Why we need great communication as part of our digital transformation
At the Joseph Rowntree Foundation we’re transforming how we work to better achieve our outcomes, which includes improving our digital channels products and services through great design. These changes aren’t limited to systems, but include deep cultural changes such as how we manage relationships to understanding our work as services for our users.
Change is a-happening!
I’ve been in post for just over a year and now I’m a bit more settled in we have a bunch of really exciting development projects coming down the line. We’re currently working with Snook, a multi-disciplinary design studio and discovery partner, to understand what we need to do in order to align JRF’s online presence to our direction as a social change organisation. Plus they will be helping us establish how we might best deliver our services via our website in order to help achieve our organisational outcomes.
Running alongside this discovery piece of work, we are also trying to answer the question: how do we harness our networks to achieve our outcomes? And how do we collectively manage contacts and relationships at JRF to do this? In this blog I cover the fact that it is likely we will need some Customer Relationship Management software to support us with this. However getting a new system in place potentially isn’t the real challenge here, but rather how we build a culture around managing contacts that people buy into and get value from.
Communicating value
Good communication is key when it comes to digital transformation — that’s anything from sending someone a quick message on slack (or whatever is your chosen method of internal, informal chat!) to telling the world a broad narrative about your change journey as an organisation. They’re both just as important.
Which takes me to my key point — when you’re in the business of improving things, often drawing insight directly from the eventual users who will feel the benefits of your improvements, how do you tie up that loop and communicate that value back effectively?
Done badly — people don’t see the value in the improvements you’re working so hard to make.
Done well — you can begin to see a culture shift.
Get involved!
We’re currently hiring for a Change Communications Assistant as part of our internship scheme to help us communicate with our various stakeholders about the journey we’re going on at JRF. The role will explore how we can engage our internal and external stakeholders in our digital transformation and get their buy in. They will also pull together insight and knowledge from teams across the JRF and JRHT group as we go through a vital part of our discovery to keep the organisation and sector updated. Lastly, they will be expected to report on engagement with JRF’s digital transformation, feeding into the project’s key measurements of success.
If you’re a recent graduate who is interested in digital, marketing or internal communications then please do apply here! I’m really keen to chat through the role to anyone who might be coming fresh to any of these areas of comms, so please get in touch on hannah.mcculloch@jrf.org.uk so we can chat more!
