One of the Senior Leadership Team’s actions for 2023 was to review and implement a communication strategy.
A year on, it has just been updated to reflect some changes including the introduction of the weekly Managers’ Briefing and some tips on good cascade briefings.
We already have an Internal Communication Protocol which has a focus on significant staff announcements and the use of the all-staff email function.
This additional Communications Policy and Guidance relates to all staff. It builds on that protocol, pulls together existing good practice and clarifies roles and expectations for everyone. We have used feedback from the staff conference and the leadership forum to shape the ideas in the document.
“Everyone has responsibility for communications and making them as good as they can be. More than 100,000 emails are sent and received each month across Field Studies Council, …it’s easy to see how communication has the power to make our day better or worse”
By setting out the roles and expectations for all staff, this document underlines that everyone has responsibility for good communications, rather than simply being passive receivers of top-down information.
We’ve set out overarching principles and then what these principles look like in practical terms. In an organisation this large and complex, often dealing with fast moving events, we can’t foresee every communications eventuality, but as ever we continue to rely on the good sense and professionalism of our staff as they apply to principles set out.
We hope that you find the guidance and the ideas useful. You can see the documents and a short video clip in the Communications Policy and Guidance Folder on the intranet.
Mark Castle on behalf of the Senior Leadership Team
June 2024