Still round the corner there may wait a new road or a secret gate; And though I oft have passed them by, a day will come at last when I shall take the hidden paths that run West of the Moon, East of the Sun.
This quote by JRR Tolkien from Lord of the Rings sums up the hidden treasures that lay waiting inside Disrupting the Function of IC. New roads, secret gates and hidden paths uncover many pearls of wisdom shared by 30 international communication thought leaders in eight insight-filled chapters. Dedicated to communication professionals worldwide, the book is free to download on the IC Kollectif website.
Lise Michaud, Founder and Principal of IC Kollectif, a Montreal-based not-for-profit organisation comments, “The internal communication profession faces turbulent times and the role of IC practitioners may well be at a turning point. Caught between multiple increasing challenges brought about by the impact of technology, the convergence and integration of communication disciplines and over-riding agendas like employee engagement and advocacy, the profession must dig deep for insights and new ways to define itself. “
Launched at the Annual General Meeting of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management (GA) representing 160,000 communication professionals worldwide, the new book offers a well spring of knowledge about internal communication. Professor Anne Gregory, Immediate Past Chair of the GA and Chair of Corporate Communication at the University of Huddersfield said, “Organisations are a point of stability for many and at the heart of this is IC. For all these reasons internal communications has come of age, and not before time.”
Authors from North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia share critical insights learned through years of experience and study. As one author states, “The only safe prediction that can be made about IC is that our tools and techniques are not going to stay the same. The speed of change in our practice is getting faster. Confronted by so many different ways to communicate and so many different pressures, communicators need to keep dragging plans back to the fundamental question of what are we trying to achieve. Tomorrow’s professionals, like their colleagues of the past, will not start with the tool. We’ll start with the end in mind.”
The internal communication profession faces turbulent times and the role of IC practitioners may well be at a turning point.
Professor Gregory said, “This new book by IC Kollectif makes a major contribution to the exploration of the rich and complex work of internal communication. The collection of contributing authors is first class: drawn from across the world and all with a record of being thought leaders in the area as well as experienced practitioners. That this volume is available free is testament to the commitment of these authors of IC Kollectif to share their work and thinking widely for the benefit of the global internal communication community. For this, our professional community is deeply grateful.”
Where are we going? How can we get there? What do we need to do differently? What challenges and opportunities lie ahead? What does the future hold? Discover new roads, secret gates and hidden pathways in Disrupting the Function of IC.
We thank the incomparable Lise Michaud for her time, talent, energy and commitment to the communication profession. Because of her efforts and that of the contributing authors our profession has a rare collection of value-added knowledge. To deliver a project of this magnitude is no small task. We salute you!
