State of the Sector '24 people & stories behind the numbers
13 June, 2024
Latest in our CIPR Inside Webinar Series, Gallagher State of the Sector – Behind the Numbers, held on the 6 June 2024, Elizabeth Hall - CIPR Inside Committee Member hosted Gary Moss - Internal Communications Director and Sharn Kleiss - Strategy Partner from Gallagher.
Now in its 16th year, the 2024 survey had 2,300 respondents from 56 Countries. And new for this year, the Gallagher team has been touring, meeting with IC practitioners from Scotland to Birmingham to London, to discuss the results. The webinar focused on the quantitative results of the survey, but also the qualitative insight derived from conversations with 100+ communicators since the report’s launch.
Top of the survey and agenda was the question of Purpose – what is the purpose of internal communication for you in your organization? Culture and Belonging were most highly ranked, then Strategic Alignment. Gary noted – ‘If employees feel that they belong within an organisation, they're probably more receptive to the messages on strategy. And equally, if they've got strong sense of the strategy and the vision of the organisation, they probably feel as if they belong a little bit more’.
On Measurement, Sharn explained - ‘Strategic communicators measure better. If you are working at a strategic level, you are more likely to be using measurement data to influence leadership. If you're strategic, are you good at measuring? Or do you have to be good at measuring to be strategic? It's a symbiotic relationship.’ With Gary adding – ‘It's also about knowing when to be strategic, knowing when to be advisory and knowing when to be supportive’.
The discussion then turned to a reflection on Platforms and Skills, with Gary noting ‘there are lots of different tech platforms being introduced in organisations, but there is a capacity barrier and maybe even a bit of a skill set barrier’ and mentioned some fascinating conversations around the skills being brought into the internal communications functions – including adding less traditional skills, such as data analytics to teams.
On the topic of AI, Sharn noted as practitioners, the response was 50/50 – somewhat positive and sort of negative, the general sense being ‘The more you use, AI the better you feel about it.’ And Gary added, ‘Is this an opportunity within our organizations to really lead that agenda?’.
When it came to Channels, the survey noted that 1 in 3 are dissatisfied with their channel mix and that 1 in 3 added a channel in the past year, with many saying it was at the request of the business, rather than to meet employee needs. Sharn recommends ‘a channel deep dive’ to make sure to make sure everything is still working as well as keeping a working document to illustrate what channel, for what message, to reach which audience.
On the age-old topic of where People Managers fit in, Sharn noted that internal comms practitioners thought People Managers are not assessed on their comms skills and are more likely to be assessed on those skills by their superior, rather than their direct reports. Gary noted that rather than thinking of people managers as a channel to cascade, it’s about how can we make them part of the team, ‘It's about humanizing that experience. Treating People Managers like people, knowing what they need, being there to support them, making them feel a little bit special’.
Worryingly, in the section on Wellbeing, when asked ‘how is your wellbeing across the past year, has it improved, deteriorated, or stayed the same?’ the response was that more people had deteriorated, putting internal communications practitioners at risk of burnout. Sharn noted, ‘Freelance communicators had the best wellbeing, followed by agency, then in house, but also you saw that passionate communicators had higher wellbeing. Sharn noted: ‘If you're strategic, you have better wellbeing. If you're passionate, you have better wellbeing. If you are freelance, you have better wellbeing. Those things suggest to me that it's about foresight, control, flexibility’.
Elizabeth summed up the webinar, equating it to a dose of ‘Comms Therapy’, in the sense that ‘it’s good to know other organisations are facing the same problems, it's not just me, it's not just my organization’ and a key takeaway being - ‘I'll work in that strategic space, but then also, I'll drop into tactical and advisor as well’.
I definitely agreed with Elizabeth, and what I took away from the session is that whilst we as practitioners were at the forefront during the pandemic, we are now having more demands than ever placed on us, with an ever increasing number of platforms and channels to manage and measure, a greater number of stakeholders vying for our support - from leadership to people managers, while at the same time, having to now consider our role in the AI discussion. It’s all a lot to take on, and we need to manage the expectations of our organisations, whilst at the same time, taking care of our own Wellbeing.
The webinar has been recorded, and can be accessed here . At the end of the webinar, there is a QR code to submit your feedback on State of the Sector and to contact Gary and Sharn, or to view the State of the Sector in full. Don’t forget - CIPR Members can use the session for CPD points. Look out for the next State of the Sector survey taking place in October 2024 with the results due out February 2025.
About Gallagher:
Gallagher communication, a full service global internal communications and employee experience agency, with 250 different specialists and communicators across the world. They do work with brands and organizations in terms of auditing their channels and their internal communications functions EVP, helping guide through change and reward and benefit communications. Helping people feel different about works which we do a great job communicating. We can have a fundamental impact on how people feel about the organization they're within.