Internal communications with Linda Beltran

On Top of PR podcast: The role of internal communications with Linda Beltran and show host Jason Mudd episode graphic

In this episode, Linda Beltran joins On Top of PR host Jason Mudd to discuss the importance of internal communications.

Tune in to learn more!

Our guest

Linda Beltran is vice president of corporate communications at Holiday Inn Club Vacations, a leading vacation ownership company with more than 30 resorts across the U.S. She oversees a team of communications professionals who manage internal and external communications, executive visibility, corporate social responsibility, media relations, crisis communications, community relations, and thought leadership.

Watch the episode here:

Listen to the episode here:

5 things you’ll learn during the full episode:

How internal communication management can prevent external crisis
Executive media training and thought leadership
The evolution of internal communications
The future of internal communications
Internal communications best practices

About Linda Beltran

Quotables

“Your team members are really your first and most important audience.” — @Linda Beltran
“We have to be nimble and pivot. And I tell people all the time, improvising and pivoting are one of the undersold skills that you have to have in this line of work.” — @JasonMudd9
“If you have a company and leadership that really puts their faith in their comms team, you're already ahead of the curve, and then the rest is just making sure that they're being received.” — @Linda Beltran
“Pre-pandemic, people weren't necessarily paying attention to their internal audience.” — @Linda Beltran
“I love the idea of trying something new. I love the idea of failing forward. And as I tell my team quite a bit, as long as you're working on something that won't be shown externally, take some risk internally.” — @JasonMudd9

Resources

Connect and learn more about Linda Beltran on LinkedIn.
Visit Holiday Inn Club Vacations for more information.

Additional Episode Resources from Axia Public Relations:

Listen to more episodes of the On Top of PR podcast.
Find out more about Axia Public Relations.
The value of being honest in internal communications
4 ways to present your corporation as grateful to its shareholders

Disclosure: One or more of the links we shared here might be affiliate links that offer us a referral reward when you buy from them.

Episode highlights

[07:08] How internal communication management can prevent external crisis
[15:26] Executive media training and thought leadership
[21:18] The evolution of internal communications
[24:30] Future trends in internal communications
[27:38] Internal communications best practices

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Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:09:29

Announcer

Welcome to On Top of PR with Jason Mudd, presented by ReviewMaxer.

00:00:09:29 - 00:00:29:06

Jason

Hello and welcome to On Top of PR. I’m your host, Jason Mudd with Axia Public Relations. And today we're joined by Linda Beltran. Linda, we are glad to have you here today. Welcome to the show. Linda is vice president of corporate communications at Holiday Inn Club Vacations. Hence my vacation shirt I'm wearing today. And her honor.

00:00:29:08 - 00:01:01:03

Jason

So, Linda, welcome to the show. I see that you, as I said, you're the vice president, corporate communications at Holiday Inn Vacations. A leading vacation ownership company with more than 30 results across the United States with more than 3025 years experience in the hospitality industry, you oversee a team of communications professionals who manage internal and external communication, executive visibility, corporate social responsibility, media relations, crisis communication, community relations, and thought leadership.

00:01:01:05 - 00:01:09:09

Jason

That's a lot. Linda, you are also a member of the Women Leading Travel and Hospitality. Linda, welcome to on top of PR.

00:01:09:12 - 00:01:12:00

Linda

Thank you. Is everything but the kitchen sink, right?

00:01:12:03 - 00:01:34:05

Jason

It is, it is. And, you know, an internal communication is, you know, our I'm sorry, PR and corporate communications is, very demanding, very broad, lots of tools and techniques and, specialized are all being expected to be, managed for, but, you know, in order to pull all that off. What, what, what's your team size look like there?

00:01:34:08 - 00:01:36:25

Linda

How are you going to be very surprised. It's only a team of three.

00:01:36:28 - 00:01:37:27

Jason

Yeah, yeah.

00:01:37:28 - 00:01:40:29

Linda

Yeah, we are, we are few, but mighty.

00:01:41:01 - 00:01:42:04

Jason

Small but mighty right.

00:01:42:06 - 00:01:43:19

Linda

Yes. Yeah.

00:01:43:21 - 00:01:44:27

Jason

Excellent.

00:01:45:00 - 00:02:07:10

Linda

I will say the advantage of being a small team is like, we don't say, like, segment things like we are in mostly we are in every meeting. We're covering each other. So if one is not here, oddly enough, my manager just went on maternity leave on Monday. So we can seamlessly cover for each other. So it's not about hierarchy, it's just about being able to to pivot when we need to.

00:02:07:12 - 00:02:17:18

Jason

We have to be nimble and pivot. Right. And I tell people all the time, improvising and pivoting are one of the, undersold skills that you have to have in this line of work. For.

00:02:17:20 - 00:02:18:12

Linda

Sure.

00:02:18:14 - 00:02:41:14

Jason

And, I find when I'm mentoring or grooming maybe a young professional or in our organization or a, you know, outside organization, that's the number one thing I say is, oh, so you had to pivot. Oh, you had to improvise. And, you know, or I have to say, well, have you just thought about just improvising and, and and dealing with it and realizing this is part of the job and just expect this kind of thing is going to happen a lot.

