benjamincrawford

How the communication role changes with seniority

Posted on 12th February 201712th March 2018 by benjamincrawford in Communications

Entry-level communications jobs are all about delivery. You turn up, do the things that have been set out and if it’s done on time and accurately, you’ve done a good job.

Then you’re at a mid-level role where your ideas are key. Not all of them will fly, but often derivatives of them will. The thing that makes you stand out from the crowd is the inherent ability to be creative and innovative, to think of different ways to do things, and for them to be done cheaply.

Then you’ve managed to get to a level of seniority within communications, you find you spend very little time trying to help people communicate. We’re now no longer here to communicate an idea, or even come up with those ideas in the first place. Instead we’re in the business to facilitate people in finding out how to communicate themselves, and to help them come up with the idea in the first place.

With a few things I’ve worked on recently, I’ve noticed success is not in delivery, or in the ideas themselves but the quality of the interactions I’ve had with the people around me and measured in getting people to agree. Anyone at any level in communications will know that “everyone is an expert in communications”, but now managing the near continuous onslaught of opinion and debate is what makes a comms person function.

At this senior level, while great ideas do get people excited, they just won’t come to fruition without convincing people that while there will always be other ways of doing things, that this is the best way forwards. My role therefore is no longer about coming up with great ideas, but instead I’ve become an internal salesman for communication techniques.

Commercialising internal communications

Posted on 2nd February 2017 by benjamincrawford in Uncategorized

It’s easy to target ‘happy’ indices. It’s what some internal communications teams were set up for – their whole point. “Find a way of improving employee engagement” is a common challenge set to us at all levels, from the tactical campaign support, all the way up to a company re-brand and re-strategy.

But the question in my head rings… why? Why do business leaders want to make sure their employees are happy? The answer doesn’t require a genius. A happy employee is more likely to be more productive. We all know about the plethora of quotes from Branson wheeled out at any opportunity to sound progressive.

But surely as communicators we can go further than just making sure everyone’s having a nice time?

How do we make our content commercial? The answer lies in building brand, product and service advocation. Like my post on the future of communications, as long as the brand, product or service is strong enough, the advocacy will follow. Our job as internal communicators then isn’t to simply narrate the comings and goings of business in passive vernacular, but to sell the business’ wares to employees too. I’m a firm believer that communications teams have no place plugging the product, brand or service, even though you still see it in some instances, overly-zealous use of the adjectives: exciting, excellent, great, et al. Our place instead is to be the medium of discussion and collaboration.

As soon as you introduce a message with an underlying motive, the credibility vanishes. But that’s where people come in. Using experts in the subject will appear transparent to other people in the business. A project manager selling their project is believable and authentic. That’s where a communications team can have a voice – when someone else is speaking.

Is print dead?

Posted on 12th January 2017 by benjamincrawford in Communications

Nope. We might as well cut to the chase. With this particular subject, the answer’s not the important bit. The important bit is the why, which conversely boils down to digital.

In 2010, anything destined for print in internal communications was doomed. Business leaders were being told by industry experts that digital was the only way forwards, and that was that. I remember working on a calendar in a historic version of Quark Xpress which ended up moving to an intranet instead.

The uproar was palpable, and resulted in swift digital rescindence. In an increasingly digital era, people look towards print for the things that matter. There’s something resolute in the printed form, especially when it means something. Those calendars were the bridge between people’s professional and personal lives. The interface of dates, appointments and commitments in the work life balance continuum.

Printed communications therefore still have a place, but only when it matters. Printing content frivolously will and should be called out by employees as being wasteful (even despite the minimal cost of print, it’s more the image that matters). But when it does matter, people hold onto physical content for years. Sat where I am now, I can see printed versions of a company strategy that people keep on their screens – the unfettered realisation of a common goal.

Wales 2016

Posted on 26th December 201612th March 2018 by benjamincrawford in Travel

So this was the first trip in now what has become a bit of a tradition in our house – the boxing day trip in the van. The plan is to climb in Astrid and see where we end up. The first image in the sequence is Jasper learning that Astrid is finally back on the road!

Paris 2016

Posted on 8th July 201612th March 2018 by benjamincrawford in Travel

The dreaded trip to Disneyland, or at least… dreaded for me. I’m not much a fan of the commercial side of travel and much prefer to do the more adventurous side of travel. That said, Mandy wanted to go and as I’m sure you’ll imagine – Jasper wanted to go too despite only being three at the time. Here’s how we told him, the very same night we were leaving…

As this was us, we didn’t do it the usual way. We both finished work and set straight off for the tunnel. Even at the time it was a four hour drive to get there on time. Arriving in Dover, we waited an hour for our slot, and from there it was a simple 30 minutes in the train while we made our way under the North Sea. Once into France we headed straight over to Disneyland Paris where we arrived for opening time at 09:00am. After a day in Disneyland we headed over to a local campsite where we had a pretty rubbish time with food and mozzies, where after a beer I was out like a light after being up for 36 hours straight. Next morning was a trip to Paris centre where we hopped on a train and spent the day absorbing all things French, and then come 17:00 it was another long trip through the night home. Here’s the best bits.

