Applications are Open for the 2024 Mentorship Program!
Application Details
You do not have to be an ICology member to apply to the program but will need to join our community before the program starts in January 2024. Membership is $149.99/year or $19.99/month.
The application process is less about acceptance into the program and more about matching you with the right mentor. It’s crucial that we get to know you and your goals before we pair you with a mentor.
Mentee applicants are required to:
Have at least 5 and no more than 10 years of career experience (does not have to be solely internal comms)
Submit application and participate in a video conversation with program director
Demonstrate a passion for improving the employee experience through first class internal communication
Possess a commitment to career growth and development
Be willing to accept feedback with an open mind and a willingness to learn
Complete the program as outlined
Timeline
September 8, 2023: applications open for the 2024 cohort
October 31, 2023: last day to apply
November 30, 2023: mentorship pairs are confirmed
January 2024: virtual program kickoff
September 2024: Graduation Ceremony & Mentorship Summit (in-person, date/location TBD)
More Info
Join us on LinkedIn on Thursday, September 21 at 3pm ET for a live Q&A session. Hear from past mentors/mentees and learn how this program can propel your career.
If you want to set up a time to chat more about the program being a good fit for you, reach out to Kristin Hancock: kristin@joinicology.com
Ready to get started? Apply today!
September 2022: Rise & shine.
My vision for ICology is to create a community that people want to rise and shine with.
This month, we’ve got more going on than EVER including our first in-person event!
I’m a “slow morning” person.
For years I proclaimed, “I’m not a morning person” but that was a lie. In fairness, I didn’t know it was a lie, I just didn’t know how to best describe my preferred way of waking. I want soft sunlight, a Chani meditation, and a leisurely dog walk. Some mornings I check all the boxes and others…well, you know.
My vision for ICology is to create a community that people want to rise and shine with.
This month, we’ve got more going on than EVER including our first in-person event! We’re also launching a new series called Beyond Internal Comms so our members can become better all-around business pros. Oh, and there’s also Toolsday, ICology Presents, our monthly “Meeting of the Minds” member chat, and more!
It looks like I might need to rise and shine a little earlier this month.
If you want to see what it’s like to rise and shine with the brightest and friendliest bunch of internal communicators, your first two weeks are on me. Know someone who needs more rise and shine in their life? That forward button is right there…
Sending slow morning vibes
~ Kristin
Introducing: Beyond IC
"Beyond IC" is a members-only series that launches in September and will feature experts from industries OTHER than internal comms. What a concept!
Our industry networking and education events have turned into echo chambers. We're talking about the same topics and re-learning the same things over and over again.
So in typical ICology fashion, we're going to change that.
"Beyond IC" is a members-only series that launches in September and will feature experts from industries OTHER than internal comms. What a concept!
At least once a month, we're bringing in an expert who can answer questions in a no-judgment zone. Don't know how to read a balance sheet? We'll cover that. Not sure what SSO means? We'll explain that, too. Everything we learn will make you a more business-savvy communication professional.
All sessions will be recorded and if you can't attend live, you can send questions ahead of time.
If you’re looking for a sign to join us and grow your role, this is it!
~Kristin
July 2022: Unplug
In case you missed it on social, our July community theme is unplug because, well, don't we all need a little downtime?
In case you missed it on social, our July community theme is unplug because, well, don't we all need a little downtime?
Earlier in the summer I participated in an eight-week course on resiliency, taught by our friend Marie Bodine (who has done some amazing ICology workshops, too!) The course focused on how we can best help ourselves move through the tough stuff with grace and compassion.
One of the small habits I committed to was putting my phone "to bed" half an hour before I did that same. It's stuck and I have to say it's had a profound impact on my overnight sleep and my morning mood.
What habits are you working on to help you set healthy boundaries, digital or otherwise? I'd love to hear about them and so would our community!
~ Kristin
May 2022: Celebrate everything!
What can you celebrate this month for your employees? For yourself? The people in your circles? Life is so challenging. When we have an opportunity to create joy, it's our duty to take it.
