There’s nothing quite like a recession to prompt some fairly heavy duty introspection and our world of internal communication is certainly no exception. IC functions everywhere are assessing and refining their role, mainly to operate within narrower financial constraints but also to take more control over their destiny. Introspection is also de rigueur amongst consultants and I’ve been fortunate enough to participate in some fascinating discussions of late about the next big thing.

Contrast this though with the reality of what those outside our world expect. Ask your average leader or employee and news and channel management, communication of key ‘top down messages’ and a bit of two way comms thrown in for good measure remain the priority. In other words, getting the basics right and not pushing new frontiers.

So what is next? More of the same to keep our customers happy or a new world in which IC embraces the communication revolution happening outside the organisation? The answer of course is both. There will always be news and channels to manage, a ‘top down message’ to communicate and feedback to obtain and IC will continue to do all those things. But like it or not, a new world is emerging, one in which everyone has a voice and, crucially, the platform to make that voice heard. I believe our challenge is to create, promote and manage that environment so that information can flow wherever it is needed.

This is a new blog, launched to coincide with our new look and feel. Our aim is to provide our own personal views and stimulate discussion about how this new world is shaping up by sharing insights from our clients and other organisations. Enjoy!