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Dusting off the DeLorean – how IC pros can become time travellers 

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Dusting off the DeLorean – how IC pros can become time travellers 

Ever wished you could time travel? Chances are if you work in internal communications, you already do. And when you spend your days zipping back and forth from the CEO’s vision of the future, to the employees living in the here and now (not forgetting the ones still living in the past), the old comms DeLorean racks up quite a few miles….

However, in some organisations it doesn’t matter how many times you tell employees living in the present how great the future is going to be, they just don’t buy into it. Maybe they’re too busy, or it feels too far away, or they simply don’t see how they fit into it.

So how do we as internal communicators translate the vision of our CEO into something meaningful for everyone else?

Get chummy with your CEO

Establishing a good relationship with your CEO is an important first step. Getting to know them as an individual and what’s important to them, will help you understand their vision for the business. We all know good relationships are built on trust, and that’s key to getting the CEO on board with ideas of how to translate their vision into something tangible for the people on the ground. This may mean spending a considerable amount of time in the future.

Suspend disbelief

The great thing about ideas and visions is that they are supposed to be interpreted.

Upon hearing your organisation’s vision for the first time, your reaction could be one of disbelief – disbelief because it is so far removed from reality, or disbelief because it is unbelievably uninspiring and lacks a large dollop of ambition.

But the great thing about ideas and visions is that they are supposed to be interpreted, and everyone’s interpretation can be slightly different, which gives you a huge opportunity. So, suspend your disbelief and open your mind to the possibilities this presents (unless of course you have an opportunity to shape the CEO’s vision, in which case you are a true comms hero).

Tell your employees first

It’s not unusual for organisations to invest large sums of money on marketing campaigns to transport their clients and contacts into the future. Which is great until you look over your shoulder and see that your employees didn’t jump on board. For a vision to become a reality, you need to take your employees on that journey first, as they will be the ones making it happen. Get that wrong, and it’s very hard to win them back.

What’s in it for me?

For people across the business to take ownership of the vision, everyone from the CEO to the cleaner needs to understand the part they play in it.

Time travelling can sometimes be a bumpy ride. Even the smallest blip can change the course of the future, so you need your employees to be fully bought in to the journey you’re taking them on, ready to face the challenges ahead and passionate about what you can all achieve together.

Everyone knows the story of the cleaner at NASA, and for good reason. It perfectly articulates how we want all our people to feel, but in case you haven’t heard it, hold on to your hats, we’re going back in time…

In 1963 President John F Kennedy visited the NASA Space Centre, and stopped a cleaner and asked what he was doing. The cleaner replied “I’m helping put a man on the moon”.

For people across the business to take ownership of the vision, everyone from the CEO to the cleaner needs to understand the part they play in it. This means, you guessed it, you’re going to need to spend a considerable amount of time in the past and present too. You need to understand your audience in relation to the vision. What are their concerns about it? What are their ideas for making it a reality? And take that feedback to the senior leaders in the future.

Tell a story

A story can help you explain why we’re doing this and why it’s important. It’s the sense of purpose around your vision that lends itself so well to storytelling. And be honest about the challenges you’ll face along the way, that’s what makes it interesting and is often how you involve people, as you’ll need ideas, skills and teamwork to overcome them.

Hopefully, by building relationships and zipping about in all three time zones, you can convince others around the organisation to join you. Leaders will always need to look ahead, and employees will tend to concentrate on the now, but that doesn’t mean they can’t visit each other from time to time. We don’t even need DeLoreans anymore, just effective communication and we can all become time travellers.

By Helen Deverell for Alive!

“I feel like they own and care for the project as much as we do! I would not use anyone else for my creative work and think Alive is ahead of the game.”

Jo Hobbs — Communications Manager

“Thanks for all your help. We are delighted with the campaign, both in terms of the creativity and messaging but also the thought taken over the rollout of the materials. All looks absolutely fabulous!”

Sarah Crowdy — Campaign and Media Officer Communications, South East Water

“We went to ‘Alive’ for ideas on how to run a specific employee program in Europe. Alan and his team were brilliant in coming up with fresh, creative and practical approaches. The team took charge and executed brilliantly. We are pleased with the progress made so far and hope to have the same level of partnership and commitment going forward.”

Sobha Varghese — Tata Consultancy Services

“Alive helped us create a video of our response to the floods of winter 2019. Our Chief Officer received messages from all round the country praising us for it and was really pleased with both the video and the response to it.”

Alexander Mills, Communications Manager — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“We had the privilege to work with the Alive team. It was our first time to be involved in creating an animation for our patients within paediatrics. The team were approachable, friendly, creative and very accommodating. Your vision for what you want to create, is at all times acknowledged, appreciated and accommodated by the team. They worked effectively and with great passion towards our project and worked not only alongside health professionals but also our patients who really enjoyed the experience of working with the Alive team. It has given our team the confidence and inspiration to do further projects in the future. We highly recommend Alive and their exceptional team.”

DR ELENI ATHANASAKOS, Lead Paediatric Clinical Scientist — NHS Barts Health

“‘The short animation developed in co-production with clinicians and young people is outstanding! Informative, developmentally appropriate, vitally fun and engaging. We are really grateful for the expertise of the Alive with Ideas team for their innovative approach in building children’s health literacy.'”

