Developing internal communications infrastructure, channels and messaging for this newly formed Region of 26 countries. Working with a small, central team required a combination of strategic thinking, analysis, creativity and implementation as well as excellent organisational skills in order to deliver accountabilities including:

• developing awareness and visibility around the regional and global strategy
• working with the Executive Committee on content and delivery of enhanced leadership visibility
• close working with major change teams – legal entity restructure (merger of 26 countries), Solvency II, global TOMS, Finance transformation (new SAP-based system and MI)
• segmentation of key stakeholder groups to deliver effective, targeted communications
• establishing a network of communications contacts across the Region to maintain an internal communications calendar and to share the IC framework, plan and best practice
• designing, testing and delivering toolkits, presentations, templates and guidelines to local teams
• evaluating and supporting the roll-out of social media tools (Chatter)
• working with Regional and Global HR to design effective communications to support the global employee survey, increased employee engagement and awareness of CSR strategy
• building and maintaining strong relationships with functional & local leadership teams to ensure consistency in approach and promote opportunities for synergies and efficiencies.
• support for Pan-Europe launch of new products as well as campaigns to support delivery of the growth strategy

Achievements

• built strong working relationships with Regional business leaders, particularly the Directors of Claims, Distribution and Marketing and their senior teams, to raise awareness of  their strategic activities, successes and best practice, to showcase and encourage commercial behaviours , business acumen and collaboration:
  • generated content for new leadership and divisional pages on the intranet
  • introduced new face to face channels and open forum sessions
  • communicated the regional strategy and contribution to global goals through revised content for the “Our Region” section of the intranet, news items, ExCo video interviews and Regional newsletters
• built collaborative network with colleagues in IC, marketing, PR and events teams across the region and delivered IC toolkits to support and guide their activities
• supported the launch of Chatter social media as an integral part of the IC mix