July has been a productive month for the History of Internal Communication project, with significant steps in both practitioner engagement and academic contributions. As the project progresses, its efforts are increasingly becoming central to both the academic community and practical applications within the field of internal communication.
Engaging Practitioners
One of the month’s highlights was running a successful practitioner lunchtime workshop, the first in a series of such events that the team will oversee. This event, held in collaboration with the Institute of Internal Communication, attracted around twenty participants keen on integrating historical insight into their communication strategies. Rather than telling the history of internal communication, the workshop focused on how the project’s findings could serve a practical purpose for practitioners. This event looked at how an organisation’s history can be used as a strategic resource and how history can be about the future as much as the past.
The workshop included an interesting exercise that presented two fictitious case study organisations. Participants developed a communication strategy for two difficult scenarios. The first was a shipping company having to navigate historical ties to slavery when marking its 200th anniversary. The second was on change communications, with a firm having to communicate the difficult news of new technology being introduced that might cause job losses. These discussions not only sparked engaging dialogue among attendees but also demonstrated the varied ways an organisation’s past can inform and shape modern communication strategies.
A store of Timothy Whites, which was merged with Boots in 1968, that featured in the lunchtime workshop. From The Timothy Whites Story, published for Boots in 1968, page 8.
The project’s commitment to making a tangible impact has been receiving recognition at Northumbria University. As well as being something we want to do, impact is also growing as a measure on which universities are assessed for the quality of their research. The team has been working with Emma Watson, the university’s Impact and Engagement Officer, to prepare a case for the project being one of the impact case studies that Northumbria presents for the 2027 REF (an assessment that evaluates the research quality of UK universities).
There is much that the project has done that can demonstrate its relevance and applicability in real-world settings. Publications in industry magazines and increasingly frequent mentions at significant practitioner events, such as the recent Institute of Internal Communication Festival, are testament to the growing awareness of the project among the internal communication community. By the time of the REF 2027, further evidence of impact will be generated through testimonials being gathered at workshops and industry conferences.
Online content, Academic Contributions and Research
The project’s online content received some interesting additions in July. The month’s Source of the Month blog post investigated John Lewis, one of the most fascinating case studies of the project due to its unusual partnership model. This structure has had a significant impact on industrial relations within the organisation and the blog post examined the innovative internal communication strategies employed in the early years of the partnership at John Lewis. It explored the use of the staff newspaper, The Gazette, to democratise communication and build community within the company.
The History of Internal Communication podcast had a slightly different tone than usual, featuring an academic rather than a practitioner as the guest for the first time. The episode featured a fascinating conversation with Mike Esbester, a historian from the University of Portsmouth, who discussed the origins of health and safety practices in the workplace, tracing them back all the way to the nineteenth century. This episode challenged the modern perception of health and safety as a recent phenomenon and highlighted the role of internal communication in pioneering early safety measures.
The project also made important steps this month on its contribution to academic discourse. The team produced a full redraft of an article on rhetorical history. This article, soon to be submitted to globally renowned academic journal Organisation Studies, builds upon two years of research and introduces a new model that categorises the strategies organisations use to harness their past for present goals. The new draft features some fascinating historical examples of anniversary celebrations and change communication from Cadbury, Boots, Unilever, and the BBC.
Research has also continued at the Postal Museum archives and has unearthed some important finds. An internal communication research group was established at the Post Office in 1968 and remained active until 1975. Its first report, influenced by John Garnet from the Industrial Society and the spread of briefing groups which evolved into team meetings, is a fascinating document and provides rich insights into the development of internal communication. It established internal communication committees in the 1970s at the post office, giro bank and telecoms and a full department in 1979. A core role of the new IC department was to make work more engaging and provide a voice for employees by the establishment of two-way communication. One of its first campaigns was to improve customer service.
July has seen some important steps for the History of Internal Communication project. Looking ahead, the project team can build on the progress already made to deliver further impact on the profession and to disseminate its research to academic audiences.