00:02:41:14 - 00:02:44:25

Linda

So yeah, using a sports analogy, I got a call, an audible.

00:02:44:27 - 00:02:52:21

Jason

Yeah. There you go. Exactly, exactly. So, Linda, let's warm up a little bit here. So tell me, how did you get into this profession?

00:02:52:24 - 00:03:11:25

Linda

You know, I've it was something I've always wanted to do. I, I think I learned what public relations was, my few last few years of high school and when, when after that, when in college and just really wanted to work in my field. And my first position was right out of, college into a high tech PR agency, and it wasn't glamorous.

00:03:11:25 - 00:03:38:24

Linda

I was an admin assistant, which meant I was filing things and cutting checks, but I was in the right environment, and I was so grateful to have, a mentor and an owner that was ready to grow my career as far as I wanted to take it. So I was able to apply those desires and the skills I gained in college, to to on the job training and, and really learn the basics from him and was able to parlay that into hospitality.

00:03:39:01 - 00:03:40:02

Linda

PR.

00:03:40:04 - 00:04:11:17

Jason

Awesome. Well, for those of you listening, tuning in to this episode, we're recording this, right before Labor Day and, 2024, and we will soon be putting a position open similar to what you just described. And so hopefully somebody listening might be interested in exploring that with us because similarly, myself, the owner looking out for, you know, bringing in a star in our agency who can rise to, the ranks in the different positions in our organization and kind of a ground floor opportunity to really get to know PR and PR best practices.

00:04:11:17 - 00:04:28:09

Jason

And I know that's where I started. My career was in, newspaper journalism first. And, you know, they, I had some mentors say to me, hey, if you're serious about journalism, you need to go get a college degree. You need to go to a good university. And I said, okay, where's a good one? They said, University of Missouri.

00:04:28:11 - 00:04:45:26

Jason

Yeah. I figured out how far away the University of Missouri is from Florida and said, okay, I think I can handle that. And, and then, they as part of the recruiting process to get me to go there, the journalism school, recruiter promised me a job. I said, I'm going to have to have a job to pay my way through school.

00:04:45:29 - 00:05:02:03

Jason

And the first day I showed up, I said, hey, I'm here. Let's talk about that job. I need to get to work. I got to pay for this. And he was like, oh, yeah, job, come back in two days, you know? And like, he had no job lined up for me. Oh, no. So for the next two days, I was kind of very anxious.

00:05:02:03 - 00:05:13:02

Jason

And I came back and I wouldn't say he pulled a fast one, but he found a work study job inside his department that he could basically employ me and, that was my first exposure to PR.

00:05:13:04 - 00:05:15:18

Linda

So he he pivoted and he was nimble.

00:05:15:21 - 00:05:34:09

Jason

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. He improvised quickly on his feet because I was calling him call calling on him to keep him accountable for that job. And, what do you have me do? He start had me doing PR for the journalism school a little bit, unbeknownst to me. And, then he kind of sat me down and said, hey, you really might want to rethink about, you know, career in journalism.

00:05:34:09 - 00:05:50:26

Jason

You're really good at this PR thing. And I'm like, what do you mean? And he was like, well, you doing PR for the university right now? And I'm like, oh, well, I don't want to be a PR guy. I hear bad things about PR, you know? And but time went on and I felt my true calling. So, you know, I believe it was meant to be.

00:05:50:28 - 00:06:06:04

Linda

Well, good. I mean, yeah, it's interesting how nowadays a lot of journalism, journalists will make the pivot to PR, because so many media outlets are kind of shuttering and dying out. So. Yeah. You were ahead of the you were ahead of the curve.

00:06:06:06 - 00:06:28:05

Jason

Yeah. Fortunately, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, I think, PR people now outnumber journalists like six or 7 to 1. And, and there's a really big gap of, you know, and I think it's a missing skill of, you know, PR people today really aren't, you know, haven't had a stint in journalism. And I think it really shows, you know, in a lot of, a lot of the work that's being done.

00:06:28:05 - 00:06:36:03

Jason

I know most of my really good, abilities and media relations just lean heavily into. Okay. When I was in a newsroom, what was my experience? So.

00:06:36:04 - 00:06:57:21

Linda

Right. And my degree actually is in journalism with an emphasis in PR, so I did I did what, like the protocol. Right? I'm a writer first and then and the media relations kind of came as a product of that. But I, I see people now that come from many different careers, not from the journalism side. And if you're working in an agency like you, you can compensate, right?

00:06:57:21 - 00:07:08:23

Linda

If you're a good pitcher or, you know, very salesy, driven and you can, you know, sell that pitch, you might not be a strong writer, but there's going to be someone sitting next to you that will be so you can kind of balance out talent.

00:07:08:25 - 00:07:27:21

Jason

I totally agree, I totally agree. So but for today we're here to talk about, internal, communication, the importance of internal communication. And, you know, pre-pandemic, I think that there was, a little bit of a, for lack of a word, like a discount on the importance of internal communication. Right. People were really discounting it.

