The Internal Comms Podcast

Internal communication lessons from Médecins Sans Frontières – with Eva Kongs (#131)

Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) is one of the world’s best-known and most extraordinary not-for-profit organisations. One of its core principles is témoignage – to bear witness, to share. Communication, therefore, sits at the very heart of its mission and as Head of Internal Communications, Eva Kongs leads efforts to communicate with 60,000 staff responding to some of the world’s most devastating crises. From an internal communications perspective, this is a challenge like few others. 130 different nationalities. A truly frontline workforce setting up field hospitals, mobile clinics and improving sanitation in disaster zones. And an extraordinary range of roles – from medical professionals to drivers, accountants to anthropologists, fundraisers to architects. In this special episode, Katie Macaulay and Eva (a long-time Internal Comms Podcast fan) discuss transcreation, how print at Médecins Sans Frontières has made a clever comeback, how experience can be more important than position and having a clear purpose. Don’t miss it. Tune in and share your thoughts – use #TheICPodcast

Actors, not audiences – with Emma Bridger and Lee Smith (#130)

If you’re tired of the ‘when will internal communication make it to the top table?’ debate, the first episode of Season 15 is for you. Emma Bridger, a psychologist turned engagement specialist, has spent more than two decades helping organisations create more human workplaces. Lee Smith co-founded Gatehouse and launched the State of the Sector survey, now the largest global research study of internal communication. They’ve written a new book, People-First Internal Communication: Improving Engagement and Retention in the Workforce, which moves beyond the long-running conversation about the influence of internal communicators and into an exciting new people-led era. They join host Katie Macaulay on the Internal Comms Podcast to discuss their big idea: thinking of employees not as an audience, but as actors. They also explore why internal communication can sometimes feel stuck on repeat, how design thinking can transform the way we approach communication planning, AI, chaos and why the moments that matter most in the employee journey can be surprisingly small. Tune in and share your thoughts – use #TheICPodcast

How Coca-Cola builds belonging with Shanna Wendt (#129)

The holidays are coming. So, what better time of year to welcome Shanna Wendt, Vice President of Communications at Coca-Cola Euro Pacific Partners, to the Internal Comms Podcast. Coca-Cola is one of the world’s most famous brands. The inner workings of the organisation are however less well-known. In this episode, Katie Macaulay gets to peak behind the curtain and explore a world of IC that mixes the internal and external and speaks to an audience of 41,000 people. Katie and Shanna discuss the shift towards operational communication, using anthropological methods to better understand employee needs and the importance of line managers as both channels and capable communicators. They also explore the value of walking the factory floor and the role of internal communication in building trust. Plus, Shanna’s belief that “communications starts and ends with your employee.” Listen in. Share your thoughts – use #TheICPodcast

Creativity and belonging with Lemn Sissay (#128)

An internal communication profession in an impenetrable bubble is no use to anyone. It helps, from time to time, to reach out, listen, learn – fill yourself up with a story from outside the corporate carousel. It’s in that tradition that Katie Macaulay invited poet, playwright, author, former university chancellor, official poet of the London Olympics, honorary fellow of Oxford and Cambridge colleges, winner of the 2024 Hay festival medal for poetry and three-time Sunday Times bestseller Lemn Sissay to the podcast. Together they sat down to discuss everything from the British care system in which Lemn grew up to Microsoft PowerPoint. They also explore the value of taking the word ‘busy’ out of your lexicon so you’re forced to say something more exciting, the one crucial element of any story, and following a writing scheduling that means you start each day ‘facing the fact that somebody might see what you’re doing as no good.’ Extraordinary, insightful and – to use a word Lemn doesn’t like to use too much –inspiring. Share your thoughts on this and any episode of the Internal Comms Podcast using #ICPodcast Content warning: This episode includes discussion of suicide. Listener discretion is advised. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie

What's really holding you back, with David Norris (#127)

‘The qualities that matter most are not technical skills, but inner resources’ is the central thesis of comms coach David Norris’ work. Good news if you don’t want to read the IC tech manual. But then again… how do you raise that inner game? You can start by listening to this revealing and captivating conversation between David and Katie Macaulay, recorded for episode number 127 of the Internal Comms Podcast. After more than two decades leading communication teams in the UK and across Asia, David is now an executive coach. Many of his clients are fellow communicators, which has given him a privileged peek into the challenges we face day to day. In this episode Katie and long-time podcast fan David explore where confidence really comes from, taking a more experimental approach to work, ‘the dig’ and ‘the gift’, a 90-second technique to find inner calm, powerful advice for anyone who feels undervalued at work and why knowing authority figures can be wrong is crucial. Listen in and start raising your inner game. Share your thoughts – use #TheICPodcast