Hmmm moments number 2

Over lunch today I flicked over to the CiB site to see what's new in the world of professional internal communicators.

One thing I found is that CiB is trumpeting its new agreement with Xchangeteam to carry the agency's job and freelance opportunity ads. On the surface it's looks a pretty good move. But digging deeper, I have my doubts. Now I'm wondering if such advertising is actually doing a disservice to CiB members.

My experience of Xchangeteam is that the rates they offer/broker for freelancers and micro-businesses in particular are at the low end, often very low - and certainly the job highlighted below, (taken from the CiB website) and the responsibilities that come with it - seem to bear that out.

Area: LondonRate: £120 – 160 a day

Our client is a global corporate organisation that places high value on the role of Internal Communications. Working within the London office, they are looking for a talented Writer to write for their internal staff magazine produced every six weeks.

Person specification:
You will have experience of working on a client/staff magazine
Be confident interviewing varying levels of staff – including senior management
Be able to write confidently and with creative flair
Liaise internally with the client and the IC Manager on angle and content of articles produced
Have solid writing and editing skills
Be able to work to deadlines and schedule

Of course the market will dictate was the going rate for any job is, but if CiB is accepting and promoting job ads at such low daily rates, is it not tacitly acknowledging these as acceptable? If that's the case, isn't there a danger that it could drag rates down for all professional communicators?

I'd question any organisation that says it places high value on the role of internal communications, and then expects to pay £120 a day for an experienced, confident professional.

In return for a quick buck from Xchangeteam, isn't CiB shooting itself in the foot and devaluing the worth of its members?

I'm normally very supportive of CiB, but this doesn't appear to be its smartest bit of business.

Another hmmmm moment indeed.

Great idea - shame about the old news

Ragan sent me my first daily headlines today - whoopee - a daily round-up of all that's hip and happening in IC. The one that caught my eye was the new research giving the lowdown on the state of IC in the UK. Only one problem: the research is six months old and was first presented at the CiB Annual Conference in May.

So Ragan guys - many congrats on getting your daily headlines out......but you may have shot yourselves in the foot just a tad with your breaking news that's six months old.

We do have the CiB IC Index survey for inhouse IC professionals about to close....maybe some of Ragan's readers would like to contribute? There are just a few days left..... and I'm sure we can share the results with Ragan rather sooner after they're published than today's first effort.

In-house in IC - make your views known

The CiB IC Index survey is now live. If you're an IC practitioner, working in-house, make sure you complete it so that we can establish the latest trends in terms of earnings, budget and responsibilities for the current crop of IC professionals.

The survey's also looking for your views on your boss as a communicator - and on how the rest of your organisation views you.

So, grab a coffee and your mouse and get clicking here.

I'll be inside my Blackberry

In the midst of a significant corporate announcement this morning, set to go live in about 15 minutes.....now in that worrying phase of waiting for someone to spot a flaw in the materials or the process.

So, thought I'd share one of the quirkier aspects of corporate life I've recently been exposed to.

This client has a Blackberry culture - people live or die by their ability to check their emails wherever and whenever - and for many Blackberrying is more or less their occupation.

On a telecon last Friday, I admitted I'd be updating all the documentation for the project on Sunday night at which point another participant piped up 'If you need any help, I'll be inside my Blackberry!'.........somehow it conjured up a strange 1984-esque image.

A not so subtle way to access revenue-making talent

So VMA are raising their profile and looking for a means to access potential revenue-earning talent by sponsoring the new and some would say spurious Corp Comms Top 100 Club .

Coming out of CorpComms Magazine, the blurb states: The Corp Comms Top 100 club creates a network of the most influential and inspiring individuals within the communications marketplace; Members will range from individuals responsible for revitalising an internal employees’ messaging scheme to those who have been principle in determining a major CSR policy or to others who have successfully rebranded a FTSE 100 company.

A number of things strike me as worrying about this new club of corporate communicators. The first is that it's exclusive to those working in-house. Yes, there are many great communicators in-house, but there are just as many - if not more working in agencies and as independents. it's often these people who are the creative powerhouses, while their internal colleagues get on with managing their teams and trading in corporate politics. Surely a real 'Top 100' would blend the best of in-house and consultant talent?