00:07:27:23 - 00:07:54:22

Jason

And, candidly, we our PR firm, we weren't doing internal communications for certain, you know, for hire. Pre-pandemic. Now, we might have helped some companies that were hiring us for external communication, do a little internal communication when needed or crisis, you know, management would involve obviously, internal audiences. But, you know, we probably wouldn't have been able to keep our doors open if we didn't pivot quickly into helping our clients with internal communication.

00:07:54:24 - 00:08:03:15

Jason

During that process. So let's talk about that. So, how can internal communication management prevent, external problems?

00:08:03:17 - 00:08:22:18

Linda

Well, I think, you know, you have to have a good story. I think what in my career, what I've always kind of suffered is like the sometimes employees were the last to learn something, which is really unfortunate because you don't want to read about your company, whether it's, you know, like we're holiday and club vacations or our bigger company is, IHG hotels.

00:08:22:25 - 00:08:42:26

Linda

You don't want to read about your company in the news. You want to you want at least be in the know. So I think, like what you said pre-pandemic, people weren't necessarily paying attention to their internal audience. And, you know, it's it's really your their your stakeholders. If you have happy employees, you it translate to happy customers which translate, you know, it's sort of a windfall effect.

00:08:42:26 - 00:09:00:11

Linda

So I think the pre-pandemic it was just like, oh, we'll get we'll get to them. And you know, they'll find out one way or the other, but all of a sudden we're in this situation where we have this unknown, you know, disease or or pandemic. We don't know what how that's going to last. Is it three months, six months, however long.

00:09:00:13 - 00:09:22:24

Linda

And, you know, we were all in the same boat. We were all know, you know, leaders and employee and team members we didn't necessarily know. So we were hanging on every step. From what you're getting from the CDC or, you know, all our authorities. So I think it became really important to get your, your leaders, and executives in front of your staff.

00:09:22:27 - 00:09:44:01

Linda

And I think, I mean, not that I'm saying internal comms was born, but it became more important because you weren't necessarily serving customers. You. So how are you going to get this information out? And, you know, you're not just going to send emails because it's it's too cold, you know? So are you having town halls? Are you sending out, you know, videos and things like that?

00:09:44:01 - 00:10:02:04

Linda

Because you need to show the human side of this. Like, you know, we are not just numbers, we are people. And we are all going through this unknown together. So internal comms is important because if you're not, if you're not paying attention to what's being said internally, then that can have a negative effect externally, right? It could.

00:10:02:05 - 00:10:23:23

Linda

It's a it's a kind of a trickle not trickle down, but it could have a justification that something that might not be shared internally is now there's conjecture, there's concern. And all those things that are outward facing that's going to impact the out the outside, you know, the external image that could have been mitigated if you'd handled that internally better.

00:10:23:25 - 00:10:34:26

Jason

Yeah, I completely agree. So did you have any, specific examples of times in your career when the lack of internal communication, caused an external crisis?

00:10:34:28 - 00:10:53:10

Linda

Well, you know, it's it's it's been a while. It's been a beat. But when I was working in Southern California in 96, 97, we I was working at the I can say this now is the Fairmont Newport Beach. It's no longer in business. It's been rebranded as something else. But at the time it was a fairly new, hotel.

00:10:53:13 - 00:11:11:18

Linda

And, there was a guest in residence. And, you know, we all knew he was there and he was well known to the staff, and he had come to the hotel leadership and said, oh, I've just been I, I just married and this is my wife, and she's going to be living in my, you know, in my suite.

00:11:11:18 - 00:11:28:18

Linda

And that was fine. And then unfortunately, six months later, he shared that his wife had passed away. And, you know, we had a memorial service. And, you know, we were all, you know, we liked her. We were sad, you know, to hear this news. And then it just so happened, I lost my job there and the position was eliminated.

00:11:28:18 - 00:11:46:25

Linda

So I was just helping some friends out and the front desk manager needed a babysitter, so I was at. I was at his house babysitting, and it was getting late, and I was like, where is he? So he called and said, you're going to have to spend the night because I can't come home. And I was not happy.

00:11:46:25 - 00:12:09:22

Linda

I was thinking he was out doing a happy hour or something, and he said in Spanish, he said they've found a dead body in Mr. Romanowski room and I can't come home. And I was I couldn't even imagine, you know, that was I thought it was almost comical, like you couldn't make that up. So I said to him, I'm not talking to you as your angry babysitter.

00:12:09:22 - 00:12:35:14

Linda

I'm talking to you as your former PR director. You need to call this person. That was my regional boss and you need to get her. You know where up, you know immediately, right? And he said, no, no. The GM wants us to keep this quiet like we can't say anything. And I said, it's done. If the police are there, it's been on the scanner and I just, you know, it's funny the things that happen in your life and what were you gain information.

00:12:35:14 - 00:12:53:29

Linda

But I used to date, crimes and, cops and crime reporter in Northern California. And he would tell me, oh, we hear all stuff on the scanner all the time. So I was like, yeah, it's done. They know the cops know. You know, the journalists know. It's not going to be a secret. You must do something, you know, get her on the phone.

