World Changers: Exploring the future of work

Extreme weather events around the globe this year have hammered home the real impacts of climate change. But that means some people have only just woken up to what the rest of us have been banging on about for decades. Companies that don’t address sustainability – and bring their employees along on the journey – invite risk. 

It’s a privilege to be environmentally conscious and broadly speaking, climate engagement tends to increase with education and income. But the emergency we’re facing needs more people at the table. Just as diversity supercharges business performance, addressing our impact on the planet demands new ideas, smarter decision-making and the ability to solve problems quickly. 

How can we create an equal playing field so we can tackle this crisis together? 

In the last episode of the World Changers 2023 podcast series, host Elle Bradley-Cox sits down with senior consultant and scarlettabbott sustainability champion Harry Grout to talk about a fairer climate transition and how small behavioural shifts can create big positive change. 

And, when we’re bombarded by messages every day, we asked the team, what was the last sustainability comms campaign that has stuck in your head? 

Enjoy the episode and we’ll see you next year for World Changers 2024 … 

Cut to the chase 

• We ask the team scarlettabbott to share the most effective sustainability comms campaign they’ve seen recently – 01:15 

• Sustainability champion, Harry Grout, explains what it means to be carbon literate – 06:52 

• How sustainability road maps are useful, and how they can be better – 09:52 

• What leaders can and can’t do when it comes to sustainability – 15:20. 

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World Changers: Exploring the future of work 

What happens when striving for a better work-life balance has the unintended consequence of complacency? Managers need to have difficult conversations – without drifting back to the bad old days of grind and hustle culture. 

Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum says that the pandemic gave us a “rare but narrow opportunity to reflect, reimagine and reset our work”. But that window is quickly closing. And while our relationship with work and our expectations have changed, many leaders’ attitudes haven’t, leading to a fundamental clash when it comes to issues of mental health, wellbeing and development. 

In this episode, host Elle Bradley-Cox sits down with director of consultancy Lu McKay to talk about the give/get contract and how leaders can deliver in this new world of work. Yes, we hear horror stories in the news about disconnected CEOs and employees, but when we look at individual cases, the gap is a communication one. 

We also asked the scarlettabbott team for some examples of good worker/manager relationships and spoke to Daniel Cave, journalist and head of content at Executive Grapevine. He gave us his take on how the HR and comms space is reacting to changing employee expectations. In short: not that well … 

Cut to the chase 

• We ask team scarlettabbott what’s happening in our clients’ worlds, specifically when it comes to worker/manager conversations – 01:15 

• Daniel Cave gives us the inside scoop on what’s happening in the HR and comms space – 05:52 

• Director of consultancy Lu McKay on the sticky middle of line management – 09:29 

• How can managers have tough conversations without crossing the line? – 17:06 

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Ep.8 Keeping me sweet

The talent vacuum is real. Too many clever folk are leaving work for countless reasons – many beyond anyone’s circle of control. But one thing businesses can influence is culture.

Companies that resist leaning into this will feel the pain – and cost – of employees leaving in droves. So how do we draw in new talent and hang on to the amazing people we already have? With a clear company culture.

 Culture is often seen as a bit of a nebulous concept. Tricky to measure, and hard to quantify, what makes up the DNA of an organisation can be hard to pin down. But not impossible, as Lisa Hawksworth, our director of culture and insights, is on a mission to prove.

In this episode Elle Bradley-Cox sits down with Lisa – who lives, breathes and probably dreams about company culture – to talk about the workplace war for talent and why a cracking culture is the secret weapon.

Cut to the chase:

• We ask team scarlettabbott their reasons for leaving a previous job, and was it sweet or sour? – 01:14

• When comms is one of the hardest working most underappreciated roles, what keeps us sweet? We asked the community – 06:24
• Queen of culture Lisa Hawksworth on how to keep your right-fit talent – 08:20
• What makes a good culture? – 16:12

Want more?

When almost everything is in the cloud, and the amount of data we’re storing is reaching hundreds of zettabytes each year and growing, what happens when the servers crash?

Crisis aside, what happens when our cloud storage becomes full? How do we organise information and make sure that institutional knowledge isn’t lost and that our people have what they need to work collaboratively?

In the latest episode of the World Changers podcast, Elle Bradley-Cox explores this topic with head of creative consultancy and veteran scarlettabbotter, Craig Bentley, who – with 17 years of service under his belt – is basically a walking server.

We also asked colleagues from creative, digital and project management for their biggest filing bugbears and got some handy tips to help you never lose a document again.