I quit!

Posted on 21st March 2016 by benjamincrawford in Blog, Uncategorized

Mobile phone being put into a bin

A few weeks ago, I was becoming increasingly frustrated with the diminishing speed of my little sliver of glass and plastic that came on every journey with me. It slept next to me, came to work, the pub, to gigs, and saw and captured my son growing up and my adventures with Mandy.

Now it lies in a draw, redundant and for the most part, forgotten. So why have I taken such dramatic steps to eliminate what most people now can’t imagine life without?

The turning point came when laid on my bed, waiting for Jasper’s bath to run, with him playing on the floor. I was mindlessly scrolling through the social oblivion that is the book of faces, or more accurately, the book that used to contain faces, but now predominantly displays paid and increasingly less relevant content. While getting my feed-based dopamine hit, Jasper said “Daddy”. About five times. And I didn’t hear him.

Jasper wanted to show me something he’d built, and I was busy suckling at the unfettered data-teat of my smartphone, while casually ignoring real life.

In that very moment, I realised something was very wrong. A telephone, and indeed Facebook were both created to connect people. To facilitate meaningful conversation and encounters. I can’t help but think they’re now diluting that, all the while shamelessly capturing data and whole-selling it to large multi-nationals who in turn use it to put even more garbage in front of us.

So, I quit smartphone. I dug out an old BlackBerry, capable of phone calls, text messages and email and rang O2 to change my data plan. I’ve been doing this a month today, and I’m truly sold on it. At first I kept checking my BB (an odd 21st century reflex I’ve noticed a lot of people doing), but nothing changes unless an actual human being wants to speak to you, so within a week I stopped checking. My attention is no longer controlled by algorithms whirring in a data centre created by the blue-chips of Cali. On a train I now look out the window, walking down a street I admire the architecture and when Jasper’s playing next to me I’m enthralled with the amazing things he builds. This little dude Mandy and I created is now creating his own things, and frankly, Facebook can go fuck itself. Jasper is waaaay more interesting than a cat in Japan.

Life. As it happens. Unfiltered

Posted on 16th January 2015 by benjamincrawford in Blog, Uncategorized

I once watched a video about cats on Facebook. The damage was done. In one moment of utter boredom, Facebook has lumped me in with every other cat watching, feline brained, “n’aaaaw” repeating, 14 year old girl.

Facebook’s algorithm has decided what I shall see, and that’s that. It reminds me distinctly of my only visit to Egypt.

For years, I’ve enjoyed holidays where we go and do whatever we want. Day at the beach, no problem. A walk along the coast, sure thing – just follow the coastal path signs. But in Egypt when I went for a walk, I was told “no going past here, go back to the pool” by a man with a sub-machine gun. I didn’t argue.

Facebook may not have a sub-machine gun, but it equally restricts what I get to see. It’s for that reason I’ve deleted the app. Human nature, especially mine, means I like new experiences. I like different viewpoints, and I like to immerse myself in diverse literature and opinion. Just because I happened to once look at a cat does not mean that is the only thing I’m interested in.

I am however delighted to report I found last night a very handy link. Click this, and you’ll get to see your own profile unfiltered. Stories as they happen, your friends’ news as it’s hot off the press in real time – just like the Facebook we all signed up for.

I don’t have enough time to do my job!

Posted on 17th October 2014 by benjamincrawford in Blog, Uncategorized

The nurses strike last week was a historic one. It’s the first time ever that midwives have taken strike action, and it’s all about the 1% pay rise dispute.

Arguably, a worthy thing to strike over given the apparent inconsistencies in regional pay increments for NHS people.

An interesting debate followed on Radio 4 where a midwife detailed how her stretched capacity meant the care she gives suffers, potentially putting patients’ well-being at risk.

In financial services, especially in contact centres, Treating Customers Fairly is a systematic culture. Doing what’s right on every contact with a customer comes first. That means that if calls are queuing, and the boards are red; the service offered is the very best service for the customer you’re speaking to at that time; you don’t rush or act hastily to get to the next call.

A similar situation I’ve noticed is that of paramedics. You call an ambulance, and they stay with you until a full and detailed handover has taken place. Other 999 calls queuing? That’s for the dispatchers to worry about, not the paramedics. Their role is to take care of the patient first – a proven model that works in so many other situations.

I find it so concerning then that midwives rush appointments to meet quotas. It should be said though that I’m not faulting individual midwives – it’s the culture which dictates that it’s their job to worry about their own resource and patient numbers.

As far as I know, a midwife is recruited to be compassionate, to support new or soon-to-be mothers, to be the source of knowledge in uncertain times, and to question when something’s not right.

My understanding is they weren’t recruited for logistics or resource planning. Surely there’s a team that takes care of that…

In a culture of seemingly increasing number of failures in child protection, midwives and nurses alike should feel empowered to take the time on every contact – however long it needs to take. They should feel empowered to sit and chat if a patient is worried, and in the times where something doesn’t feel right, they should have the time to be able to say ‘Hang on, we need to find out what’s going on here’.

The NHS is a wonderful commodity for the UK, groundbreaking in it’s proposition. But being so big, and with little inter-departmental cooperation – the culture differences are a wide and concerning delta. Does patient care suffer then because an embedded lack of proper governance is all too common? I’d be inclined to think so.

Sorry boss, the dog ate it.

Posted on 16th October 2014 by benjamincrawford in Blog

Last week, I read a piece by the BBC on homework.

Thinking back to my school days I was utterly terrible at homework. Academia generally wasn’t really my thing. I found it dull and my overarching view was that of irreverence. I have a very distinct recollection when in year three and being asked to write series of numbers thinking it was utterly futile.

It got me to thinking, when I’m at work there is no obligation whatsoever to bring it home. Yes, often I do, but that’s my choice and it makes life that bit easier in the nine to five. This isn’t a proclamation that working from home is a bad thing… I do some of my most creative thinking when at home.

However when I worked in more clerical roles bringing it home wasn’t an option – work ultimately stayed at work. Ever heard of a check out assistance taking work home, or a lorry driver sat on his couch researching the best routes to take? Nope. Me neither.

Some states have gone as far as to ban work after a certain time, notably – France.

So why are children then obliged to bring work home? Here’s the current UK guidance for head teachers:

Years 7 and 8: 45 to 90 minutes per day
Year 9: 1 to 2 hours per day
Years 10 and 11: 1.5 to 2.5 hours per day

So on top of what is a near- full time working week, they’re also expected to carry on working at home another 2.5 hours by the time they’re 14. If they were working, and getting paid the national minimum wage, they could claim overtime worth more than £250 a month!

Fortunately, Jasper doesn’t yet have to bring anything home from Nursery. Helpful for us as parents, given we sometimes struggle to convince him to eat yogurt rather than paint the dog with it.

But the time is coming where Mandy, Jasper and I will convene at home, have tea, then Jasper will be obliged to open up his laptop to carry on where he left off until about 20:00pm. I’m yet to see where the ‘work’-life balance for school kids comes in.

Mandy had a chat with me recently about getting home and logging on. I wonder how that conversation will go down with Jasper’s teachers…

Real-time 3D

Posted on 29th July 2014 by benjamincrawford in Blog, Uncategorized

I’ve just got a new car. It’s pretty good. It’s got loads of buttons that do lots of things, and of course, because it’s new, it’s incredibly shiny. Nice.

But before this I was part of the commuting class that stands shoulder to shoulder waiting for trains and busses. I didn’t mind it actually, if anything it was refreshing. I stood and looked at the world. I watched people, I watched things happen and I watched an incredible trend in motion.

This isn’t a revelation by any stretch of the imagination; I’m making no proclamations that I’ve spotted a trend never before realised. In actuality, everyone’s talking about it and the BBC have even produced an article with statistics. However, I watched people stare into their phones. Endlessly.

I can’t believe how much conviction people show to staring at the their little portals of W³. When I was small, my grandmother used to take me on the train. I remember like it was yesterday the panicked instructions to mind the gap, and even now I always step an extra six inches when getting on or off a train. Just in case. I watch now as people don’t break eye contact in the perpetual download of information. Gap between the train and platform? Not important. Busy road crossing? Meh. Driving a car? OK, I’ll devote a bit of time to it…

My point here is. The world is bustling, there’s so much going on around us and yet we let overpaid teenagers filter what we see.

I’ve made a concerted effort to not using my phone. I want to watch the world in real time and not let facebook turn my life into a social experiment. In fact I’ve gone as far as diverting all my own phone calls to my blackberry where beautifully there are no streams or walls or trends.

I deal with sights, sounds and smells where once I concentrated on pixels, posting and profiles. And it’s wonderful.

Turns out, life is in real-time 3D!