00:12:53:29 - 00:13:12:25

Linda

It's you midnight or whatever it was. And and he he said, well, no, the GM said no. And I said, tell him. I said, I don't know if it had any way, but they did. And mark my words, the gentleman Mr.. Mr. Romanowski, because we found out later that was not his real name. Mr. Romanowski was, a Kiwi.

00:13:12:25 - 00:13:35:25

Linda

He was from New Zealand, and there were camera crews from New Zealand across the street by noon the following day. So like it was front page, as you can imagine, as the Orange County Register of the LA times. And, you know, I just shudder to think like had they thought they could keep this quiet, you know, they would have literally been caught, you know, in a, an even worse situation.

00:13:35:25 - 00:13:49:10

Linda

So, yeah, I mean, that's really outer limits, you know, that's law and order episode like, but it's one of those examples where you can't really think that something like that is you're going to be able to contain it. You really have to get ahead of it.

00:13:49:12 - 00:13:54:26

Jason

You remind me of the analogy, right? If, you're you put your head in the sand, you show your ear. Right?

00:13:54:27 - 00:13:55:13

Linda

Yeah.

00:13:55:16 - 00:14:08:03

Jason

That's that's kind of what they're trying to do was pretend it didn't exist and they would have been caught with their pants down. Literally. Yeah. In that particular situation. So, was the dead body that was found. Was that Mr. Romanowski his wife?

00:14:08:06 - 00:14:32:19

Linda

Yeah. Yeah. So, Yeah. So, you know, again, interesting things. You find out it's not against the law to have a frozen dead body in your possession. Because she died of natural. Oh, she died of an overdose, unfortunately. But he had some, outlying, warrants for his arrest. So where you and I would call 911, he felt like, couldn't do that because that would then then he would be in trouble.

00:14:32:22 - 00:14:54:08

Linda

So he just kept her on dry ice for a good long time. And, they, they obviously did an autopsy and found out he wasn't responsible for her death. She died of an overdose. So, but it made for, you know, sensational headlines and a constant, stream of photographers and reporters and, you know, just you can't even make that up if you tried.

00:14:54:11 - 00:15:10:14

Jason

Yeah. For sure. I mean, I've I've had some weird PR experiences in my career, and if I had that experience, that would be on the list for sure. So yeah. So and it's not illegal to have a dead body in your possession because always you report the body dead or I mean.

00:15:10:17 - 00:15:20:16

Linda

That I just remember like there were just saying like he wasn't being held because he had possession of a dead body and obviously being held for her death. But, you know, again, wow.

00:15:20:18 - 00:15:26:09

Jason

It's like, I don't know how we're going to top that. But, thank you for sharing that story with this. That's very interesting.

00:15:26:09 - 00:15:46:19

Jason

so let's move on to the next question. So, how do internal communication professionals support leaders in media training, thought leadership, and why does it matter? And, you know, I, I don't think our audience can help, but think about the situation you just described and you know clearly that you were, you know, advising them even after you had left out employment.

00:15:46:19 - 00:15:51:24

Jason

But, you know, in any kind of situation, how do you support leaders in these areas? Yeah.

00:15:52:00 - 00:16:15:12

Linda

You know, I think it's it's sort of just it's just like compounded if your leadership is engaged and, you know, I think it starts really where if you kind of even go back, if you have leadership that has, a good understanding of the power of communications and what it can do and like, I'm very fortunate my executive team and my leadership team, they really respect our department and and my guidance.

00:16:15:12 - 00:16:38:03

Linda

And so I really feel like I'm an essential part of the team. And if I make a recommendation, you know, I really feel that it's being considered. So that is paramount. If you have a company and leadership that really puts their faith in their comms team, you're already, you know, ahead of the curve and then the rest is just making sure that they're being, received by the, you know, what's engagement?

00:16:38:03 - 00:16:58:11

Linda

Are they are they interacting with the staff? Are your team members engaged? They feel that they've got a CEO they can trust, like all that. You know, the presentations at town hall meetings, the the frequent conversations and the videos, like all of that is sort of a compilation of building trust with your between your executive team and your and your team members.

00:16:58:11 - 00:17:27:13

Linda

So, it's really imperative to be able to have that presence and build that trust so that if they get a message from their CEO that it's, you know, oh, we have a message, not, oh, God, we have a message. So you know, if you really want to make that point where you've got you've got someone that you know not is not just putting on a pretense and as well, like, but is really genuine comes out that way, you know, is easy to talk to and sends good messages.

00:17:27:16 - 00:17:56:22

Linda

And it's not always the best messages. Right. It's not always sunshine and roses. You sometimes it's hard to deliver your messages. And again, I'm fortunate that my current CEO is just a dream. As far as, me being on camera and being authentic and it really is his genuine self. So I think when you're when you're having that exchange and you've got, a leadership team that is thoughtful and considerate, it again, you've got team members that are happy, they feel trusted, they feel valued.

00:17:56:29 - 00:18:00:27

Linda

And it you know, everyone puts out a better product and feels valued.