CUT TO THE CHASE

• The scarlettabbott team share their file saving solutions – 01:06
• Craig Bentley, head of creative consultancy, on sharing institutional knowledge – 04:29
• How to avoid the dreaded “filename.final.final.v2a” – 07:30
• A real-world example – 12:44

     Want to get involved in the conversation?

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World Changers: Exploring the future of work 

Episode description: 

The digital working revolution has excited and inspired a generation of workers, who demand the benefits of remote working with digital connection. It’s a way of working that isn’t just feasible, it’s desirable too. But now that many of us are connected with everyone, everywhere, all the time, that sense of community is shifting. 

There’s no denying that digital platforms have changed the way we communicate, collaborate and create community. Once, platforms like Facebook satiated a social need, but now, we’re in an age of curation, purging our platforms and keeping our circles small. 

So in this episode, we asked senior members of the scarlettabbott team to share their tips for dealing with the daily deluge of notifications, especially when there are too many to count. 

Also, host Elle Bradley-Cox sits down with head of digital Tony Stewart for his take on the shrinking workplace network and the changing ways people and businesses are connecting online. 

Cut to the chase 

• Senior leaders at scarlettabbott share how they prioritise those pesky notifications – 01:34 

• Some socials statistics from the comms community – 05:18 

• Our head of digital Tony Stewart on the shifting attitudes to digital platforms – 05:39 

• Digital revolution and the P-word – 14:10 

• What businesses can learn from the gaming community – 17:26. 

  
  

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World Changers: Exploring the future of work  

Your diversity and inclusion (D&I) efforts have bought you progress, but what if it’s time to take a stronger approach? What if, to bring about real organisational change, it’s time to employ the proverbial stick and take a harder stance on calling out and identifying unacceptable behaviours? 

Your people and your prospective employees look to you to create an environment in which everyone can feel and do their best. If your D&I policies are not explicit enough you risk demonstrating your inaction. It’s up tovyou to bring the policies and the progress you want to see happen.

In this episode of our World Changers podcast our host and senior editorial consultant, Elle Bradley-Cox, asks colleagues where they turn for guidance on what is and isn’t acceptable in the workplace.

Elle also sits down with director of client experience, and staunch D&I champion, Russ Norton to discover how you can put your foot down when it comes to inequality and how your attitudes and efforts to D&I may need to change to keep up with progress in your workplace.

Cut to the chase 

· The team shares their sources for where to find reliable and up-to-date guidance on inclusive behaviour – 01:37

· Our head of client experience Russ Norton on the carrot and the stick – 04:10

· What are the risks of a hard-line approach to D&I? – 10:43

· Our internal communication friends share their D&I priority for the next 12 months – 14:48

 Want to get involved in the conversation?

Episode description:  

Making audiences care is one of the fundamentals of employee engagement. But why is that so difficult? Well, it has a lot to do with trust.

If we don’t trust what we hear, we shut off. And in the world of work, it can have further ramifications: we start to distrust authoritative sources, hear negative tales about our employees and frankly, get tired of the noise. So, who wouldn’t want to turn the volume down?

In this episode, senior editorial consultant, Elle Bradley-Cox, sits down with editorial assistant, Charlie Feasby, to discuss how communicators can overcome the challenge of distrust and disconnect among employees, and the vital role empathy plays in storytelling.

We also speak to members of the scarlettabbott team – and some of our internal comms friends – about what they look for in a trusted news source, and the stories that have stood out from the crowd recently to really strike a chord with them.

Cut to the chase

• What the team looks for in a trusted source – 01:28
• An external perspective: our internal comms friends share their thoughts – 05:41
• How can communicators tackle the challenge of disconnect and distrust? – 08:47
• The bliss point – 14:45 
• Empathy in storytelling – 20:40

Want more? 

Mind your manners: the new office etiquette 

World Changers: Exploring the future of work 

Episode description:  

An increasingly large number of people are back in the office, while others continue to collaborate virtually. So, what virtual-first lessons can we adopt for hybrid working? You might be surprised: it starts with etiquette. 

Everyone knows not to heat up fish in the office microwave or take the last biscuit, right? Because when we’re all in one place, a code of etiquette arises. Yet in our virtual-first worlds of work, we’ve had to learn these unwritten rules – for example, taking turns to shoulder the unsociable meeting times across time zones to adopt asynchronous working.  

