Upstairs uses this space to write about current internal and external communication projects, the ways of the world and give you a sense of us as people - not just what we do but how we do it and occasionally, why. If you would like to know each time something new and tremendously witty goes up, please read about how to subscribe.
January 08,
2009
– 9:51 am
Working with City and Islington College on the publication of their Strategic Plan for the next three years proved an education. Did you know that C&I are the largest provider of undergraduates to universities in England and Wales, for example? But for those of us who often spend time in the corporate (under)world, one thing really hit home – it wasn’t just the staff that were really proud of their College but many of the students were too. If you see young people wearing their C&I red lanyards in North London, it’s the College they belong to.
This sense of pride in belonging feels in contrast to some corporate organisations struggling with employee morale, pride, enthusiasm and motivation. Perhaps there is more to be learnt from education….and those that provide it, particularly those with Beacon Status on the Holloway Road….
The Strategic Plan pdf
November 05,
2008
– 8:00 am
Sometimes things don’t go, after all,
from bad to worse. Some years, muscadel
faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don’t fail,
sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.
A people will sometimes step back from war;
elect an honest man; decide they care
enough, that they can’t leave some stranger poor.
Some men become what they were born for.
Sometimes our best efforts do not go
amiss; sometimes we do as we were meant to.
The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow
that seemed hard frozen: may it happen for you.
Sheenagh Pugh, 1990
November 03,
2008
– 9:42 am
We recently worked on an editing job for a company based in Korea. Having written their social report in Korean, they wanted us to edit and proof-read the translation. The best thing about the job was how close Korea seemed throughout – to the extent that our client was in touch over email discussing some expression issues and our ability to discuss proved better than most face to face meetings. One interesting thing – how easy the word ‘plague’ is to mix up with ‘plaque’ as in ‘a plague of appreciation’ listed numerous times in the appendix…. We send all friends a plague of appreciation today….
September 26,
2008
– 8:00 am
We are taking part in Macmillan Cancer Support’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning by hosting a virtual cafe online. Why? Because all of us have been affected in some way by cancer. Right now, we are thinking especially of a good friend of Upstairs.
What can you do?
Give the price of a coffee at your local cafe right here, via our Just Giving page. Your donation will go straight to Macmillan to help them help those with cancer and their families.
What will we do?
We’ve bought a round of coffees already… Plus, for every individual that comments on this blog up until the end of October we’ll buy you a coffee – donating the cost of a very good cappuccino in leafy Hampton (£1.89 takeaway) to Macmillan’s.
By starting a conversation over coffee, you’ll not only be avoiding a (frankly unnecessary) caffeine rush, we’ll also be giving some money to a great cause, no matter what you say…
September 18,
2008
– 8:32 am
New client Infinity are all about recognising that every one of us learns differently and that all organisations have expectations when they fund training for their employees i.e. it does actually have to deliver some proven business benefit. Infinity ‘always start with the end result in mind’, which is not a bad maxim for any of us. We’ve worked with Infinity on their new branding and presence at the upcoming World of Learning event in November. It’s made us think about a) what infinity means, b) school (for many of us, what learning shouldn’t be) and c) e-learning/blended learning. So working with them, we have learnt things…
August 26,
2008
– 12:04 pm
We are wondering here if ‘employer branding’, once the great conversation opener and preoccupation, especially of HR teams, is now really just (just!) making the existing corporate brand communicate to employees and prospective employees: providing communication tools and management examples of that brand in practice. Simple…
Looking at what often could feel like separate brand identities (separate projects) is too confusing for audiences, could detract from the corporate brand and (appears at least) too costly for clients. What’s interesting is that some agencies (and their clients) are talking employer brands and we are in fact waiting on one’s guidelines for a piece of work we are doing… We are looking forward to them. Perhaps it’s what we have been talking about anyway, just phrased differently?
August 15,
2008
– 4:31 pm
The Nielsen Norman 10 best intranets of 2008 voted British Airways’ intranet ‘Employee Self Service’ the only UK place in its recent listing. Citing cost savings and communcation improvements, it’s an interesting vote given recent PR and customer relationship calamaties for BA and the current difficult times in the aviation industry. A case of the external image being very far from what is going on internally, perhaps.
The Nielsen Norman 10 best intranets of 2007 voted the RSPB’s intranet the only intranet in the UK worthy of a global top ten ranking. The comment in the summary report that ‘beautiful bird photos illustrate top stories’ is in the context of discussions about an average intranet containing 6 million pages.
The RSPB’s success is a welcome reminder that sometimes something plain lovely says it all. And perhaps more usefully for those a bit content-heavy amongst us, that a picture does tell a 1000 words, or pages more.
August 11,
2008
– 9:27 am
We were asked by a client to speak at an internal communication workshop for 21 communications managers held in Hong Kong last week. With an eye on our carbon footprint – and our client’s 2 eyes on budget – we had the pleasure of presenting to the group via a fantastic video conferencing suite. Our enjoyment of the technology and attention to detail of the facility were marred only slightly by our attendance at 5.30am…
Our topic ‘New frontiers in internal communication’ was an interesting one… We looked at lots of internal communications tools that were growing in usefulness and prominence (the role of web 2.0 internally, wikis, podcasts, every picture telling a story, feedback, feedback and more feedback) and also talked about the key drivers in employee engagement. Take a look at the presentation which is packed full of budget-proof statistics that prove internal communication matters. And what large conclusions global surveys of communication professionals drew.
What were our conclusions?
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By Rosie Fyles
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Posted in musings
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Tagged business benefit, communication tools, face to face communication, feedback, internal communication, personal brand managers, podcasts, reputation, web 2.0, wikis, workshops
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August 05,
2008
– 8:58 am
I was talking to an old university friend about a potential new client last night and asking her opinion of what I could explain to her about them so far – what do they do? It’s an often repeated question.
She asked me how Upstairs had been introduced to them. I explained that the chain of recommendation had started with one client 8 years ago (2000, previous life) who had got in touch in the early days of Upstairs (2004) recommended us to his old colleague who had talked to us about one project that never happened in 2006 and then, she had remembered us last year (2007) and we are working for her and her team now (2008) and she talked about us to her old client who is now going to be working with us (to come) … I’m sure my friend wished she hadn’t asked.
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