00:18:00:27 - 00:18:33:27

Jason

So nice. I totally agree. I mean, communication fixes most problems, right? And broken relationships come down to either lack of communication or more specifically, lack of communication of expectations and maybe, frustrations and disappointments that are, you know, held back and not shared. So, I think that, you know, when I speak to classes or groups, I say all the time, you know, this is a great profession because you can always pivot and did most anything else because you've mastered the art of communication.

00:18:34:00 - 00:18:51:11

Linda

Yeah. And it's interesting because like we talked about pre-COVID, you know, I did lose my job during Covid and I was really kind of stuck because I knew there were no hospitality jobs. You know, most hotels were were completely closed. And so I really had to be, you know, I had to pivot and really think about, well, what can I bring to the table.

00:18:51:16 - 00:19:14:21

Linda

And at that point, you know, 20 plus years of my career, I just I just consider myself a communications expert, a subject matter expert. It doesn't matter if it's hotels or if it's, you know, high tech or if it's, you know, whatever, you know, some other live entertainment, Disney on ice, whatever that is. I just decided, like, I'm going to just basically widen my scope.

00:19:14:24 - 00:19:38:04

Linda

And I was really impressed. And surprised that there were positions about thought leadership, executive communications, like all these position titles that really didn't exist 4 or 5 years ago, you know, and they really didn't exist, you know, barely a Covid. So it's interesting that somebody kind of sat up and take notice, like maybe, you know, just because you're a leader doesn't mean you communicate effectively.

00:19:38:04 - 00:19:56:14

Linda

That is necessarily right. Guaranteed guarantee one or the other that you can be a leader and a great communicator. And you also saw, you know, the lack of preparation when there were companies having to be, you know, justify why, you know, they were doing their Covid practices and CEOs that were poorly spoken and not caring and not prepared.

00:19:56:17 - 00:20:32:19

Linda

And that is a product for communications. And, you know, for the first time in my career, my I'm not just, you know, being based, being judged by my impression number, you know, there are different, you know, barometers as to my how we measure my value, my success here, you know, and engagement scores, you know, are we you know, are we moving the needle as far as, thought leadership and company awards and, you know, all these other things like charity and, and like how we, how we present ourselves in the community, like, all those things are all equally important.

00:20:32:19 - 00:20:43:01

Linda

And it doesn't necessarily have to be attached to an impression number, but it's still part. I mean, I'm still pitching stories. It's just not the one thing that is that, you know, I have to hang my hat on at the end of the day.

00:20:43:01 - 00:20:53:21

Jason

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good. Linda, this has been a good conversation. We're going to take a quick break and come back on the other side. I've got more questions to ask you. We've got more things to talk about. So stay right with us,

00:20:53:21 - 00:21:18:09

Announcer

You're listening to On Top of PR with your host, Jason Mudd. Jason is a trusted advisor to some of America's most admired and fastest growing brands. He is the managing partner at Axia Public Relations, a PR agency that guides news, social and web strategies for national companies. And now, back to the show.

00:21:18:12 - 00:21:35:07

Jason

Hello. Welcome back to on top of PR. I’m joined with Linda Beltran from Holiday Inn Club Vacations. And we're been talking a little bit about, Covid and, how she pivot in her career. And I was going to ask her specifically about the role of internal communications and how has it shifted and changed since Covid.

00:21:35:09 - 00:21:54:00

Linda

Yeah. You know, it's it's it's a really good thing. And I, I always pause when I say it's one of the positives. It's come out of Covid. I mean I know that seems very odd, but I feel like companies took a step back and realized that, you know, your team members are really your first and most important audience.

00:21:54:02 - 00:22:15:10

Linda

And I, I noticed right away that companies were pivoting, and if it wasn't like at my previous job, there was a director of external comms and a director of internal comms. In my role, and sort of were both hats. But up until that my previous job, I didn't see that distinction. I didn't see that that they were, you know, signifying that they needed that internal comms.

00:22:15:10 - 00:22:43:12

Linda

But depending on even if you have a seasoned CEO that you feel like, oh, is well spoken, doesn't need very much training, that doesn't necessarily mean that he can think of like now's an opportunity, you need to speak on this. Or, you know, he's he has a huge role to fill. So you've got to have that person that's feeding them opportunities and creating you know, speaking opportunities and things like that, that as that person, they they're just not capable to do themselves.

00:22:43:12 - 00:23:12:13

Linda

So having that internal comms function, I when I, when I looked at this job, it was almost 70, 30, 70, 70% internal, 30% external. And I was like, oh, but I love pitching media. And and now I realize that I'm still pitching. I'm just pitching to a different audience, which doesn't minimize my pitching skills. It just means that I'm now trying to get by in from the people that sit around me versus the people that are out there reading things, and we're still writing articles.

00:23:12:13 - 00:23:35:05

Linda

We're still, you know, providing them with information. But it's maybe it's detailed about, you know, our great benefits program or our our new 41K plan or our new expansion in Mexico. Like all those things, it's still it's still an active pitch. It's just a different audience. And I think companies are really finally seeing the value in having their internal stakeholders being as informed.

