience and safety.

Jonathan Davies: The safety of employees returning to workplaces must be taken seriously, especially in light of recent events.

Thank you, Andrew and Elizabeth, for your insights! We look forward to seeing how these strategies unfold.