In this episode, senior editorial consultant Elle Bradley-Cox talks with cultural anthropologist (and snappy office dresser) Dr Alex Gapud about proximity bias in the hybrid world and how managers can educate their people to get around it.  

The scarlettabbott team gave us some of their workplace pet peeves – like an unannounced call or an ignored Teams message – and we asked the wider comms community for their opinion on the shift in etiquette. 

Cut to the chase: 

• We asked our team: what’s your number one workplace etiquette breach – 00:49 

• The connotations of etiquette – 04:16 

• We asked the comms community: how do you think workplace etiquette has shifted since the move to hybrid working – 05:16 

• The challenge of trust in hybrid working – 07:35 

• In conversation with Dr Alex Gapud – 08:22 

• Explore etiquette further – 21:19 

Want more? 

It’s time to dig deep – again. With a long and ugly recession predicted for 2023, employers and employees are going to have to tap into new wells of strengths to survive and thrive. In many cases, that strength is depleted from the chaos and uncertainty of the last three years. So, now’s the time to shore up our internal defences and come together as teammates to weather this latest storm.

Together, senior editorial consultant Elle Bradley-Cox and senior project manager Lucy Stead discuss what resilience in the workplace really means. She speaks openly about having a good team behind you when you’re not performing at 100 per cent, and how her experience trekking in Nepal taught her to break down projects into small, manageable chunks.

We also asked team scarlettabbott when have you had to bend and not break? And who helped you through? They talk about when they have broken and how to recover, resilience during the pandemic, ways to clear your head when things become too much and using times of resilience to grow.

Cut to the chase:

• What does resilience mean in organisations across different industries? – 01:12
• The team talks about being flexible in the face of challenges – 02:20
• Our cultural anthropologist, Dr Alex Gapud, on the role managers play in resilience – 08:10
• In conversation with senior project manager Lucy Stead – 08:44
• Further resources to explore resilience 2.0 – 21:12

Want more?

Welcome to World Changers, a podcast exploring the trends making an enduring mark on our world of work; and how business leaders, HR teams and internal communicators can stay one step ahead.

First came the Great Resignation. Then, the Great Re-evaluation. If we’re facing into or living through a Great Recession, what comes next – a Great Rebellion? Naming workplace shifts in people dynamics has become trendy, but it overlooks the fact that it’s individual desires and wishes driving this change. And it’s your workplace rebels leading the charge.

In this episode, Elle Brdley-Cox talked with our lead behavioural scientist, Lindsay Kohler, about rebellion and how to understand the intent behind the dissent. We also hear from members of the team about their acts of workplace rebellion and their rebellious plans for 2023.

Want more?

All hail digital, the saviour of remote working.

When the world turned upside down, we embraced digital fast, too fast! Many organisations didn't deliver it well. And now digital has a real image problem. But if we look at digital as an experience, instead of just another set of channels, it has the potential to revolutionise how we network and collaborate at work.

Or head of digital Tony Stewart chose this theme as his World Changer for 2022 report. In this episode, Elle, Tony and Lydia Edwards-Massie explore how we can move from a beta to a better online experience and Elle chats with Rob Fawkes, Head of Sales and Marketing at Community Engagement agency Standing on Giants, about the parallels of internal  and external communities.Want to skip to a specific section? Here‘s what we talked about:

00:00 Intro the session and roundtable with Elle, Tony and Lydia

01:25 Tony, what are you observing in the digital post-pandemic workplace?

05:05  Lydia, you've been working with British Transport Police to launch Yammer. What were the priorities and goals in that project?

06:33 Tony, you've just produced a video called '7 pillars to digital success', tell us about that.

07:77 We're being told that community lives back in the office. What do you think?

09:53 Let's talk about Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri. What does his recent video to the insta-community teach us?

16:19  Lydia, tell us some tips and tricks we can take from your project management expertise to create a superb digital experience.

18:46 Tony, are there any new platforms really exciting you right now?

21:55 Interview with Rob Fawkes, head of sales and marketing at Standing on Giants

22:26 Standing on Giants' work has historically involved external customer communities. But it's recently started to shift into internal ones. Talk to me about that.

26:09 Let's talk about the power of active listening

28:50 Tell us about the similarities and differences you've notices between internal and external communities

33:04 We talk about measurement a lot here. What does that look like in your world?

35:42 What are some of the pitfalls clients make when setting up an online community?

40:28 Rob, who do you nominate as your 2022 World Changer?

