Internal Comms Insights Monthly – April Edition

Hey, Sparrow Connected family. We’re thrilled to say this month has been a rollercoaster of big events and great news. We want to thank you for being part of our family and helping us grow to become #1 at what we do - accelerate business performance and elevate the world's communication leaders. 

Before we jump to this month’s top stories, let’s talk about our webinar.  

We had our first webinar in the #WeLeadComms x Sparrow Connected Webinar Series. It’s called The Strategic Case for Internal Communication: Six Reasons for Ramping It Up Now. 

Mike Klein and two highly regarded communications pros, Ottawa-based change comms expert Caroline Kealey and former UNICEF comms chief Abhijit Shanker, engaged in an inspiring discussion about the organizational realities that demonstrate the need for investment in internal communication.  

Watch our webinar on-demand, here. 

Now Here is a Quick Recap of The Top Stories We Loved Covering This Month. 

Beyond Borders: Bridging Employee Communication Gap in a Global Workforce 

Being able to support a remote workforce is one of the silver linings of the pandemic. It has broken down geographical barriers and opened opportunities to look beyond borders, which is beneficial to both employers and employees. 

Companies can hire globally while job seekers have the opportunity to get hired potentially anywhere around the globe, without even leaving their house. Employees have more flexible schedules and with commute times eliminated, employees are more productive.  

While global opportunity is fantastic in so many ways, we come right back to the challenges of remote work - lags in communication, missing the right technology, inadequate internal communications, difficulty in work delegation and collecting feedback, and much more.  

Read more about how remote companies manage internal communications effectively and how they bridge the gap between global employees and the company. Click here. 

What Makes a Communication Leader: Five Steps to Generate Impact 

Since launching the #WeLeadComms initiative, one of my aims has been to promote the idea that “communication leadership” is not some lofty, hierarchy-based aspiration.  

It's actually something any communication pro can practice on a day-to-day, moment-by-moment basis.  

By "Communication Leader, "I Don't Mean "Chief Communication Officer" Or Some Other Official Title.   

Instead, I mean communication leadership as: the application of conscious initiative and action to improve the likelihood that the outcomes we, our communities and our enterprises seek will succeed.  

Read in-depth about the challenges of being a communication leader today and five initiatives to generate impact. Click here. 

Mike Klein Joins Sparrow Connected as Senior Strategic Advisor 

If you’ve been reading our blog, emails, or LinkedIn updates over the last couple of weeks, the name Mike Klein may sound familiar to you. I’m pleased to officially announce that Mike Klein has joined the growing Sparrow Connected team as a Senior Strategic Advisor.   

We’re honored to have such a well-respected, visionary, and influential internal communication leader on our team.   

Who is Mike Klein? Mike is the founder and principal of Changing The Terms, a consultancy focused on internal communications, change and social communication. 

Read about our shared mission in a very fun and thought-provoking interview with our CEO, Chris Izquierdo. Click here.  

Why I’m Flying With Sparrow Connected? By Mike Klein 

More than ten years ago, I found myself involved with a team working to identify an internal social platform for the world’s largest Danish shipping company.  

The world of internal communication has moved considerably in that time - and I’ve worked with some great vendors in this space: Happeo, Smarp, Contact Monkey and others.  

There are a lot of great internal comms platforms out there - and these days, having a great platform is only the starting point.  That’s why I’m choosing to work with Sparrow Connected. This is not the only reason though. 

Read further into the article as Mike explains five key reasons he chose to align with Sparrow Connected. Click Here. 

The Strategic Case For Internal Communication: Six Reasons For Ramping It Up Now 

For those who were wondering what happens after the pandemic - we now have a clearer idea: the world will continue to be an unpredictable, unstable and unrelenting place.  

The idea that we would have a few months to “transition out of the pandemic” has, quite literally, been blown to shreds.   

The current climate of uncertainty warrants a discussion of why internal communication needs proper attention and investment right now.  

For many years, IC practitioners have attempted to make a business case for investment in internal communication.   

But given the urgent organizational, financial, environmental and geopolitical realities in the world at the moment, there is now a clear strategic case to make for ensuring organizations have sufficient professionalism and infrastructure to support their internal cohesion and aligned performance.  

Read about six organizational realities that demonstrate the need for investment in internal communication now. Click here. 

Stay tuned for the May edition of Internal Comms Insights Monthly...  

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