The Internal Comms Podcast

Episode 22 – State of the Sector

State of the Sector is the longest-established and most in-depth survey of the internal communication profession, based on responses from more than 1,000 professionals around the world.

Over the past decade, this annual survey has become a go-to source of information for IC practitioners, helping them see what’s going on across the industry, benchmark their own IC function against competitors and build a business case for investment or development.

This year’s survey report is the biggest yet – covering 45 countries and 33 industries – and its publication is as eagerly anticipated by the comms community as ever.

Shortly before the release of the 2020 report, host Katie Macaulay caught up with two new directors at Gatehouse, the internal communications agency that organises the State of the Sector survey, to discuss some of this year’s key findings.

Client Services Director Kevin McDougall trained as a garden designer before entering the world of IC, while People, Service & Excellence Director Andy Macleod was a talented keyboard player. But having taken the path into IC, the duo now has more than 40 years’ internal and change communications experience between them.

In this episode, they explain the purpose of the State of the Sector survey, their motivation for doing it and what they hope IC teams will gain from reading it.

They guide us through the changing role, priorities, challenges and activities of in-house practitioners around the world. And, as a new decade dawns for our profession, we hear their views on the challenges and opportunities on the horizon.

To find out more about international communications and AB’s work, subscribe to our monthly newsletter, AB Thinks.

Jump to

The locations and industries covered in this year’s survey [2:31]

IC professionals are becoming valued as trusted advisors and companies are investing in IC recruitment, although comms budgets remain tight [3:39]

Comms is becoming more strategic. Two-thirds of leaders now recognise the value and role of communication within their businesses [5.38]

All organisations are facing lots of change and transformation, so having an agile, evolving one-year IC strategy is becoming the norm [8:20]

Comms professionals are moving roles more frequently [9:15]

The immediate priorities for the comms profession and some of the barriers to overcome [10:27]

The need for a clear comms framework, channel strategy, planning and measurement amid the multitude of ‘noise’ [15:40]

Better benchmarking and use of data, and using it to inform our corporate storytelling [21:25]

39% of respondents say they don’t measure the impact of their IC campaigns on behavioural change and business outcomes [23:42]

Are IC people too pessimistic? [26:16]

Amid the digital landscape, we’re seeing a trend for more face-to-face communications [28:11]

Social media and how best to use the company intranet [30:50]

Leadership communication [34:44]

Addressing the content overload and enabling line managers to have the most impact in their communications [38:22]

Gathering and challenging our metrics to gain better insight [40:50]

IC and the employee experience [44:50]

How the State of the Sector survey might evolve in years ahead [46:20]

Quickfire questions [48:18]

Links from this episode

Connect with Kevin McDougall on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Connect with Andy Macleod on LinkedIn or via email.

Read the latest Gatehouse State of the Sector report or find out more about Gatehouse.

Get yourself a copy of Andy’s recommended read, Successful Employee Communications by the lovely Sue Dewhurst and Liam Fitzpatrick.

Kevin’s book choice, Talk Like Ted by Carmine Gallo, provides some great tips for improving your public speaking.

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Episode 16 – A Passage to India

October 23, 2019

With this podcast now reaching listeners in 50 countries worldwide, host Katie Macaulay has chosen to go international for this episode. Her guest is creative services entrepreneu...

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Episode 15 – The Power of Two

October 8, 2019

This week, Katie meets Claire Hyde and Louise Wadman, joint heads of IC at KPMG UK. Possibly the most senior IC job share in the country, Claire and Louise have more than 45 years...

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Episode 14 – How to start a movement

September 24, 2019

Katie’s guest this episode is Nita Clarke – whose services to employee engagement have earned her an OBE from the Queen. Nita has a long and fascinating career. She co-authore...

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Episode 13 – A check-up with the IC doctor

September 11, 2019

The Internal Comms Podcast is back with a new series of fortnightly conversations with leading lights from the world of internal communications, engagement and leadership. AB Mana...

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Season 02 Trailer

September 6, 2019

Season two of The Internal Comms Podcast is almost here!

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Episode 12 – Listen and learn: insights from 30 years in IC

July 24, 2019

In this extra special bonus episode of The Internal Comms Podcast, the tables are turned on Katie as she takes the spotlight as an interviewee. Posing the searching questions is J...

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Episode 11 – Putting the soul back into Patisserie Valerie

June 25, 2019

For this special bonus episode of The IC Podcast, Katie interviewed Paolo Peretti, Managing Retail Director of Patisserie Valerie, in front of a live audience at AB Thinks Live, ou...

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Episode 10 – Internal comms at the sharp end - recorded at IoIC live

May 21, 2019

For the final episode of season one, Katie Macaulay travels to Bath for IoIC Live and interviews two of the conference’s speakers, Martin Fitzpatrick and Matt Batten. Both Marti...

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Episode 09 – How to win colleagues and influence people

May 7, 2019

Social influencer marketing is a new and rapidly growing means of getting your message out to your audience. It’s changed the face of advertising and has everyone from up-to-the-...

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Episode 08 – The Joy of Work

April 23, 2019

Katie’s guest this week is an extremely versatile communicator. In his day job as European Vice President of Twitter, Bruce Daisley has overseen the development of one of the wor...

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Episode 07 – What social purpose (really) means

April 9, 2019

Running the UK’s largest retail and financial services network with more branches than all of the UK’s banks and building societies put together, the Post Office is at the hear...

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Episode 06 – The craft of communication

March 27, 2019

In episode six, Katie travels beyond the boundaries of internal comms to find out how to write more engagingly, tell better stories and use humour to deliver your message. And who ...

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Episode 05 – Learning comms lessons from PR

March 13, 2019

In episode five, Katie aims to find out what internal communications can learn from external communications. So she sits down with ‘mister public relations’, Stephen Waddington...

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Episode 04 – What it means to be the voice of IC

February 27, 2019

The Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC) is the voice of the IC profession – dedicated to strengthening confidence, credibility and community. And on 12 March, the IoIC cel...

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Episode 03 – What the State of the Sector report means for IC

February 13, 2019

Episode three lands as Gatehouse’s latest State of the Sector report is published. Katie invites Jenni Field, a tireless, high-profile personality of the IC landscape, to discus...

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Episode 02 – What it takes to be an IC leader

January 30, 2019

Even if you’re only vaguely familiar with internal communications, Katie’s guest in episode two will no doubt be a name you recognise. In a career spanning 30 years, Russell G...

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Episode 01 – How to thrive in IC

January 16, 2019

In the first episode of The Internal Comms Podcast, Katie meets Rachel Miller – a prolific blogger, educator, keynote speaker and one of the most respected voices in internal com...

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Trailer

January 11, 2019

An introduction to the new Internal Comms Podcast.

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