Chuck and I are fortunate to be partners in work and life. You'll probably see my name around ICology more often, but much of the creativity here comes from our kitchen table conversations.
We've been married since November 2019 (long, immigration-related story) and we were supposed to have an April 2020 wedding. I know I don't need to explain why that didn't happen.
After two postponements and several cancelled contracts, it would have been easy to scrap the whole thing. Except that one of our “relationship rules” is to celebrate everything.
So we’re having an overpriced, elaborate and unnecessary party. And it’s gonna be awesome.
What can you celebrate this month for your employees? For yourself? The people in your circles? Life is so challenging. When we have an opportunity to create joy, it's our duty to take it.
Party on,
~ Kristin
March 2022: Jump right in!
What a year it's been! We've crossed the "first birthday threshold" and are finally walking after crawling for a while. But that's how growth goes, ya know?
It's time to jump right in, which is, conveniently, this month's community theme.
What a year it's been! We've crossed the "first birthday threshold" and are finally walking after crawling for a while. But that's how growth goes, ya know?
It's time to jump right in, which is, conveniently, this month's community theme.
We've got a podcast launch coming up and more livestream content for our IC community (how awesome was "Mistakes were made"?!) Jump into the fun, jump into the network, and jump into making ICology the best it can be!
~ Kristin
February 2022: Gear Up
This month our community theme is all about the tools of the trade. In an homage to the 90s sitcom, you could say, “it’s tool time!”
This month our community theme is all about the tools of the trade. In an homage to the 90s sitcom, you could say, “it’s tool time!”
What are you using to get the job done? What are your options? What is everybody else using? We're going to explore all of these questions and more! Check this out:
Toolsday is a brand new weekly (as much as possible) session where vendors in the IC space will come to showcase and show off their platforms. It's a quick 30 minutes for members, who will be able to ask questions in a no-stress environment. Recordings will be stored in ICology and our goal is to develop a library of resources from our industry partners. Our first Toolsday is Feb. 1 with Vennly! If you’re interested in hosting your very own Toolsday, click here.
Our Meeting of the Minds monthly networking chat is on Thursday, Feb. 10 (1pm ET) and will be centered around who is using what and what's working well.
Our first "open to all" event is happening this month!!! "ICology Presents: Mistakes were made." will be Feb. 25. It's a livestream conversation on failure and it features members Erica Goodwin, Gabriel Galdamez, and Zaheed Bardai.
ICology's first birthday party is Feb. 22 so of course we’re hosting a party for members. (Ok this has nothing to do with software tools but it's just as important imo.)
We're growing so much already this year and my brain is buzzing with cool new ideas. Thank you everyone for your enthusiasm and love for our community. Let's gear up and grow together!
~ Kristin
Introducing: Toolsday
Starting February 1, we’re hosting weekly “Toolsday” live sessions where vendors in the IC space can showcase their platforms. You can share anything you want our members to learn: a case study, product demonstration, industry insights, or a really cool new feature you’re offering.
Our members want to feel confident that they are using the right tools at the right time. They’ve told us that they want opportunities to learn about new technology in a low-pressure environment where they can ask questions openly.
They asked and we’re delivering - with your support.
Starting February 1, we’re hosting weekly “Toolsday” live sessions where vendors in the IC space can showcase their platforms. You can share anything you want our members to learn: a case study, product demonstration, industry insights, or a really cool new feature you’re offering.
Your session will be hosted live and recorded for future playback within the ICology community. We can’t guarantee how many members will join us live but we can promise high engagement from those who do. What can we say, we’re keeners.
How it Works
For an investment of $1,000 USD you’ll have the virtual floor for 30 minutes. What can you teach, demonstrate, and show off in a way that keeps us on the edges of our rolly chairs? We’re looking for content that is delivered in a fun and interactive way.
Your session needs to check as many boxes as possible:
A targeted, concise presentation with a clear purpose
A real-life example (bonus points if you can have a customer on the call with you!)
