10 | How to make your internal communications more human

07/09/18 • 32 min

Harry has worked with words for many years. He started life as an editor before joining the London-based agency 'The Writer' in response to an advert that called out their mission 'to stop the tyranny of linguistic mediocrity'. Six months ago he became Monzo Bank's writer though, as he says himself, "Everyone here is a writer, I've just got the job title".

To find out more about Harry you can view his profile on Linkedin. To have a look at Monzo's tone of voice and to read more about 'active language monkeys', see www.monzo.com/toneofvoice.

Show Notes:

1.07 – A bit about Harry – 3.30 – Monzo – the digital bank that lives in your phone – 5.00 – Why does a company need to define the tone of voice – 8.30 –Tone of voice isn’t about turning the staff into automatons – 10.18 – Tone of voice guidelines vs rules – 11.43 – Creating Monzo’s tone of voice - 15.40 – Monkeys and avoiding the passive voice – 18.35 – The ‘read aloud and listen’ test – 19.35 – We should write as we speak – 20.50 – The problem with ‘professional’ writing - 21.55 – Building trust through human writing – 22.55 – Embedding tone of voice across your business – 24.17 – Giving people skills and confidence – 26.37 – Making it real through examples – 27.50 – Prove it works – 28.40 - Going public with the tone of voice – 29.45 – The benefits (and pitfalls) of lifting another’s the tone of voice

To find out more about Harry you can view his profile on Linkedin. To have a look at Monzo's tone of voice and to read more about 'active language monkeys', see www.monzo.com/toneofvoice.

Show Notes:

Previous Episode

9 | Bias, Gender balance and inclusion in Leadership

Tara has over 25 years of experience in tech marketing, Today, at Skillsoft, the world's largest e-learning company, she has a diverse portfolio including branding, corporate marketing, communications and product marketing.

She's also a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

For more on Tara's experience click here to view her profile on Linkedin. Tara also talked about Google's 'Just not Sorry' plugin for Chrome - there's a bit more on that here.

Key Points:

Leaders with authenticity and focus

What you love doing maybe it isn’t here.

Gender imbalance, Starbucks and conscious bias

Cementing recall with stories

Sponsors vs mentors

Cheryl Sandberg, Plan B and pivoting in life

Show Notes:

1.15 – A bit of background on Skillsoft – 2.35 – Internal communications to enable sales– 4.00 – Authenticity, focus and knowing when to offer support – 6.07 – The problem with office politics – 7.50 People should love what they do – maybe it isn’t here. – 9.10 – A leader’s role is to clear a path - 10.40 – addressing gender imbalance, Starbucks and conscious bias – 17.30 – The changing role of learning in business to increase learning and recall – 13.45 – Cementing recall with stories – 17.40 – Providing specific learning for female High Potentials - 22.50 – Personal development, your interests and a focus on ‘making you a better you’ – 24.38 – Democratisation of leadership and training at the moment of need – 27.30 – Sponsors vs mentors – 28.50 – Cheryl Sandberg, Plan B and pivoting in life – 30.50 – Jack Welsh and efficiency - 31.14 - ‘You are enough’ – confidence and doing it your own way.

Next Episode

11 | How to Communicate Clearly as a Leader | Mike Ruddock

Show Notes:

0.00 – Strong parallels between leadership in sport and business – 50s – A bit about Mike over 20 years – 1.50 – Coaching, winning and Welsh Valleys – 3.05 –A career-changing injury and a move into coaching – 4.05 – A course doesn’t mean you know everything – 4.20 – Vision is fine but alignment and communication is key to success – 6.30 – A focus on what to maintain and what to work on – 6.59 – “I’m going to coach Wales”, declare your intentions to the universe – 9.50 – Looking to your team for answers – 11.00 – Sometimes the answers come from the least expected places – 16.35 – Formal vs informal leaders – 17.35 – Recognising talent in your team – 18.20 – Respect, recognition and unity – 21.20 – The tiny things make a difference – 22.40 – Creating team vision and aligning practices to it W.A.L.E.S – 27.40 - Attitude. What are your trademarks? - 30.00 – Mike’s advice for his 20-year-old self – Just be you and 'bouncebackability’!