LINKS

Ever looked at your job and felt like it wasn’t enough? That you want  more? As more of us take time after the pandemic to reconsider the kind  of work we do – almost half in fact, according to McKinsey – it raises  the question: What if corporate decision-making could embrace the  possibilities and realise the benefits of the side hustle?

In the past year, video has become the most influential global communication medium, thanks in no small part to the meteoric rise of TikTok. Leaders and brands that relied on carefully copywritten statements and artfully curated PR stunts are being challenged to show a more authentic voice, on camera, to prove they really practice what they preach.

So, what does this mean for communication teams?

Russ Norton chose this theme as World Changer for our 2022 report. Later in this episode, we chat with Max Mukhin, diversity, equity, and inclusion business partner at Deliveroo. But, before that, Russ and Elle got together with colleague, senior consultant William Carnegie to explore how TikTok killed the tickbox.

00:00 Intro to the session and internal roundtable with Elle Bradley-Cox, Russ Norton and William Carnegie

01:17 Russ, why do you love TikTok so much?

02:44 Is TikTok just a place for hot takes and outrage?

06:25 What are the crossover opportunities for internal comms?

08:47 What advice would you give to a leader looking to emulate the TikTok style of comms?

12:32 What are the risks of this approach to communicating?

18:55 What barriers get in the way of being more open about our diversities in the workplace?

27:53 Interview with Max Mukhin, diversity, equity and inclusion business partner, Deliveroo. 

29:02 We're seeing more job roles in the D&I space - what's driving it?

33:50 Is just recruiting a D&I person enough? What's it really going take to drive some more meaningful change?

42:10 It's the time of year when companies change their logos to rainbows - how do you feel about this?

44:01 How can leaders be better allies?

48.29 Who do you nominate as your 2022 World Changer?

Delving in to our World Changer on flexible working, our podcast host Elle Bradley-Cox explores part time pioneers

What does your working day look like now? I’ll bet you a breakroom  brew and a biscuit that it’s quite different to your pre-pandemic  schedule.

For many of us, the office-based 9-5, as we knew it, is well and  truly a thing of the past. As hybrid working ushers in the potential to  design our days, first by necessity, then by normalisation, there’s an  expectation that this flexibility will help us to better balance our  work and life commitments.

So, does a more fluid way of working help banish burnout? Does less  physical presence lead to less trust from leaders? And will flexibility  for all finally begin to stop the stigma that surrounds parents who go  part-time?

Matt Manners, chief inspiration officer, Inspiring Workplaces

01:19 Roundtable with Elle, Lu and Patrick

• 01:22 What inspired to you tackle this topic?
• 02:47 Are you both card-carrying advocates for flexibility?
• 03:41 Lu, you became a mum last year - did this change your perspective on the 9-5?
• 04:48 Patrick, how do you feel about flexibility as a Dad?
• 05:53 How can leaders help pave the way?
• 08:49 Is flexibility carrying through to front-line industries, too?
• 10:09 Do you have any examples of organisations really championing flexibility?

14:01 Interview with Matt Manners, Inspiring Workplaces

• 15:05 Tell us about your decision to trial the 4 day working week.
• 16:48 What has the impact been?
• 19:19 Is there a risk of a negative impact on collaboration and team cohesion?
• 21:37 What learnings would you pass on to organisations thinking of trialling it?
• 22.54 Are more unusual flexible perks, like paid sabbaticals, a fad or a shift that's here to stay?
• 25:21 How do you think we can create more fairness in flexibility?
• 26:54 Who do you nominate as your 2022 World Changer?

Delving in to our World Changer on neurodiversity, our podcast host Elle Bradley-Cox explores some Beautiful Minds

Whether it’s driven by the business case or the moral case,  neurodivergent people are finally beginning to be valued by the  mainstream, as several high-profile corporate announcements in 2021  show. But, to make sure this isn’t just a token moment, we need to  disrupt hiring policies and change mindsets for the long term.

In this episode, we chat with Anthony Friel, who sits on the board of  Neurodiversity in Business as chief community officer. He’s also a  senior consultant at Deloitte, bringing his business expertise and  insights to the charity. But, before that, Hester Lonergan, Russell  Norton and Elle Bradley-Cox get together to explore some beautiful minds

Anthony Friel, senior consultant at Deloitte.

00:00 Intro to the episode.

01:03 Roundtable with Elle, Hester and Russ

• 01:10 Hester, what inspired you to write about this subject?
• 04:54 Russ, from your perspective as a D&I champion, what conversations have you seen?
• 08:50 How can we start to break down some of the cliches around neurodiversity?
• 14:38 What considerations should we have for neurodiverse colleagues in the workplace?