Interaction with members
Creative way of delivering information
Tangible value for internal communicators
Diverse presenters/contributors (this is a key initiative for us)
Not-so-Fine Print
Scheduling
Yes, the sessions happen on Tuesdays because we’re clever like that. You can request any week you like, as long as it’s not already filled. (The start time is up to you but we recommend sometime midday so we can hit all North American time zones.)
Member Data
No, we won’t share or sell our member list but you’re strongly encouraged to connect with the folks who join your session afterwards. The best way to do this is by joining ICology but I guess we’re biased that way.
Logistics
We’ll use the ICology Zoom account in meeting format to allow for better interaction. You’ll be given full presenter controls to share your screen, play DJ, however you decide to get creative.
Promotion
You better believe we’ll promote the crap out of your session.
Long Story Short: Our monthly e-message is sent on the first of every month and as long as the timing lines up we’ll include your session in our upcoming events section.
Inside ICology: your event will be listed in our calendar, promoted on our main feed and pinned to our “featured” section for our 125+ members to see
JoinICology.com - we’ll feature your event on our calendar for the whole internet to see
Twitter: 2,600 followers
LinkedIn: 900 followers
Instagram: 230 followers and growing!
It’s hammertime!
When you’re ready to stop, collaborate, and listen:
Kristin Hancock (she/her)
VP, Community & Engagement
kristin@joinicology.com / 317-903-2838
Join us on Clubhouse for a lunch break every Wednesday
Join us for lunch! We’re going to be on Clubhouse at every Wednesday at Noon EDT and Noon PDT to talk with the internal comms community.
The Background
We’ve highlighted several helpful Clubhouse clubs for internal communicators. And while it’s far from a perfect platform, it is an opportunity to connect with communicators from around the world.
And that’s what we’re hoping to do with our own Clubhouse chats. We’re kicking our series of chats Wednesday, April 28 to discuss our 6 Cs: creativity, connection, career, craft, curiosity, and confidence.
And to make these as inclusive as possible geographically, we are doing three every Wednesday:
Noon BST (UK Time)
Noon EDT (US)
Noon PDT (US)
We know these times may not work for everyone but we’re doing our best to provide as much coverage as possible. If you’re already on Clubhouse, click the time that works best for you and add it to your calendar.
If you’re not already on Clubhouse, we have some invites left. Skip the waitlist!
May 12: Curiosity - the curious communicator
For this week’s Clubhouse chats, we’re going to focus on the value of curiosity in communication. Where is it a strength? Where is it a weakness?
It’s something we believe is undervalued in the internal comms profession and we’d love to have you join us and share your thoughts.
👋 Noon BST
👋 Noon EDT
👋 Noon PDT
Additional resources:
May 5: Career - when a job loss is a gain
In our very first Clubhouse chat that focused on Connection, member Erica Goodwin casually mentioned how her job loss turned out to be a gain. And with Career being one of our “Six Cs,” we want to feature her story on May 5.
Job loss is something everyone experiences but isn’t something we talk about enough. It never feels good but there are some positives that can come from it. We hope you can join us during one of the following times on May 5.
👋 Noon BST
👋 Noon EDT
👋 Noon PDT
The internal communicator's guide to hybrid work
All Things IC’s Rachel Miller joined ICology founder Chuck Gose to discuss a hot topic communicators are facing around the world right now. What is the role communicators play in the hybrid work conversation?
All Things IC’s Rachel Miller joined ICology founder Chuck Gose to discuss a hot topic communicators are facing around the world right now. What is the role communicators play in the hybrid work conversation?
This is well timed since Rachel also launched an online masterclass called “The internal communicator’s guide to hybrid working.” Anyone can sign up but ICology members there is a special discount code for the community.
Watch and share with us your advice and questions about hybrid work.
This livestream originally aired on May 4.
A few of the key takeaways:
✅ Define and refine your terminology.
✅ Test personas with employees.
✅ Listen to employees.
✅ Strengthen two-way channels.
