Author Archives: madeleinekavanagh

About madeleinekavanagh

Internal comms specialist with a career spanning advertising, car sales and management consulting. My greatest legacy (so far) - my son!

We are all communicators now!

Posted on March 26, 2020 by madeleinekavanagh

For the last few years one of the pressing challenges for internal communications specialists has been how do you get your messages through, as communication channels have increased exponentially? In 2012 I blogged “Never again will management be able to exercise … Continue reading →

Posted in 21st century workplace, Business Leadership, communication channels, Corporate Communications, Culture, Employee Engagement, Gen Y Gen Z, Internal communications, Leadership Behaviours, People management / motivation | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Making Connections in a World of Isolationism

Posted on March 20, 2020 by madeleinekavanagh

Who would have guessed that the persona of office work would have changed so absolutely in just a few weeks? Even those of us who worked from home on a regular basis are finding the prospect of self-isolation, for goodness knows … Continue reading →

Posted in 21st century workplace, Business Leadership, communication channels, Corporate Communications, Culture, Internal communications, Leadership Behaviours, People management / motivation | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Prepare yourself. From annual to pulse surveys. An unstoppable shift.

Posted on March 4, 2018 by madeleinekavanagh

This week I joined a webinar hosted by Questa Agency with Matt Stephens and Dominic Walters of Heartbeat Ltd  on: “Top 10 reasons to ditch the annual survey and to choose the pulsing approach”. They were certainly preaching to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Authentic communication, communication channels, Culture, Employee Engagement, Feedback surveys, Internal communications, Middle management, People management / motivation | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Future of Internal Comms. Is there one?

Posted on February 27, 2018 by madeleinekavanagh

Job hunting over the last few months has given me the opportunity to rethink the role the IC professional plays within a business. A variety of inputs have spurred my thinking: IC professionals debating “The Future of IC” Before Christmas … Continue reading →

Posted in Authentic communication, Business Leadership, employee advocacy, Employee Engagement, Internal communications, People management / motivation | Leave a comment

Taking personal responsibility – a too rare leadership quality

Posted on February 2, 2017 by madeleinekavanagh

A few years ago I was asked to produce a high impact presentation on the strengths and opportunities for improvement of the organisation’s leadership capability. The presentation would be used to introduce a facilitated discussion on leadership at their annual … Continue reading →

Posted in Business Leadership, Corporate Values, High performing companies, Leadership Behaviours, Personal Values, Success factors, Trust | Tagged | Leave a comment

Anticipating the message; I couldn’t have been more wrong

Posted on January 16, 2017 by madeleinekavanagh

Tuning into BBC radio 4 recently, I caught the last few minutes of an episode in a series I had never heard before – The Headline Ballads. From what I heard I understood the programme to be comparing and contrasting … Continue reading →

Posted in Authentic communication, communication channels, Internal communications, People management / motivation, Story telling, Success factors, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

How to make a (good) decision.

Posted on December 14, 2016 by madeleinekavanagh

I believe I am a decisive person and, having made a decision, I rarely spend time worrying about whether I’ve made the right one. Whether I make good decisions is a whole different matter. The last truly big decision I … Continue reading →

Posted in career opportunities, Change, Job search strategies, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Ladies, don’t be a purveyor of ‘the deadfish handshake’

Posted on December 13, 2016 by madeleinekavanagh

I’ve been shaking a lot of hands lately. This is primarily because we are in tournament season at my tennis club and etiquette demands that, win, lose, or crash and burn, we end each match with handshakes all round. As … Continue reading →

Posted in Authentic communication, Culture, first impressions, Success factors | Leave a comment

Is your job still offering you learning opportunities?

Posted on September 4, 2015 by madeleinekavanagh

I’ve really enjoyed Michael Robinson’s recent series on BBC Radio 4 in which he’s been exploring the trends and challenges of the UK’s work environment – The New Workplace. In the last of the series he invited spokespersons representing different aspects … Continue reading →

Posted in 21st century workplace, career opportunities, Employee Engagement, job satisfaction | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

What is the optimum size for an internal comms function?

Posted on August 31, 2015 by madeleinekavanagh

I started re-considering this question when I read a LinkedIn status update from my former CommsQuest colleague David Norton who wrote: “It is that time of year again, just had the 3rd meeting this week about Comms budgets for 2016. … Continue reading →

Posted in Business Leadership, Change, communication channels, Culture, employee advocacy, Employee Engagement, Internal communications, Leadership Behaviours | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment