Sketches from a comms career...an update

I was sitting at home one afternoon in early February, nose in a book, lamenting the short days and willing spring to burst through, when a message pinged on my phone from a former colleague, Joe Corcos who had bravely moved a couple of capital letters five years earlier, from HMRC to EHRC, as HR Director. “What are you up to at the moment?” he asked.?

Three meetings and 12 days later, I started work in the Equality and Human Rights Commission as a strategic communications adviser. The Commission was going through a turbulent time internally and externally and it was felt that an extra pair of experienced comms hands could help navigate them. I had a loosely-defined role that left me free to stick my nose into things that looked like they could benefit from a sniff.

Internally, the Commission had changed its Chair and Chief Executive in recent months and launched a significant transformation programme. Like other employers emerging from the Covid pandemic, it was experiencing increasing staff turnover and disconnection, after teams had been homeworking for almost two years. The Communications team was severely depleted, relying on temps to plug gaps, both the acting director and her deputy had privately indicated that they would be leaving and recruitment of a new permanent director was well underway.

Externally, the Commission was under intense pressure. It was in the middle of a high-profile and polarised debate between passionate advocates for trans rights and women’s rights, suffering some reputational and stakeholder relationship damage as a consequence. It was also repositioning itself, making clear that its role was not akin to a special interest group, but that it was Britain’s independent and impartial regulator of equality and human rights.

I needed to make an immediate impact to gain the confidence of the Chair, CEO and senior leadership colleagues, so I made two quick interventions.?

First, I drafted an?Observer?comment article for the Chair on my third day, which sought to lower the temperature for the EHRC of the trans rights vs women’s rights row by positioning it within the wider context of the Commission’s role and history. I wrote that the EHRC was often embroiled in controversy, because it deals with contentious issues and passionate advocates. I added that the Commission’s role is to make decisions that are based on objective evidence and that it should not and would not be swayed by the loudest voice in the room. The article landed well.

Second, I identified that communications to staff about changes in the Commission had been piecemeal and operational. There had been no persuasive explanation about?why?the Commission was changing and what it hoped to achieve as a result. So I quickly pulled together a new core narrative and – as all good communicators do – insisted that the messages were repeated and reinforced in all our internal and external communications, since it is through the repetition of consistent messaging that it becomes embedded.

I often find when I go into a new organisation that what needs fixing seems basic and obvious. That’s because interims look with fresh eyes, drawing on the experience of having encountered something similar before. We also often have more licence to shoulder institutional barriers aside and make the necessary changes quickly. And so it was with the EHRC. None of the changes I introduced were revolutionary, but they were common sense, practical and had a rapid impact in building capability, effectiveness and confidence.?

Where I added most value was in the (I hope) constructive challenge I brought to the executive leadership, and in supporting the development of new communications, internal communications and stakeholder engagement strategies and the positioning of the Commission’s narrative. I also spent some time in briefing the incoming Director of Communications to help her to prepare and land well in her first week.?

The EHRC I just left is a much calmer place than the one I joined: the external temperature has cooled right down, we’ve dealt well with a wide range of high-profile issues and the internal environment feels more engaged – a return to office working for part of the week has definitely helped colleagues to reconnect. The communications team has also increased in capability and capacity as new recruits have come on board and the Board and executive team have recognised the improvements in the quality and effectiveness of the team’s work, improving confidence all round. I have great hopes for the team under its new director.

Having just left, I’m satisfied that I did what I was brought in to do and really pleased to have worked, however briefly, in an organisation where I could live my values, which plays such a central role in tackling discrimination and protecting and advancing equality and human rights. That’ll do.