✅ Iterate. It’s ok to work in phases.
✅ Focus on fairness.
✅ What channel changes do you need?
✅ Work closely (closer) with leaders.
✅ Build in a narrative of belonging.
The internal communicator’s guide to hybrid working All Things IC Online Masterclass: https://allthingsic.thinkific.com/courses/hybrid-working
Recommended Clubhouse Clubs for internal communicators
We see more and more internal communicators active on Clubhouse. And while it’s not perfect, it is a unique platform to hear interesting conversations and level up your network. Here are a few recommended Clubhouse Clubs for internal communicators.
We see more and more internal communicators active on Clubhouse. And for now, you do need to be invited by someone AND have an iPhone - but I’m sure that will change in the very near future.
Clubhouse is not a perfect platform. It suffers from poor accessibility and discovery. But it is a unique platform to hear interesting conversations and level up your network.
Here are a few recommended Clubhouse Clubs for internal communicators.
👋 ICology
Of course we have our own club on Clubhouse. We haven’t done much with it yet but those plans are changing. Join so that you stay updated on upcoming chats we have planned.
👋 A Leader Like Me
“A Leader Like Me was created to help support underrepresented groups who don’t often see people who look like them in leadership roles or around a boardroom table. We want to help drive measurable results by creating a support network to lift up those who need inspiration of leaders like them.”
👋 Building Better Cultures
“How brilliant internal comms, engagement and human leadership contribute to building better cultures - for organisations and their people.”
👋 Digital Transformation
“How technology changes culture, business, economics and society.”
👋 Digital Workplace
“Trends and conversations about the digital workplace. Employee experience and future of work. Internal communication. Learning in the flow of work. A meeting place for the exchange of ideas about the future Digital Workplace, between HR, IT and communication and between SaaS vendors, starutps, enterprise and change managers.
👋 Fearless Brands
“We are an innovative collective dedicated to helping you create the brand you’ve always wanted. Whether you’re trying to land your next gig, present yourself as a though leaders, or are creating your own venture, this is a unique place to understand and develop your brand to build maximum momentum.”
👋 Future of Work Club
“Join us to talk about the Future of Work, collaboration, communication and other topics.”
👋 Inner Strength
“Enable, engage, empower employees to manage change and deliver results. Let’s explore the power we have working from the inside out.”
👋 Workplace Intelligence
“Keep up to date with the latest trends impacting the workplace and HUR. Topics include recruiting, diversity and inclusion, wellness and wellbeing, total rewards, employee benefits and compensation, learning and development, recognition, remote and hybrid work, personal development, performance management and more.”
The Clubhouse Clubs listed are a great start but new ones are popping up all the time. If you have joined or started a club you think internal communicators would be interested in, leave a link in the comment.
Research on "The New Social Contract"
In the new social contract, the employer-employee relationship is more dimensional and transactional. What does this mean for internal communicators?
A lot.
During the pandemic, many internal communicators have been re-energized. Not by the pandemic but by the renewed sense of purpose by keeping employees informed, safe and healthy.
And it seems those who might have doubted the importance of employee communication now see the greater benefit.
New research from FleishmanHillard should be another positive reinforcement that we are are doing the right things. They learned that…
“Nearly twice as many very satisfied employees say they receive accurate and honest communications when compared with the average employee. Comparatively, unsatisfied employees are almost three times less likely than the average employee to say they receive accurate and honest communications.”
Read that last paragraph again.
ACCURATE & HONEST communication.
And what do we get with satisfied employees?
🟣 Regularly advocating for their employer as a great place to work
🟣 Promoting employer decisions even if they don’t agree
🟣 Encouraging appropriate behavior among coworkers
🟣 Surfacing new ideas
🟣 Stepping in to do a job when someone else can’t
🟣 Covering for a coworker who has a personal obligation to attend
🟣 Unofficially mentoring colleagues
🟣 And more.
My question is, "Can you have satisfied employees who are disengaged?"