Second, I worry about any organisation that still regards IC as 'revitalising an internal employees' messaging scheme'. So, the magazine still regards IC as being postman come publisher? Sounds like they're still very externally focused and behind the times on organisational comms.

Finally, a concern that could also be an opportunity: this new 'club' covers a hugely wide area - from IC to Public Affairs to PR to CSR - often areas that report into different heads in the organisations I work with. Their skills, concerns and outlook are often quite different and the so-called powerhouse that the magazine is looking to create may turn out to be no more than a collection of disparate strands.

Of course, as we move to issues-based communication, organisations should be knitting together all the strands of their communication - so actually there could be a great opportunity here to create and mobilise best practice.

It's just a shame that this new network is under the auspices of a magazine looking to make money by selling subscriptions to big corporates, and sponsored by a recruitment consultancy with a need to get the top talent on their books. Of course, it's the way the world works, but I wonder at the independence in selecting the cream of our industry's cream.

My generation...not

I'm working on a survey which will be issued in September covering two issues: who are today's internal communication practitioners, and what they think of their CEOs as communicators.

I did a bit of pre-work on this at a conference in Newcastle the other month, and that small sample showed a growing divergence between the old guard and new breed of comms pros.

I'm towards the younger end of the old guard, but started my professional life on a magazine, and have mixed in-house comms jobs with a few years at a PR agency and, latterly, seven years as an independent. My basic toolbox is words - I trained as a journalist and have spent my career either using words or getting others to use them. I gained management experience through seniority and probably age and have gained business experience as the comms guy brought into business projects.

Not so my younger business acquaintances. Very few have come through the journalism route. Their tool kit is their ability to bring in the right people to craft, deliver and measure the messages they manage. They've been trained for management and many have degrees in business studies - giving them a great head start in understanding the drivers within organisations. Many have come from HR or marketing or are stepping through comms as part of a graduate programme. Their perspective on what's important in comms can be very different from mine.

Neither the old guard nor the new young guns have the monopoly on what's right in comms today and there's much we can learn from each other. However, i suspect the survey will show that we're heading to a tipping point where the business skill that is IC will diverge forever from external straightforward journalism. When that divergence finally happens, the trick will be to ensure that communicators never dump the core craft skills of great writing and editing. They're definitely not an end in themselves in IC - but they still make by far the best start point for great careers.

Apathy rules!

Let's Go CiB!........Or not.

A couple of months ago I wrote a piece in CiB's monthly journal - Communicators - on the Catch 22 facing the organisation. We have around 1200 members, though fewer than 5% or truly active in the sense of doing something to move the organisation forward.

We need to move the organisation on to a platform where it is the first stop in the UK for all issues related to internal communications. To do that, CiB needs to be seen as the leader in continuing professional development (not just for IC pros, but for all managers with a foot in IC). We also need to be seen as a credible home for leading edge research - whether that's as a research sponsor or publisher.

But with only about 60 proactive members - and most of those in agencies where involvement comes with a tacit aspect of business development (and I'm very much in that space) it's hard to get anything moving. So I put out a plea or a challenge or even a request for more people to get involved. The response? A very big, fat nothing. Well, almost nothing. One person has sent me some information on membership recruitment and retention. But that's it.

Then last week, I found out I'd been elected by my peers for another year on council. Out of the successful candidates, I polled about in the middle. So far so good until you realise that i got 46 votes. Out of an electorate of 1200, 79 people voted. That's pathetic by any standard.

I don't know what it will take to light the fire for CiB, but for whatever reason, it's not happening at present. Too many people seem happy to sit and wait for professional accreditation and high class research to land in their laps without putting anything other than their membership fee back in.

without putting more in, CiB will not grow. And if it doesn't grow it will not be able to deliver what communicators want or need. If that's the case, someone else will fill that gap and CiB as an organisation will be redundant. That's rather depressing.