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For Immediate Release: Podcasts for Communicators

FIR Interviews

Trends, AI and Authenticity in Internal Comms with Monique Zytnik

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https://traffic.libsyn.com/fir/FIR-interview-Monique-Zytnik-Nov2024.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:53 — 63.7MB) | EmbedSubscribe: Email | RSS | Subscription OptionsIn this FIR Interview, Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson speak with Monique Zytnik, a business communicator and author of Internal Communications in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Monique delves into the transformative impact of AI on internal… Continue Reading →

EPISODE #70: WHAT’S OLD IS NEW AGAIN WITH BARBARA ROZGONYI

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So much of our time as communicators is spent navigating uncharted territory – handling crises, adapting to emerging technology, etc. – that it’s easy to forget to take time to reflect.

We recently received a great reminder to do just that from our friend and former Sears colleague, Barbara Rozgonyi. A pioneer of digital communications and the leader of CoryWest Media, Barbara joined us to discuss the current popularity of retro culture and how lessons from the past can help shape how we work moving forward.

“It’s just really gives you a feeling that what was cool is still cool,” Barbara said. “I was looking at some of the projects we worked on together – and the groundwork that we laid back then may seem nostalgic, but it’s super relevant for today.”
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EPISODE #65: AUTHOR CALEB GARDNER – ALL LEADERSHIP IS CHANGE LEADERSHIP

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What is it they say about “the best laid plans?”

In this episode of the EE Voice podcast, we are joined by Caleb Gardner to discuss his new book – No Point B – and how leaders must embrace change and use effective communication in the face of developing technology, social activism, and other key elements in today’s tranformational world.

“All leadership has to be change leadership,” Caleb told us. “Because we just have so much inbound, so much new data, so much going on in the world that we’re going to have to be constantly asking our people to think differently — and we’re not prepared to ask them to have that level of mental flexibility.”
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Episode #62: Mike Klein: Challenging Our Traditional Approach to Employee Engagement

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We’re back after a brief hiatus and are ecstatic to be joined by author, internal communications leader, and our “welcome rebel” Mike Klein.

Principal of Changing the Terms and Senior Strategic Advisor for Sparrow Connected, Mike has made it his personal mission to challenge the status quo and advance the effectiveness of internal communications. His recently published e-book, “Employee Engagement or BUSINESS IMPACT? It’s Time To Choose,” takes on the current state of employee engagement and identifies six levers to engage better performance.
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EPISODE #59: OUR BEST IC EXPERT ADVICE FROM FROM 2021

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Whew – what year 2021 was for internal communications. You were overworked but overdelivered – and you did it all (most of the time) with passion and enthusiasm. We hope all of you are getting some well-deserved rest and peace as we wind down these final few weeks.

We leave all of you with a final EE Voice gift — one podcast with the best IC ideas and advice from our 2021 guests, in just 20 minutes. Here are highlights of the best insights from the year’s conversations:  

  • David Murray on the evolving challenges of communications, heightened expectations faced  by leaders in times of crisis and the highest purpose of internal communications.
  • Roger D’Aprix – often called “the father of internal communications” – who spoke to guest host David Murray on the future of communication and the goal to help employees “understand the whole range of change that has gone on, and that will certainly continue to go on.”
  • Tamara Rodman on how to use storytelling to increase vaccinations by building trust with employees.
  • Victoria Dew on how employee experience and expectations are changing as a result of Covid.
  • Andy Gilman on using communications to overcome vaccine hesitancy, drive compliance, and for senior leadership to show employees that they care.
  • George Sutcliffe on how to begin building a communications measurement strategy.
  • Kristen Garvey on how to take a measurement-focused approach when it’s time to bring employees back to the workplace.

Sharon and I wish all of our listeners happy holidays!

 
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Episode #58 – David Murray urges comms pros to stop messaging, start listening in an “Effort to Understand”

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In this episode, I’m joined by author,  communications expert and dear friend David Murray, who recently released his book, An Effort to Understand: Hearing One Another (and Ourselves) in a Nation Cracked in Half. David has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly and The Chicago Tribune and published several other books. He also leads the global Professional Speechwriters Association and the Executive Communication Council (ECC) and pens the daily blog “Writing Boots.”

