The importance of building connections across GCS
All good things come in threes, and internal communication is no exception. To be at our best, as government communicators, we need to understand these three key things about the organisations we work in:
- the issues and the priorities of its leaders;
- the culture, values, people and colleague sentiment; and thirdly
- the wider government and political context.
And to achieve this we need to be immersed within our organisations, and build strong relationships with leaders, peers and colleagues across government.
Building connections is our superpower! This is why we recently held our first in-person event for the G7+ network within the internal communications discipline. The room was buzzing as colleagues from across government came together to share ideas, problem-solve, and learn from and support each other.
Megan Lee-Devlin, Director General for Service Delivery Transformation at the Ministry of Justice, joined us to share invaluable insights on handling change and uncertainty, drawing from her experience in both the private and public sectors.
In my 15 years in government – across DWP, Home Office, Cabinet Office, DECC and now the Ministry of Justice – building and maintaining connections has been vital. It’s helped me exchange views on handling complex issues, collaborate on innovative projects like Civil Service Live talks, and find support during challenging times.
In fact, when someone asks me for my top tip for working in the GCS, I always point to networking.
To support colleagues with building networks, GCS is bringing GCS Connect to life with a new feature – online community forums. This new feature will be piloted for three months at the end of November and includes two discipline-themed forums (Internal Communications and Marketing) and three location-themed forums (Scotland, Leeds, and Manchester).
You’ll be able to share ideas, seek advice, arrange meet-ups, and discuss communications planning. If you’ve selected one of these cities as your primary location or one of these disciplines as your specialism on Connect, you’ll automatically gain access to the relevant forums during the pilot.
Users feedback during the pilot is essential and will help shape the future of this new feature, which GCS expects to be released to all Connect members from the beginning of next year.
If you’d like to join the G7+ internal communications network, email angela.olone@orr.gov.uk, putting ‘G7+ network’ in the header and including your name, grade, job title and organisation. We look forward to welcoming new members, and building more connections.