00:23:35:08 - 00:23:42:29

Linda

So that they, they can obviously be, you know, voice boxes for the company and everyone is going out and singing from the same songbook.

00:23:43:02 - 00:24:04:21

Jason

Yeah, I, I agree with you. I think the the value of communication both internally and externally, has increased, you know, the cost of doing internal and external communication related to labor and providing, those services have have obviously increased to, and, and I just think that, you know, there's more of an appetite for understanding. Okay.

00:24:04:21 - 00:24:27:00

Jason

We do have to plan. We do have to have crisis. Com in place and another type of activity. So, you know, I think that, as you said earlier, you know, Covid was helpful to, you know, do, the exercises that had to be done to, to really appreciate, the importance of, of the profession and, and the services that we provide.

00:24:27:02 - 00:24:34:06

Jason

Yeah. So, so looking ahead, what trends do you see shaping the future of internal communication?

00:24:34:08 - 00:24:55:25

Linda

You know, I think just the prevalence of it. I think you're seeing more and more companies moving forward with an internal comms function, which was not which was wasn't the case. And, you know, again, when you're seeing companies that are taking that opportunity when they're hiring executive communications, internal communications, thought leadership, special as all those things are a function of internal comms.

00:24:55:28 - 00:25:23:09

Linda

And or I've actually seen HR communications, which, you know, don't no disrespect to HR because I sit in HR, but if you're in HR, that doesn't mean you speak that you are well written or well spoken. And with all due respect, I don't know the ins and outs of a, you know, a benefits plan. Like there. It's a good marriage because there is a shortfall there in my skills and the HR side and the communication skills and the, you know, on their side.

00:25:23:09 - 00:25:46:05

Linda

So, I feel like it's finally their time has come to kind of meet in the middle. And it's interesting because in my previous jobs I was like, oh, well, hey, let me, let me edit your, your, your HR newsletter. And, you know, I didn't even realize, but I was basically inserting myself in HR communications and or internal communications, and it was almost through osmosis where I realized, well, I've done that.

00:25:46:10 - 00:26:15:00

Linda

I could do that. You know, I've done it before. This was called something different. But I think companies are really taking time to realize that they've got to speak to their their internal stakeholders and their and it needs to be more, on a routine basis and not haphazard, like, oh, an email there, a memo there. You know, there is no perfect science because we've gone through even in my short time here, it's been a little more than a year and a half of iterations of this resonated, but doesn't anymore.

00:26:15:03 - 00:26:35:27

Linda

This let's try this. I'm just last week we tried something completely different, a little informal, and it was completely a it was a complete success. Like it was really, received well and and it was kind of low tech and not huge production. And you almost kind of sit back and go, wow, you know, we maybe we've been missing the boat.

00:26:35:27 - 00:26:51:23

Linda

Maybe we should have been doing something like this. But, it almost kind of depends on, you know, the wind and the attitude of your employees and where you are in your company journey. You know, we're having a good year. So that's good news. And people want to hear from your CEO with good news.

00:26:51:23 - 00:26:56:12

Linda

But, you know, we we are always trying out new iterations of

00:26:56:12 - 00:27:03:27

Linda

should it be a podcast, should it be, just an email, should it be a very informal iPhone video, you know, all a TikTok or something like that.

00:27:03:27 - 00:27:14:28

Linda

So, you know, we're we're flexible, we're nimble, we're agile. Here are a small team. And thankfully we have a CEO and executive team that are willing to just try, you know, try something, try something new.

00:27:15:00 - 00:27:37:27

Jason

Right? Absolutely. I love the idea of trying something new. I love the idea of like failing forward and as I tell my team quite a bit, you know, as long as you're working on something that won't be shown externally, take some risk internally. And I should clarify, it'll be seen by the internal team and then review and approved before it goes outside of the team or the department, if you will.

00:27:38:04 - 00:28:00:03

Jason

And I'm like, if you're not willing to take risks then and there, when are you willing to take risk. Right. And so how do we get better without kind of failing forward a little bit? So yeah. Linda, I wanted to ask you, what are some best practices organizations can implement now to improve transparency and trust internally that can support their overall, you know, organizational goals?

00:28:00:06 - 00:28:21:00

Linda

You know, first and foremost, I think, you know, we you can make a PR plan just, you know, like with for an external reason. And you'll note, you know, even the best laid plans don't necessarily, you know, come to fruition or there's a hiccup. But every year I start with a comms plan. I have every good intention of following that plan and try to keep on schedule and things happen.

00:28:21:03 - 00:28:33:29

Linda

But you need to have a plan. You need to have a plan. You need to get a buy in you. You have an understanding that this year we're going to try A, B and C that are new, but we're going to stick with the tried and true that, you know, one, two, three. That worked really well for us.

00:28:34:05 - 00:28:54:12

Linda

And I think that plan is critical to, to at least having a roadmap of where you're going to go. And again, your notion of failing forward, like don't be afraid to try something new and or, you know, for lack of a better word, like news. Jack, if something if you see someone that did something really well, imitation is the best form of flattery, you know, try it yourself.

