A Day in the Life of an Internal Comms Manager
February 2022: A day in the life of Nadia, an Internal Communications Manager for Deloitte
I’m currently an internal communications manager for Deloitte, one of the ‘Big Four’ professional services firms. I got into this role through a combination of lots of hard work and personal development but landing my first job in internal comms (I’ll refer to it as IC in this blog article) was very much based on luck. I, maybe like you, hadn’t heard of IC as a career, and after doing a degree in Political Science I was considering a career in journalism. After I decided that wasn’t for me, I got a fundraising manager role a few months after I graduated, in a charity that eventually employed me as their communications manager – both internal and external. Over the last decade, I’ve focused my career on internal communications within the NHS, automotive, banking and now professional services.
Here’s what an average day looks like for me (although I should caveat this with no two days are the same, which is what I love about it!
I’m an early bird, so my days have always started somewhere between 7am and 8am. I have always commuted quite far to an office, but the pandemic has meant I’ve worked from home. IC is generally desk based so it was a pretty easy transition.
The first things I do are 1. Check my emails for anything that has come in over night that needs urgent attention, and 2. Check my diary for the meetings of the day. I tend to have quite a few meetings talking to different stakeholders about all types of different topics.
Assuming nothing urgent has come in, I open my planner which maps out all my internal comms activity, such as any emails, webinars, newsletters etc. This helps me manage what we’re saying to our people, and when. Managing the messaging is a core part of an internal comms role.
In the run up to lunch, I’m answering emails, writing content, and attending meetings. It’s busy and there’s always lots to be getting on with.
When I’m in the office, I usually try and have lunch with people. Internal comms is an incredible social role because you end up working with all sorts of people. When I’m working from home, I’m guilty of having lunch at my desk!
After lunch, I’ll hopefully have a couple of hours of meeting free time to get stuck into some work. This could be planning an event, writing our twice monthly newsletter, doing some design work, or writing scripts for our senior stakeholders. It all depends on what we’re communicating and how we’re planning to do it.
Sometimes something urgent will drop in – think of the ever-changing government guidance on working from home as an example. We sometimes need to send things out quickly to our people to respond to topics like this, to keep them up to date on anything that impacts their roles.
There’s an element of reactivity in any IC job; it is rare that a day goes by where there isn’t something urgent that needs to be addressed or created at short notice. As much as I have my plan open every day, it tends to change a lot!
I try and finish my day somewhere around 5pm, and although I close my laptop, I keep my work phone with me for the next couple of hours whilst I know that people across the business are still working. This is in case anything urgent comes up that requires comms support.
Working in this profession is incredibly varied and I could be dealing with multiple different topics in one day. It also demands lots of different skills – writing, editing, designing, planning, thinking on your feet, creativity. I don’t have any qualifications in IC but I invest a lot in my own professional development and I have picked up lots of skills along the way. It’s a very rewarding career.
I hope that gives you a good insight into what a typical day for an Internal Communications Manager looks like!
Your questions answered!
Are there any qualifications you can do in internal communications?
Yes – you can do a masters with the Institute of Internal Communications (IOIC). You can also do a variety of short courses depending on what you are interested in – writing, design, strategic planning etc. The IOIC is a great place to start to see what’s available.
Did many of your friends chose to work also in a job like yours?
No! I think this is largely because internal comms isn’t a well-known career choice – I didn’t know about it either. It is a highly sociable career choice though – you are always meeting people, finding people stories to share and supporting a variety of teams with their comms needs. I’ve made lots of friends along the way.
What computer programmes and systems do you use in your job?
The standard ones like Outlook, MS (from Word, to Excel and PowerPoint) and Teams/Skype/Zoom. I have used premiere pro for film editing. For design I’ve used the Adobe Creative Suite – InDesign and Lightroom. For sending mass emails I use Poppulo. There’s a lot of systems that we use but it largely depends on where you work and what’s involved in your role.
What are your future career plans?
Good question! There’s lots I’d like to try – working in an agency, heading up a team, working in different industries. IC is great because there’s so many options! I’d like to be managing a team in the future but I like the level I am at now – I enjoy being hands on so I’m not ready for Head of/Director roles yet. Maybe one day!