The Elements of IC

In 1869, Dmitri Mendelev created the first-ever Periodic Table of Elements. Since then, Mendelev’s design has evolved into the Periodic Table we know today – an arrangement of all known elements on Earth. Taking you back to high school science class, the table is organized by elements that have similar characteristics and places them in groups and families.

But there was a greater thought behind what Mendelev created. He had the foresight and knowledge to know that his concept wasn’t final.  He included all of the elements known at that time. And the key words are “at that time.” He knew it was incomplete and left spaces in his design knowing that new elements would be discovered or created.

I began thinking of ways to provide a similar structure and order to the world of internal communications and immediately thought of the Periodic Table. I had seen it used to showcase content marketing, so why not internal communications? Being a huge fan of Alive With Ideas‘ work, I approached them (and only them) with my idea of creating the Periodic Table of Internal Communication. And I couldn’t be prouder of what we came up with. The team at Alive With Ideas did much of the heavy lifting in making this idea come to fruition.

But like Mendelev, we know ours isn't perfect. We know that there are elements of internal communication yet to be discovered. If you discover your own, you can submit them to elementsofic.com. 

And with the new 2017 version, not only can communicators submit new elements, but you can also share resources that add context and depth to specific elements. Perhaps it's an article, a video, a webinar, an infographic or something else. Communicators now have an even greater role to play in making the Periodic Table of Internal Communication as robust and helpful as possible. 

Updated February 27, 2017