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Ep. 1 - Comms

Are you in the loop?

with

Christie

O'Toole

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Christie

O'Toole

We are joined by podcast guest, Christie O'Toole who is the Senior Manager of APAC and LATAM Communications and Engagement at Salesforce. Prior to this, Christie worked over in San Francisco for Virgin America as the Media Relations Manager, as well as back in Sydney for Virgin Australia as their Corporate Communications Specialist.

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Let's dig into Internal Comms.

Internal communications is extremely important to building a great company culture. When you place all your employees on the same page, everyone is aligned and working towards the goal. In turn this helps reduce confusion and inefficiency as well as eliminating gossip.

When working on an internal communications strategy it’s important to really delve into potential problems that may arise and stop the chaos before it begins. Not only should an internal communications strategy keep your team members in the loop about the general updates from the business, it should also help build connections between different divisions of the company. Nobody enjoys feeling out of the loop especially in times of change or crisis, such as the pandemic.

Christie's philosophy for internal communications is something special.

"I think it has a lot to do with what Oprah Winfrey said on the last episode after 25 years on television. She reflected on all the speakers that she met with and they had one thing in common, they had this real sense of wanting to be heard, wanting to be seen, wanting to know that their voice matters." - Christie O'Toole

So, how do we do that?

Think, Feel, Do Model

Ask yourself, "how would I feel if I were to receive that?" and as the saying goes, treat people how you want to be treated. This seems straightforward, but knowing and understanding your employees is often no easy task. How do you create a culture with total transparency and clarity?

"We often don't know what is happening in people's lives but when we invest in internal comms, we get the opportunity to lighten up the hours that our people spend at work, an opportunity to make our employees feel seen, heard, and valued, help them feel pride in what they are doing. This is important as it flows on to our customers." - Christie O'Toole

A healthy internal communications strategy is key to an engaged workforce and nurturing a successful company culture. The process needs to begin as soon as new team members enter your door. Ask yourself, "what information do we communicate when on-boarding?", "do we have an employee communication channel such as Blink or Slack?". These are small things that you can implement and nail early on to set you up on your path.

Tune into the podcast to find out more about localised communications, cultural diversities, virtual events, different mediums that work, and where the world of communications is going.

Any repurposing of these insights must clearly cite Talent. If you have any questions or comments, please email marketing@talentinternational.com

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The fastest way to get customers to love your brand is to get employees to love their jobs

Christie O'Toole, Salesforce

Key takeaways

Provide a sense of purpose

Internal comms is needed to help leaders clearly articulate the "why". How can you make sure that your leaders are holding up that North star?

Clearly define your channels

Start by asking your teams what channels work for them. Once identified, equip these channels and managers with the tools needed.

Invest in your people

Internal comms allows for the opportunity for people to be seen, heard and valued, and give them a sense of pride in what they are doing.

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