00:28:54:15 - 00:29:14:29

Linda

You know, there's no like I said, it's not a super science because you can't possibly know that everything you do is going to work. It's not mathematical. It's, you know, sometimes it's it hits at the right moment. Given a trend or something like that, you know, you can you can still be relevant and, and newsworthy.

00:29:15:01 - 00:29:32:01

Linda

Again, it might not seem super sexy, but if it's resonating with your team members, you've hit the mark, at least on the internal comms side. And and again, you know, just don't be afraid to to have a voice and to go to your, your executive team, your C-suite, and say, I feel like we really need to be ahead of this.

00:29:32:01 - 00:29:51:09

Linda

We've got, you know, X, you know, whatever hurricane season coming and we want to do this or we have, you know, now we're seeing a new a new trend or a new, strain of Covid. We need to be mindful of that. We've got to be thinking about, you know, we're in a political season right now. Should we be giving people time for their for voting like, you know, be mindful.

00:29:51:12 - 00:30:08:13

Linda

You know, that's that is really where people see the value in their, in, you know, their internal comms were like, well, they're thinking about, you know, Hispanic Heritage Month or all those things that, that even they have the diversity piece, like you need to be aware of all those things that hit people at the right time. Celebrate them accordingly.

00:30:08:13 - 00:30:17:03

Linda

Acknowledge. Celebrate success as all those things, whether you believe it or not, aren't or are a part of internal communications. And I think they're appreciated.

00:30:17:06 - 00:30:34:12

Jason

Absolutely. I totally agree with you. And, you know, you're just reminding me of just exactly Linda, how much work that you are, managing and accomplishing within your own organization. And so if no one's told you today, I'll tell you that I'm sure you are highly appreciated for all the hard work that you and your team do there.

00:30:34:18 - 00:30:34:23

Jason

Because.

00:30:34:27 - 00:30:35:25

Linda

So thank you.

00:30:35:27 - 00:30:58:14

Jason

It's a it's a lot. It's a lot for all of us. And this explains why, you know, the public relations profession has been named one of the most stressful positions you can have or professions you can be in, in the United States. And it's because we're spread thin, but then we're expected to be highly available to be trusted advisors, to leadership teams and to think like a strategist and act like a strategist.

00:30:58:14 - 00:31:17:02

Jason

And I think the hardest part is pulling ourselves up from the weeds and looking and thinking, big picture. You know, the CEO, depending on how the organization is organized, might have the pleasure of being in the visionary seat all day long. And then wants to surround him or herself with other people who are visionaries and big picture thinkers.

00:31:17:04 - 00:31:50:16

Jason

But, you know, I think it's really hard for communication and public relations folks to, you know, have the opportunity to get, a little disconnected from the day to day deliverables and to to think about being a trusted advisor within the organization and to me, that's one of the best pitches I've ever heard for the value of an outside PR agency is, you know, they can fill in those gaps where needed and equipped you to, you know, be that trusted advisor and readily available to guide your leadership team through any kind of, environment issue or crisis situation.

00:31:50:16 - 00:32:13:16

Linda

So and I've been on the agency side, I started my career on the agency that spent almost eight years. And I, you know, I wish I had the budget, but I don't. And, but my previous position, we did have agency and it is if you can, if you're in a position to have an outside agency, you know, I would I would sing from the rafters because it really does provide you that different perspective.

00:32:13:16 - 00:32:34:11

Linda

Someone who's not necessarily in the weeds can kind of, you know, see from a, a broader, broader scope and, you know, I my previous agency, they walked on water for me. And I really feel that if you, you know, have the right fit, they're just an extension of you, but not necessarily doing the day to day. And you, you get that benefit of being, you know, being art.

00:32:34:12 - 00:32:49:18

Linda

Like for instance, from a hotel being on property and being there and then also having that that bird's eye view of saying, you know, if you pull out a little bit, you could manage this, this, you know, this, that and whatever. But yeah, agency support is I'm a big proponent of it. So kudos to you.

00:32:49:21 - 00:33:14:18

Jason

And just thinking about that right in this conversation today, if you had to come up with some Covid related communication off the cuff, wouldn't it have been great to be able to call your agency and be like, okay, I know you've done this for a dozen companies this week. You know, could you also do it for us? And while, of course, they should be delivering you with authentic and unique and genuine, communication, I'm sure they've learned from a few deployments, you know.

00:33:14:18 - 00:33:28:01

Jason

Oh, we should have said this could have improved that. And so they've got a little bit of a head start on you. And we've seen that over the years with, you know, Sarbanes-Oxley or whatever it is our clients might be dealing with. It's like, yeah, we've addressed that for other clients. We can address it for you quickly too.

00:33:28:01 - 00:33:47:06

Jason

Or maybe some regulation hits certain industries first, and then over years it starts implementing into others. And they're like, oh, we're having to deal with this new thing. It's called whatever. It's like, oh yeah, we've been, you know, providing communication about that for years now. We know exactly what to do. So I think that's where an agency can be very beneficial as always.