Kath Evans — Director of Children’s Nursing at Barts Health

“Our mission was to update our brand visuals to better reflect our innovative and forward-thinking organisation. After receiving numerous pitches from different branding agencies, Alive stood out with their clear passion and understanding of our identity and goals. We thoroughly enjoyed working with the Alive Team to create an engaging new brand that we are immensely proud of.”

Lianne Springer — Communications and Engagement Lead

“Alive wowed us during the pitch process and they didn’t stop wowing us throughout the whole project. Every person we worked with at Alive were so friendly, knowledgeable and clearly passionate about what they do. They have worked with us to really understand what we do and have created a new brand and website that really stands out from our competitors. Thank you!”

Louise Burnard, Head of Marketing and Communications UK — Be | Shaping the Future

“I think the team have done such a brilliant job, particularly with responding to our requests. It's one of the best mental health videos I've ever seen. Very proud to be associated with your exemplary work. Thank you so much.”

Dr Anna Batho — Clinical Psychologist – Critical Care, UCLH

“We have worked with Alan, Caroline and the wider Alive With Ideas team for many years. In that time, they have provided a dedicated service that is second to none. We appreciate their attention to detail and creative approach to bringing our brand, communications and stories to life. And would recommend them to anyone looking for creative communications support.”

Georgia Beech — Internal Communications Specialist, Ocado Group

“This is brilliant. I wanted to give my heartfelt thanks to all of the team who worked on this. You all understood exactly what we wanted to communicate and why, and then managed to do it in a way that was far better than anything I could have imagined. I’m a bit choked up to be honest!”

Sarah Wright, Head of Communications and Campaigns — NEA

“Each time I work with the team, I am always stunned at the effort and creativity that goes into each detail and am always eager for the end result. The team is extremely accommodating and always provide a fresh approach to our projects that elevates our communications materials!”

Alana Khaytin, Communications Specialist — Braskem America

“What I really appreciate about Alive is that they work with us as partners, and care as much about getting it right for our patients as we do.”

Sara Langston, Patient Engagement & Marketing Manager — italk

“Alive are unique in how much they deeply listen and invest in you and your ideas. I have not come across a company that listens as much as they do to ensure your needs are understood and met (actually - they always exceed my needs and expectations). Everyone I recommend Alive to has an equally brilliant experience. When you work with Alive, you are not only getting some genius creativity brought into your life, you are also hanging out with some of the best examples of human beings I’ve ever known.”

Steph Tranter, Hybrid Exec Coach & Psychologist — StephTranter.com

“The (Alive) team were able to creatively pull together and document (in just over 2minutes) everything our service has achieved over the last few months, from thousands of prescriptions deliveries to hundreds of phone calls made to the vulnerable. The final product was so powerful and reflective of what our service has and continues to achieve. It couldn’t have been better received within the service – thanks Alive for once again helping us to communicate our vision!’”

Emma Wright — South Yorkshire & Rescue

“We worked with the team at Alive to create our staff recognition video.
At a time like this, its never been more important to share the amazing work that our staff have done and continue to do on a daily basis under very difficult circumstances. We wanted to shout about this and recognise that when the time came, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue stepped up to the plate. We didn’t want an ordinary thank you post on social media or a basic email sent out internally, we wanted something special. Enter Alive. ”

Emma Wright — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“Our company is fun, we have great brands, but most importantly we’re all about our people – and I wanted an agency who would understand that and help us bring it to life through our website and other comms. Straight away I felt that Alive ‘got’ us and provided the creative inspiration exactly where we needed it, as well as the technical expertise to deliver a well-functioning website.”

Keren McCarron, Head of Corporate Affairs & Communications — KP Snacks

“Boom!
Thank you so much. Incredible work done at incredible speed by incredible people.
Outstanding work as ever and what a turnaround. As for the concepts – wow. These are that good it would be an insult to describe them as just good. It’s a joke, quite frankly. This is exactly the Alive effect I was after. Right now I feel like I am living in an Alive With Ideas wonderland. Thank you!”

Jack Grasby, Campaigns Manager — SYFR

“If you are looking to improve creativity and build teamwork, I highly recommend a session like this for your team. No matter where you are in your creativity journey, a workshop like this can give your team a boost of energy and ideas to invigorate their creative thinking.”

Amy Lilja, IC Manager — Hennepin Healthcare

“Alive were there to help when we were working every hour to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. They gave us the creativity, ideas and support we needed to deliver campaigns which empowered our residents in the most difficult time most of us have ever seen, personally and professionally. The team understood what we needed, worked closely with us and delivered fast without any compromise on quality. Working with Alive has been a joy in the darkest of times and I have no doubt will have helped to save lives. Thanks team x”

Julie Odams, Assistant Director of Communications & Customers — Derbyshire County Council

“We got 'Alive' involved to help us shift mindsets across our organisation and they delivered! Using simple, clear and creative ideas the team have delivered us a campaign which has seen a dramatic increase in idea sharing and development. They’ve also played a significant role in creating a culture of shared success. I wouldn’t hesitate to work with again, in fact, we already are!”

Gavin Buckle — B&Q
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