In our conversation, we discuss how effective internal communications can foster empathy in oftentimes divided workplaces, as well as:

  • Why the book is dedicated to communicators: “This is the distillation of all the wisdom I’ve gotten from hanging around with [communicators] in bar rooms and out of bar rooms and at work in a hundred different ways,” he said. “So, this feels like it’s not my book, but really our book.” 
  • The criticality of internal communications: “There’s endless stuff for an internal communication group to be doing to help employees understand more profoundly what they’re doing in the world and what their organization is doing in the world,” David said. “And what an important thing to do to make people feel like full citizens of their country and of their corporation.” 
  • How an increased understanding of each other —  and willingness to listen — can help us best navigate differing opinions and find commonality despite individual social and political leanings: “To the extent that we can understand our fellow human beings, we can communicate with them better,” he said. “Or, we could at least understand their behavior better and deal with it.” 
  • What makes communications “scary”: “You don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s what makes it exciting.” 
  • The best path forward for internal and executive communications: “That’s how organizations communicate: Take things in, spit it back out and react to the humanity inside the organizations.”

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SPECIAL EPISODE #55: DAVID MURRAY & ROGER D’APRIX ON THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF INTERNAL COMMS

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In this special episode, Sharon and I join you as listeners to a far-reaching conversation between two communication powerhouses on the evolution of employee comms – and the hard road ahead.

Guest Host David Murray heads up the global Professional Speechwriters Association and the Executive Communication Council and writes the popular daily blog “Writing Boots.” An award-winning journalist, he’s just published his must-read book, An Effort to Understand: Hearing One Another (and Ourselves) in a Nation Cracked in Half.

Roger D’Aprix, often called “the father of internal communications,” has served on ROI Communication’s Board of Advisors since 2005, is an internationally known consultant, lecturer and author, an IABC Fellow and recipient of the 2014 President’s Award from the Communication Leadership Exchange. He is a best-selling author whose most recent book is Bosses: True Stories of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

This probing interview covers the realities that leaders in the workplace face, as David notes they have “barely just begun to explain all the stuff that needs to get across” despite believing they’ve talked it all out.
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EPISODE #51: OUR BEST IC EXPERT ADVICE FROM 2020

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What a crazy year! For those working in internal comms, it’s been nothing short of a rollercoaster, personally and professionally. Yet, we had some silver linings – and for Sharon and me, it was about tapping into experts to guide us through these trying times.

At the end of every EE Voice podcast, we always ask our guests for their one piece of advice to leave with listeners. Here, we gather them all in one place, in less than 15 minutes.
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Episode #49 – From the inside: A pair of IC experts write the book on internal comms

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In 2018, when comms pros Mark Dollins and Jon Stemmle were first wading into the research for their forthcoming book on internal communications, they couldn’t have anticipated the seismic change we would all soon experience. Their timing will serve us well as we move forward in a post-COVID-19 world.

Drawing from their ongoing research and their careers in the field and in the classroom, Mark and Jon joined us for the latest episode of EE Voice to discuss the foundational and emerging core competencies of internal comms, the personal stories behind the successes, and the thru-line of those who are charting a new course in an altered landscape.
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Episode #33: SHEL HOLTZ ON THE SEVEN KEY FORCES SHAPING INTERNAL COMMS

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Shel HoltzShel Holtz knows internal communications, and he knows where it’s headed.

A 40-year industry veteran, communications director for Allergan and Mattel, consultant, speaker, blogger, author, fellow of three of the world’s most prominent communications industry associations and, if that weren’t enough, co-founder of the FIR Podcast Network, Shel is something of an expert on the topic.

Who better to kick off our first podcast of 2019? If anyone can predict the future of internal communications, it’s Shel. His crystal ball is one of the most accurate we know.
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