Missed this event? Here's a quick rundown of what we got up to
With many industry events hosted and headlined by senior IC professionals who have a wealth of knowledge and experience to share we wanted to host an event for our FutureNet IC 'newbies' with people whom you could more closely relate to and in positions you are more likely to be aiming towards next on your career journey. This was an ideal opportunity for FutureNet members to discuss communications career paths and chat through IC challenges with professionals on a more similar level.
Held at VMA Group, London, the event brought internal communicators together to hear from Alex Whittingham, Contracts Logistics Business Partner from Kuehne + Nagel and Anna Nield, Internal Communications Manager from the London Stock Exchange as they spoke through their career journeys before splitting into groups to discuss specific challenges relevant to the attendees.
As it happened
FutureNet committee member Joanna Freeman kicked things off by introducing Alex and Anna, both of whom she has worked with during her own IC career.
Alex took to the floor first and shared his incredibly interesting and diverse career history with the room. Having an innate creative flair and, after dabbling with the idea of studying graphic design, Alex started his career as a soil scientist and progressed into a Communications role following pitching his idea of a sports day for a company wellbeing event!
Alex says "After studying Geography at the University of Southampton I then travelled the world, ran a ski chalet and undertook an MSc in Soils and Environmental Pollution which led to numerous roles in the engineering sector and a job as a Contaminated Land Consultant.
After a chance conversation about running a national sports day for the company, I was offered a role as Communications and Engagement Manager which I took with both hands and haven't looked back since."
Alex went on to join Kuehne + Nagel in 2017, a company of over 9,000 colleagues, most of whom work in warehouses or on the road, making them a hard-to-reach audience but Alex makes sure he understands and relates to his audience through job-shadowing days and regular warehouse visits. Alex spoke about the power in being indispensable and working closely with stakeholders.
Anna then shared her career history, telling us about starting out on the general graduate scheme at Kuehne + Nagel after doing an English degree and law conversion. Anna says "In my career to date I've worked in logistics, gambling and finance – I'd never imagined myself in any of these industries before. And that's what I like about Internal Communications – you can pretty much work for any company, with no prior understanding of what they do."
Anna, brought lots of humorous storytelling to the event sharing experiences from her career which has seen her cover many roles from Communications Executive to Communications Manager and Channel Manager. Anna spoke about dealing confidently with challenging people and situations.
The second half of the event saw round table discussions on the topics of influencing, led by Alex, and building relationships, led by Anna. And in the spirit of building relationships as a FutureNet network everyone headed to a local pub afterwards to do what communicators love to do best – talk some more!
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