ICYMI: Systemic racism, 3 biz cases for IC, therapy

4 comms things and one-non comm thing you might have missed

Greetings!

📣 Next week! An exclusive interview with TK Breuer, the Internal Communications Manager at Spotify!

🚨 Google is expanding its internal content moderation practices, requiring employees to more actively moderate resources they control and to go through training, according to documents viewed by CNBC.

• The new system comes as the company tries to strike a balance between pleasing its employees and cracking down on heated conversations.
• Read more on CNBC.

In case you missed it…

1. Systemic Racism: The Existential Challenge for Business

photo: Wikimedia

Richard Edelman says that for “both brands and corporations, the issue of systemic racism demands their attention and presents a historic opportunity. It is the crucible in which trust will be shaped for generations to come.” Edelman released a second special Trust Barometer report on The Fight for Racial Justice in America.

Some highlights:

• Business is expected to take the lead in addressing systemic racism…
• …but the business community is failing to seize the moment and move quickly on tangible actions.
• 80% of Blacks say that brands and corporations must speak out against systemic racism, versus 66% of Latinx and 54% of Asian Americans.
• Small business is substantially more trusted than large corporations (62% versus 43%), with big companies scoring especially low with Black respondents (37%).
• Company CEOs are the least trusted of twenty spokespeople (32%) on racial injustice; below Republican leaders (33%) and half as trusted as social scientists and experts on race (63%).

💭 MY THOUGHT: The need for businesses to address systemic racism is not going away. Internal Communications is in a vital position, acting as both a conduit for leadership communication and the voice of regular employees. During the next few years, IC must press leadership to:

1. communicate how the organization is addressing inequality in their own workplace,
2. address racism (and crackdowns on protesters) outside the company, and
3. actually walk the walk and show progress on addressing racism inside and outside the company

If your leadership doesn’t recognize the critical role IC will play in navigating these tumultuous waters over the coming years, you better break bread with them ASAP and make sure they get the point.

• Read the introduction and highlights to Edelman’s report
• Download the report

2. A Three-part Series on Making the Business Case for Internal Comms

💰 It’s Budget Season. That means you need to make the case for maintaining or increasing funding for internal communications.

You’d think that the critical role IC played in keeping businesses running during this crazy year would be enough to justify your function getting the funds it needs. Alas, here you are again, pleading your case.

I wrote a three-part series on making the business case for internal communications. Poppulo’s IC Matters published the series. I hope it helps!

1. Remind the Boss That Internal Communications Saved the Day
2. The Chaos Around COVID-19 Is Past Us. That’s Why Internal Communications Is Even More Vital.
3. The Workplace of the Future Needs to Be Communicated

3. Most Communicators Aren’t Planning Beyond 2020

photo credit

No surprise that comms pros are only planning one-to-three months out. (These days I can barely plan out my week!) According to a new survey from Ragan, respondents predict they’ll continue working in a constant state of crisis.

• 40% of comms pros are planning one to three months out
• 20% are planning just week-to-week
• Managing employee burnout is a challenge that is second only to responding to ever-changing world events

Access the survey

4. Covid-19 Has Forced a Radical Shift in Working Habits

From The Economist: Self-styled visionaries and people particularly fond of their pyjamas have for decades been arguing that a lot of work done in large shared offices could better be done at home. With covid-19 their ideas were put to the test in a huge if not randomised trial. The preliminary results are now in: yes, a lot of work can be done at home; and what is more, many people seem to prefer doing it there.

• This does not, in itself, mean the end of the non-home office.
• It does mean that there is a live debate to be had.

Read on.

5. How to Find a Therapist

From The Markether: A global pandemic. A modern-day civil rights movement. An incompetent president treating the United States like one big episode of reality TV. Wildfires causing apocalyptic orange skies. An impending election. Needless to say, 2020’s been… something else.

• It’s more critical than ever to normalize conversations around mental wellness, and therapy in particular.

🧘 The Markether crowd-sourced recommendations for beginning or resuming a therapy journey at various price points. Here’s the list.

• If you’ve never tried therapy, NPR has a 22-minute podcast on how to get started.

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