00:33:47:06 - 00:34:02:15

Jason

You know, kind of like the what is that? That farmers insurance commercial. You know, we've seen a lot because we've done a lot or, you know, that kind of thing. And I think it's very similar to that. So, Linda, is we're wrapping up, any closing thoughts you want to share with our audience?

00:34:02:18 - 00:34:20:23

Linda

Oh, gosh. You know, I, I'm so grateful. I've had a very, long and varied career, and it's I think what you said, like, experienced sort of brings you some good knowledge. So I guess my suggestion to most is like, try to expand your horizons, try different organizations and industries because it'll benefit you in the long run.

00:34:20:23 - 00:34:42:24

Linda

You know, you'll be able to speak with from different perspectives. And, and you know, my, my biggest, I guess my biggest advantage is my network. It's long and and storied and, you know, amazing. And so I always look to them for any sort of knowledge that I can, you know, harvest from them and, and try to keep learning because it's not it's always going to be changing.

00:34:42:24 - 00:34:48:19

Linda

So try to be in there and be, a willing participant in what's going on in your industry.

00:34:48:22 - 00:35:07:01

Jason

Yeah, I totally agree. There's a saying, I think your network is your net worth. And, we've all heard the expression, you know, it's not, what you know, it's who you know. And I've actually learned to modify that a little bit. And, you know, I could know people, but they don't know me. So, like, you know, I know who, Mark Cuban is, but he doesn't know who I am.

00:35:07:01 - 00:35:10:16

Jason

Right. So I really think it's not who you know, but it's really who knows you.

00:35:10:19 - 00:35:11:14

Linda

You. Right.

00:35:11:15 - 00:35:27:26

Jason

And and creating a good reputation for yourself. And, you know, some, guy called me a CEO of a pretty big company, called me yesterday, and he's like, I've heard good things about you. And I'd never heard of this guy before. Right? But just because I knew about him didn't mean anything for me. But he's a decision maker who can make decisions.

00:35:27:28 - 00:35:40:07

Jason

And he said, I've heard good things about you. I want to introduce myself to you. I think we might need you down the road. Could we meet? And I was like, sure, you know, no problem. But, you know, you know, if I knew who he was ahead of time, it wouldn't have made a difference. You know, in that business relationship.

00:35:40:07 - 00:35:51:06

Jason

But because somebody was kind enough to say good things about me, it really mattered. So, Linda, if if our audience wants to get in touch with you, is LinkedIn the best way for them to reach you, or do you have a preferred way?

00:35:51:08 - 00:36:09:08

Linda

No. LinkedIn is ideal. Yeah. And I'm a big you know, I'm a big proponent of, you know, if I've got the time and the ability, then I should be helping other people. So if there's someone new in the industry that's looking for some input or some support, I'm happy to do that. I'm. Yeah, I'm pretty much an open book.

00:36:09:08 - 00:36:14:24

Linda

So if I've got the time, I will absolutely be of help to whoever reaches out need some assistance.

00:36:14:27 - 00:36:32:12

Jason

Yeah, that would be great. And, to that end, I would just add that, if you're going to I say this all the time to my loyal listeners have heard us say this, but if you're going to connect to Linda on LinkedIn, make sure you send her a custom invite, letting her know how you heard of her and why you're connecting, as opposed to just saying invite.

00:36:32:12 - 00:36:44:18

Jason

And Linda's like, I'm not sure who John Smith is, you know, or whatever. That really helps her kind of figure out if she's going to connect or not. And, and I think that's just, professional way to approach and demonstrate good communication as well.

00:36:44:18 - 00:36:48:07

Linda

Absolutely. Yes. Perfect. Perfectly said.

00:36:48:09 - 00:37:02:14

Jason

Linda, you were a great guest today. I was really glad to have you here. Thank you for connecting with us and making it happen. And, I hope we'll stay in touch and certainly, look forward to sharing this episode with, with your network and my network as well.

00:37:02:17 - 00:37:04:17

Linda

Thank you so much, Jason. It's been a pleasure.

00:37:04:20 - 00:37:19:04

Jason

Yeah. Thank you. It has been so with that, this is another episode of On Top of PR and as I mentioned earlier, if you have a friend or colleague you think would benefit from this episode, please take a moment and share it with them. Will, thank you. And so will they. And if you have any comments or suggestions, please be sure to share those as well. We really appreciate you taking the time to stay on top of PR.

00:37:19:04 - 00:38:14:25

Announcer

This has been On Top of PR with Jason Mudd presented by ReviewMaxer. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode and check out past episodes at ontopofpr.com.

About your host Jason Mudd

On Top of PR host, Jason Mudd, is a trusted adviser and dynamic strategist for some of America’s most admired brands and fastest-growing companies. Since 1994, he’s worked with American Airlines, Budweiser, Dave & Buster’s, H&R Block, Hilton, HP, Miller Lite, New York Life, Pizza Hut, Southern Comfort, and Verizon. He founded Axia Public Relations in July 2002. Forbes named Axia as one of America’s Best PR Agencies.

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