Support research into line manager communication
New research into the role of line managers! Line managers matter; they hold the key to many challenges inside organisations. They are one of the key elements to effective internal communication and an important part of The Field Model™ approach.
Jenni Field, an ICology member and key voice in internal communications, is leading a new research effort into line manager communication. It’s an area that communicators know is important but have invested little in learning about. Support this effort!
And if you want to lead this effort at your organization, Jenni has offered to prepare your organization’s own custom link to report out on your organization’s findings. This is a huge opportunity for your organization to learn more.
New research into the role of line managers! Line managers matter; they hold the key to many challenges inside organisations. They are one of the key elements to effective internal communication and an important part of The Field Model™ approach.
We understand the importance of line managers from our Remotely Interested research back in 2019. Now it’s time to understand how that has changed and learn more about the role to enable better relationships and communication across organisations. This time we’re exploring the role of the line manager; as the world of work changed in the past year, we want to find out how this impacts line managers, the skills they need to manage and the purpose of their role inside organisations.
We’re working in partnership with SocialOptic and we want to hear from line managers everywhere, so if you manage people please take the time to complete our survey, which closes on 24 March.
You can share this link across social platforms and inside your organisation too. The more line managers who complete it, the better!
Want to share it inside your organisation and get insight just for you?
If you have over 200 line managers in your organisation, we can give you a bespoke link to share internally. You’ll get a tailored report on your findings and a 45-minute presentation covering what we found afterward – all for free! Request your bespoke link.
Original post - https://redefiningcomms.com/line-managers-under-the-microscope/
“A challenged world is an alert world.”
At ICology we choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. Learn more about what you can do to join us.
The #choosetochallenge campaign for this year’s International Women’s Day resonates deeply with ICology and our community of internal communicators.
Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day. And as a group, we should hold each other accountable.
We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women's achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world.
So what can we do?
Representation matters! Celebrate and highlight the achievements of women, particularly women of colour
Put your money where your heart is: support women-owned businesses and invest in charities that work towards equality around the world.
Watch your words: be conscious of language that disparages women, even subtly.
Speak up and speak out: when you feel safe to do so, call out biases and discrimination.
From challenge comes change, so let's all choose to challenge.
The Double-Double-Down-Under Plan
We’ve created a special membership plan for communicators in Australia and Canada. Check it out.
We want communicators from all countries to be a part of ICology. And for years while living in Canada, Kristin has felt this pain - with items in USD often costing an additional 30%.
Because we’ve seen some early sign-ups and tremendous support from Australia and Canada, we want to make things a big easier financially on our Canadian and Australian friends.
We’ve launched the Double-Double-Down-Under Plan. Under this plan, Canadian and Australian internal communicators pay $16.99/mo (instead of the standard $19.99).
We don’t think communicators should have to pay more just because of where they are from.
Diversity In Action Conference winner announced
We’re proud to support A Leader Like Me’s Diversity in Action conference in March. We purchased a registration and gave it away to one of our members.
ICology is proud to partner and support other organizations in internal communications. We purchased a registration to A Leader Like Me’s March Diversity in Action conference and gave it away to one of our ICology members. To participate, all members had to do was comment how they are supporting diversity in action.
We drew names and the winner is Rey Bouknight, social advisor at SocialChorus. Congratulations Rey!
Save 10% by using the code ICOLOGY10.
This global online event has some remarkable speakers from across the globe. Delegates will have the opportunity to learn from these industry experts who will share stories, strategies and their own learnings on key topics such as how to build an anti-racist organization, how to find and listen to stories that are often overlooked and how to look beyond someone’s disability plus much more. This is a great opportunity for leaders who want to learn more about diversity issues and be part of a growing movement towards inclusion.
This conference will inspire, motivate and encourage change across various organizations where under-represented groups still don’t feel like they belong.
We believe that diversity and inclusion should be at all levels of the organization and that all individuals – regardless of ability, race, gender, or sexual preference – should be comfortable bringing their whole selves to personal and professional interactions. Studies have shown that this is not only good for society, but also good for business.