Upskilling the Internal Communications team
Pinsent Masons is an international professional services business on a journey of growth and change. Like many IC Teams, Pinsent Masons’ Internal Communication team deal with a wide range of strategic and tactical challenges. With team members operating from different offices, they decided to take time out to build their skills and develop consistent approaches.
We delivered a tailored, practical training programme with both face to face and bite-sized online sessions, supported by a workbook containing tools and techniques. In today’s world we are conscious that every moment of the training needs to deliver added value.
Pre-work related to changes and challenges unique to Pinsent Mason so participants could put their new skills straight into practice.
The result
Not only did participants improve their skills sets and have a more consistent approach to IC challenges, but they all agreed that the training sessions made them a better internal communicator. Overall, the training programme scored 4.6 out of 5.
“I have enjoyed developing this IC team training programme with HarknessKennett. The training has gone down really well and helped to energise the team. I’m now looking forward to seeing how the team put it all into practice over the coming months’’.
Stuart Carey, Head of Internal Communication, Pinsent Masons
MORE CASE STUDIES
We placed experienced communications specialist Carrie, who quickly integrated into the team and delivered immediate value. Within her first week, she developed a communications plan and draft narrative to support key change initiatives.
Following a period of rapid, acquisition-led expansion, this mid-tier accountancy group asked us to source candidates for a maternity cover FTC role. The role was responsible for unifying seven distinct legacy cultures while maintaining engagement and clarity during continued growth. With further acquisitions planned and a major transformation programme underway, the organisation needed strong interim leadership to align people, culture and communications at both strategic and operational levels.
WM Trains had set an ambitious five‑year target to improve on‑time performance to 90% and reduce cancellations below 2%, requiring engagement from 3,500 colleagues across varied roles.
With several M&A deals underway, the Inchcape change & communications team needed senior support to manage integration and announcement messaging. The workload was growing fast, and they needed a skilled contractor who could hit the ground running.
During a major period of change, Belron asked us to find a fixed-term Engagement and Communication Project Owner to support its Technology & Transformation (T&T) team across several key initiatives.
Law firm, Pinsent Masons, asked us to source senior-level communications support for a high-profile role which included responsibility for partner communications.
With multiple transformation initiatives underway, Flutter’s Chief of Staff approached us to urgently source a Fixed-Term Contract (FTC) Communications Manager to support the UK&I People team for a 10-month period.
Committed to making a positive and lasting difference in the world, and driven by a desire to serve God, World Vision has become a global leader in improving and transforming the lives of children, their families and their communities. Employing around 33,000 people in over 100 countries, internal communication plays a critical role.
London Northwestern & West Midlands Railways has around 3,400 people spread across the network from Liverpool, the West Midlands to London Euston. People undertake a range of roles, with the majority being in Operations and Customer Experience, which include drivers, station staff, senior conductors and colleagues undertaking train presentation…
Pinsent Masons is an international professional services business on a journey of growth and change. Keeping colleagues informed and involved is always a challenge, and the Head of IC was keen to understand how well the current channel mix was working for its 3,800 global colleagues. As a matrixed organisation, routes for line manager communication and opportunities for two-way conversation can be complex, and this was another key area of focus.
With a background in delivering change communications, Louisa led the smooth introduction of WorkBoard across Change, making sure messages landed with the right teams, at the right time, in the right way.
12 months into the joint venture at VMO2, the team wanted an external, objective review of their corporate channels, and wanted to understand how they could make best use of their channels, in the right way and cost-effectively
Donna Dew, Head of UK & Corporate Functions People Director at William Hill approached us to help her find the right candidate to cover a maternity leave over a significant period of change in the organisation including the integration with 888.
We helped Travis Perkins to find Matthew Ainsworth, an experienced internal and change communications specialist, to come in on an interim basis to fill a newly created role as dedicated group-wide internal communications lead.
We worked with the Head of Corporate Communications, to enable her to gain a clear picture of the effectiveness of the channels, communication tools and practices currently in use, internally and externally and provide recommendations on the ideal structure for the communications function.
Checkout recognised the need to lay strong foundations to enable the ongoing maturation of IC and their channels strategy, and asked us to conduct an internal communications audit to identify areas for development.
We worked with Chris to enable him to gain a clear picture of the effectiveness of the channels, communication tools and practices currently in use, and an understanding of any gaps that might exist, as well as developing an understanding of the communication needs and preferences of different audiences amongst the organisation.
With existing vacancies and new roles created, Yvonne had a number of roles to fill, and turned to us to help her find the right people fast. In a matter of weeks we successfully helped her to find four candidates who all met the high standards she was looking for.
With a lean comms team, and a large-scale programme to deliver, including the Unleashed Festival for over 2,000 employees in October, Sue asked us to help her find a Transformation Communication Manager for a fixed term contract.
Established in 1969 as the international arm of Fidelity Investments, founded in Boston in 1946, Fidelity International became independent of the US organisation in 1980, and is today owned mainly by management and members of the original founding family.
At HarknessKennett we pride ourselves on providing services that people want to come back to. Nicola Marsden has been a client for over 10 years and across three different organisations; we’ve been delighted to support her with both our consultancy and resourcing services.
HarknessKennett has extensive experience of working with the company on channel and change communication research, pulse measurement, and a ‘Listening Project’ to guide strategic communications during a proposed…
HarknessKennett used a range of research techniques: the senior team shared their views through one-on-one interviews, both face to face and via Skype; we undertook interviews with colleagues working remotely; and office-based teams and managers joined workshops which enabled us to fully explore the future needs of internal communications.
As a global leader in oil and gas, BP operates in 78 countries – at a scale that requires skill and experience when it comes to communications…
Splunk Inc. is a technology company, helping clients harness the potential of data with proactive analysis and reporting. From its US origins, the organisation now has over 5,000 employees in 27 offices worldwide…
Checkout recognised the need to lay strong foundations to enable the ongoing maturation of IC and their channels strategy, and asked us to conduct an internal communications audit to identify areas for development.
John Lewis & Partners is the department store division of The John Lewis Partnership, which is the UK’s largest employee-owned business (owned in Trust by 81,000 Partners). It runs 51 stores across the UK, as well as its…
HarknessKennett used a range of research techniques: the senior team shared their views through one-on-one interviews, both face to face and via Skype; we undertook interviews with colleagues working remotely; and office-based teams and managers joined workshops which enabled us to fully explore the future needs of internal communications.
Heathrow Airport handled 80.1 million passengers in 2018. This record feat required 76,000 people, working for 400 companies across the campus, making it the second busiest airport in the world…
This was also the first campaign to harness GVC’s new employer brand and tone of voice; an upbeat, more informal conversation style that we used to full effect. Thanks to our impactful intranet banners, countdown widget…