Alb Heads of Internal Comms: Best Practice Working Group

ALB HEADS OF INTERNAL COMMS: BEST PRACTICE WORKING GROUP

PEER REVIEW

SUGGESTED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Start with high-level or strategic questions and work your way down to the tactical. Keeping your questions linked to themes can help shape your discussion.

Objectives and strategy  What are your organisation’s business objectives?  What are your communication team’s objectives?  What does success look like for your communications team?  What are your communications strengths? Weaknesses?  What is the biggest challenge your organisation currently faces?  What opportunities are available to your organisation?  What is your organisation’s main priorities for the next year?  Does your organisation have a strategic narrative? A vision? Mission statement? Values?  Do you have an internal communications strategy in place?  Do you adhere to the OASIS model?

Team structure  Tell me about the structure of your team.  How resilient is your communications function? (For example, would you still be able to publish to your intranet if you didn’t have access to your building?)  Are any of your communications functions owned by another business area or team?  Do you devolve any of your communications function to another communications team?  How many members of your team can publish directly to the intranet or send an all staff email?  Does your head of communications sit on the senior management team or board?  What is your communications offer to your organisation?

Senior Leaders  How many senior leaders do you have? How are they defined? Are they all SCS?  How often do they meet?  Do they have any dedicated communications channels?  How often do they have access to the Chief Executive / Senior Management Team?  How do they perceive communications?  What sort of relationship does the internal communications team have with your Chief Executive or Head of Agency?

Engagement  What is your Engagement Index?  What is your People Survey response rate?  How do you share results into action from the People Survey?  Do you have local and national plans?  Do you have a dedicated Employee Engagement Champion Network?  How does internal communications support behaviour change in your organisation?  How do you celebrate success in your organisation?  How do you reward and recognise your staff? Planning  How do you plan your communications?  How do you horizon scan? Where do you get your information from?  Do you have a strategic communications grid? How often is it updated? If so, who do you share it with?

Channels  What are your communications channels?  Which is most popular?  Which is least popular?  Do you measure their effectiveness? If so, how? How often?  How do you measure the reach of your channels?  What is your biggest frustration with your channels?  What ideas do you have to improve them?

Evaluation  What do you evaluate?  What are your measures?  How often do your evaluate the effectiveness of your channels, activities, messages?  How do you display your metrics? Who do you share this information with?

Professional Development  Are you all members of the Government Communications Service?  Have you heard of the IC Space?  How do you stay up to date with good internal communications practice?  How do you share good internal communications practice within your team?  How often do you hold development days?