The skills gap for internal communicators

By Robin Crumby, Managing Director, Melcrum

No matter what your particular specialization or seniority within your communication team, from time to time, most of us need to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty writing, organizing events or delivering communication of some kind. Add to this the adoption of new technologies and new media, and it’s clear that many of us could do with a skills refresher to stay current and get the most from our communication toolkits.

Mind the Gap - what help are UK communicators looking for?
Judging by the 302 UK communicators who responded to our New Year survey about their training needs in 2008, there are some evergreen training topics such as improving line manager communication, rated as important or very important by 87% of respondents,  communicating with hard-to-reach employees (75%), and managing the internal brand (74%), tailoring communication to your audience needs (75%), and conducting a communication audit (81%). None of which should raise too many eyebrows perhaps.

There were also, not surprisingly, some skills gaps emerging around new technologies and media such as managing your intranet and social media (79%), writing for online audiences (74%) and corporate podcasting (69%).

Not forgetting your own professional development
And just in case you thought UK communicators were an altruistic bunch, respondents also placed a heavy emphasis on their own communication skills such as consulting and influencing skills (79%), advanced writing skills (77%) and presentation skills (65%).

The big challenge for communicators in 2008

And lastly, we asked what the big challenge for 2008 was likely to be for communicators and their teams, and responses implied one eye was firmly on the dark cloud of economic uncertainty with answers ranging from doing more with less, communicating change, effective planning, proving our worth, avoiding information overload and engaging an apathetic workforce. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom, others mentioned building our influence, maintaining momentum, improving results. Not forgetting my personal favorite answers for top challenges: flower arranging and having a proper holiday.

Aside from help with the flower arranging, if you’d like your very own refresher on your own or your team’s core skills, check out the new range of 16 skills courses coming up in April, May and June in London. And if there’s something missing from the list, let us know and we’ll find the right expert to plug the gap. From Neville Hobson, Dominic Walters at Synopsis, Mike Pounsford at Couravel, Liam Fitzpatrick, Sue Dewhurst, Philippe Borremans at Blackline, Emma Ridgeon, Sue Heal, Jill Wedge at Vibrant, Tony Quinlan at Narrate, and Paul Miller at BY2W, we've assembled some of the UK's leading experts to share their knowledge on the topics above.

Plus, we’re also making available a free to download chapter from our best-selling report ‘How to develop outstanding internal communicators’ by Liam Fitzpatrick and Sue Dewhurst that provides a useful framework for the twelve core communication competencies.

Enjoy.