On Monday 2nd March, I took up my invitation from the Carnegie Trust to attend the launch of their report Race Inequality in the Workforce at the House of Commons.
The report was produced with UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies and Operation Black Vote and hosted by OBVs Lord Wooley.
The Right Ethos is 13 years old this month. And since the start we have always had inexperienced or no experienced, but keen, individuals looking to break into the campaigns and external affairs sector.
Our survey on the incident last Thursday with Mark Field and a Greenpeace activist has not surprisingly shown overpowering support of Greenpeace.
72% of the responder “strongly agreed” or “agreed” with the statement “Greenpeace should be congratulated on their bravery and continue to take action in this fashion”
On International Women’s Day, Debora Singer MBE, shares her experience of running a campaign that benefits women seeking asylum from human rights abuses abroad.
Just to join the praise for this committed and principled MP who died this week.
Paul Flynn became my MP in Newport West in 1987. I didn’t vote for him. I would never vote Labour and certainly less likely to given the events of this week.
Paul was a campaigner. He had intellectually robust views and then devoted his time and energy in campaigning for them.
I am delighted to be here today to acknowledge that Scope are the 2018 winners of #wcoctwf. The World Cup of Charities to Work For! – a Twitter poll of 32 major charities in the UK.
Frank Smith has over 18 years experience working in international advocacy, leading global advocacy campaigns on a range of issues and in a range of different organisations and contexts. Over the last year he has been working as a consultant, supporting organisations develop their advocacy capacity and their advocacy strategies so as to improve their overall influence.
His advocacy work in the humanitarian, human rights and international development fields has given me a deep understanding of the international landscape. He has worked closely with different UN organisations, most recently the UNHCR, working as a consultant.
Previous employment include:
Director – No More Epidemics campaign – Management Sciences for Health, USA
Head of Policy – Plan International,
Head of Department – Middle East, Europe, Caucasus, Asia (MEECA) – Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), Geneva
Director of Global Campaigns – World Vision International
A passion for story-telling really. I love running a comms team; it’s hard work, but it’s worth it, particularly as reputation and stakeholder management have never been more important. It’s making the complex understandable, relatable and relevant – so people are interesting in knowing what your organisation or cause is about. Importantly, its also how you do that visually and digitally, as well as through more traditional channels.
I’ve always loved to write – and I read everything and anything I could get my hands on when I was young, a bit like Matilda without the magic powers… So a journalist or a novelist perhaps, but I can’t say I really knew what that was at the time. As I got a bit older, I increasingly wanted to be in or around politics. I did work experience with my MP before interning at a think tank, as I wanted to be part of that world. That’s what took me into public affairs and communications.
I admire what Digital Mums does, upskilling women who’ve had a break, and helping them use their newly-gained social media talents in a flexible way. More generally, I admire people who do things differently and who aren’t constrained by what’s been done before. I love Selfish Mother and how she’s using Instagram to refresh a magazine format. I also value intellect: I’ve been lucky to work with a lot of smart people, and that’s a joy of the job.
Energy, curiosity and attention to detail. You have to be able span working a 20 hour day when the job demands it, so it helps to have natural energy, drive and resilience. As well as knowing your organisation inside out, you need to be able to spot opportunities and spaces where your comms can have a big impact, which is where the curiosity comes in! Attention to detail is up there because precision matters in good communications; you need a reputation as a trustworthy source to secure genuine media and political impact.
A great story that flies across channels is still one of my biggest highs. So much work goes into having all your ducks in a row, usually all invisible to the naked eye, but it’s worth it when it works and especially when it’s seamless across them all. Increasingly, it is also about spotting, nurturing and developing talent. I’m a mentor and a member of industry groups, and helping others make leaps forward and avoid pitfalls is rewarding – I wish I’d sought that out more when I was younger, especially when I returned to work after my first baby.
I’d encourage them to take all the opportunities that come their way – never count yourself out – and also to be active in the sector. It’s very easy to get caught up in what’s happening in your role, in your organisation. But it’s important to look around, see what others are doing, what you could learn from, who you could learn from. People need you to bring the outside in, it’s part of the job.
That’s a hard one – as there were great moments in consultancy, the civil service and in not-for-profit – all different! But I loved being part of the work Which? did on social care – pushing for action to help to tackle an emerging crisis. For maximum impact, we aligned a research-based Channel 4 exclusive with the health secretary’s party conference speech, setting out a clear set of actions needed for change and forcing a response. Being the spokesperson that day was a real high. A close second is being part of the team that shifted the early debate on payday loans and the need for stronger regulation, something that’s since become a reality. I’m at my happiest when communications and influencing drive a change for the better.
The hardest thing today is securing attention for the issues that matter to your organisation or cause when the political and news agendas are a) Brexit-heavy and b) far less predictable than they were. Cutting through requires a different approach: a real focus on your organisation’s true priorities and proper insight into your audience.
If I wasn’t a comms or corporate affairs director (and if I’d actually done a masters instead of taking my first public affairs job), perhaps I’d be teaching philosophy to undergraduates somewhere. I’d still be trying to the make the complex relatable!
To follow Laura on Twitter click here. Listen to the full interview below.
That’s true, but don’t start the great seasonal tidy up just yet. Candidates do have other things on their minds but they aren’t looking because they think you aren’t recruiting!
However, it’s the most wonderful time of the year to work with The Right Ethos. He would say that wouldn’t he, I hear you say. But let me explain why. Advertising doesn’t work at this time of the year (although you’ve probably also heard recruitment advertising doesn’t work anymore either and there’s also an argument for that)
But, candidates are keen to hear about jobs and we contact them right up to a few days before Christmas. They pick up their phones or meet with us because they’re keen to advance their career. If you think about it, you would too if you were about to find out about a great job from an agency which always gets it right for you.
Sourcing candidates is particularly good for us at this time of year as we cream off the best candidates before the mad rush of adverts which inevitably hit the job boards in January.
We have the largest database in the UK of external affairs, communications and campaigns staff. That, together with our extensive networks built through my 24 years employed in External Affairs for organisations including Shelter, Amnesty International and Save the Children allows us to identify and contact candidates quickly and efficiently, whether they’re actively looking at job adverts or not.
We have a range of successful recruitment methods and prices, including a reduced service at only 7.5% of salary, and collaborative working which comes with a 12 month guarantee on our candidates.
If you want to talk about how we can help, please give me a call 07726 562716 or drop me an email – jonathan@therightethos.co.uk
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