24:41 Interview with Anthony Friel, senior consultant at Deloitte

• 25:12 Tell us about your work on the board of  Neurodiversity in Business
• 28:57 Where does your passion for helping neurodivergent people come from?
• 31:52 What's changing the conversation in businesses? Is it allyship? Is it activism?
• 36:09 Tell us about how intersectionality impacts the conversations you're having
• 39:49 What does nurturing neurodivergence look like at Deloitte?
• 43:56 What do HR and IC teams need to do to help move the needle?
• 49:32 Who do you nominate as your 2022 World Changer?

Join our webinar:

We'll be sharing practical tips and in-house experiences on how to nurture neurodiversity:

Welcome back to season two of the World Changers podcast, a companion to our 2022 report. If you haven't read it yet, dive in here: https://scarlettabbott.co.uk/world-changers-2022

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War. Famine. Plagues. Natural disasters. Humanity has had its fair share of tumultuous times and disruptive events. How can we harness the lessons of the past so that we’re not doomed to repeat them?

If 2020 was the year of reaction, and 2021, the year of reflection, then 2022 is most definitely the year of action. A time to put into practice the things we’ve learned. Where do we start?

Our lead behavioural scientist Lindsay Kohler chose this theme as her World Changer for our 2022 report. Later in this episode, we chat with Kevin Chappel, Communications Business Partner at Electrocomponents about workplace 5.0. But, before that, Lindsay and I got together with our cultural anthropologist Dr Alex Gapud to take some lessons from the past ...

SKIP TO A SECTION

• 0.22 Intro to the session
• 1.40 Roundtable with Elle, Lindsay and Alex
• 29.15 Interview with Kevin Chappel

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Join us for our Back to the Future webinar. 

4pm Thursday 24 February

Hello World Changers fans. 

Those of you who've been tuning in for a while now may be wondering what's happened. Rest assured, dear listeners, we have not replaced our beloved Elle Bradley-Cox. Rather, we've turned the mic around to chat with our velveteen voiced host as we reach the end of this year's series. 

As we wrap up the year, and look ahead to what's on the horizon for 2022, marketing manager Kate Went caught up with Elle to find out what she's unearthed about World Changers through the medium of podcasting, and how that's felt, from the heady thrills and sound spills of 'you're on mute' and the distractions of the ice cream van chimes, to the deeply insightful moments and personal truths of the past year. 

We also chat with behavioural scientist Lindsay Kohler to find out whether 2022 will bring us all the fresh start we've been craving? And we throw a few bloopers in from this year for good measure.

Skip to a section

• 00:00 Introduction
• 01:16 Blooper reel
• 02:17 Turning the mic back on Elle
• 14:00 Elle chats with Lindsay Kohler about fresh starts
• 20:25 Thoughts from the comms community

Time stamped videos, estimated reading times, those little dots that show how many images are left to scroll through. It’s all about managing our expectations around time and effort. This is where our ‘busy, busy, busy’ culture has brought us.

And if it’s happening in our leisure time, you can bet it’s happening even more at work, where people, projects and pressures relentlessly compete for our consciousness and it can be a noisy place online. How can you prioritise information if everything’s important?

Host Elle Bradley-Cox talked with head of creative Craig Bentley and senier writer Patrick Halkett about how we share information now. Elle is also joined by special guest Professor Paul Wells, a director of the Animation Academy and internationally established screenwriter, about how our own story arc is changing the media we consume.

In the first of our World Changers deep-dives, Elle Bradley-Cox explores 'Nurture your networks'. 

Elle joins topic author Tony Stewart (head of digital) and Jacey Lamerton (senior writer), to look at the impact community networks had in 2020 and whether these channels will thrive or become a wild, wild west in the year ahead, covering:

• What is the online networks landscape like right now? 
• What typical pitfalls do internal comms teams face when launching or maintaining online communities?
• Let’s talk about citizen journalism and self-initiated content – how can we balance freedom with structure?
• How about writing for online? How can we crowdsource and tap into the very best of the online world?
• What excites you about online communities in 2021? And is there anything concerning to consider?

Guest interview

Elle also speaks with Kate Forgione, CEO of Customer Success Network. A former Yammer and Microsoft employee, Kate is a passionate advocate for community centric technology. She shares her advice for building a solid business case for the community manager in your internal comms team.

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