UK COMMITTEE FOR UNICEF
JOB DESCRIPTION
Section 1
Job Title
Internal Communications Specialist
Reporting to:
Deputy Executive Director Innovation
and Strategy
Department/Team
Innovation & Strategy
Job Location
UNICEF House, 30a Great Sutton Street,
London, EC1V 0DU
21hrs per week
Hours
Salary Band/Grade
Duration
Band H: £29,750 - £40,970
(Appointments are normally made in the
range £29,750 - £35,020.)
12 month fixed term with potential for
renewal
Section 2
Position in the organisation – see attached organisation chart
Context
The Haiti and Pakistan emergencies, our Soccer Aid telethon and the
launch of our Put It Right campaign all contributed to 2010 being a
year of considerable change, challenge and success. At the same time,
we developed our 2011-15 five year strategy which we are now beginning
to implement. This includes an organisation development plan, which
focuses on ensuring that UNICEF UK is a great place to work with a
motivated and talented workforce delivering breakthrough results for
children. The strategy also requires a number of new ways of working,
in particular the development of a brand marketing strategy and the
adoption of step change goals as a means of challenging our thinking,
driving innovation and supporting effective prioritisation.
Also in 2010, we conducted a review of staff well-being which
identified, among other things, the need for significant improvements
in internal communication. These improvements require attitude and
behaviour change at all levels of the organisation, especially around
the communication and management of change.
UNICEF UK has 220 staff – a considerable increase over recent years.
The majority of staff are based at our London office, with around 25
remote based staff and a similar number at our supporter service centre
in Billericay. Internal communications has to date largely been
achieved informally with a particular emphasis on email and, to a
lesser degree, staff briefings. Attempts to encourage more face-to-face
communication over email have not succeeded.
The United Kingdom
Committee for
UNICEF
Company Limited by
Guarantee
Registered in
England
and Wales No:
3663181
Registered Office:
30a Great Sutton
Street
London EC1V 0DU
Registered Charity
No: 1072612
President
Lord Ashdown GCMG KBE
PC
Executive Director
David Bull
The combination of new ways of working, new goals and our desire for
improved staff wellbeing means that we need to introduce a new approach
to achieving excellent internal communications and it is for this
reason that this new specialist post is being recruited. The post will
be trialled for 12 months.
Purpose of the post
To ensure highly effective internal communications within UNICEF UK,
contributing significantly to the achievement of our 2 and 5 year
objectives with the aim of ensuring that
- all staff understand the connection between their work and the great
results that we achieve for children, leading to better wellbeing
and even greater success;
- everyone has the information they need to do their job effectively,
and understand the organisation’s priorities;
- we have optimum transparency and staff understanding about important
decisions and changes;
- we are not over overloaded with communication that isn’t helpful.
Relationships
The Internal Communications Specialist reports to the Deputy Executive
Director Innovation and Strategy. S/he will have close working
relationships with the Organisation Development Specialist, the
Learning and Development Manager and the Head of People and
Development. These post-holders share responsibility for achievement of
the organisation development goals.
The post-holder will work with a wide range of staff across UNICEF UK.
S/he will have particular relationships with the Director of (external)
Communications, the Resources Officer (intranet), the International
Programme Liaison Team (which manages contact with and visits from our
colleagues from elsewhere in the UNICEF family), the Staff Association
and the Executive Director.
Main duties and responsibilities
1. Provide expert input and direction on internal communications, staff
engagement and achieving the necessary culture change.
2. Assess our needs and develop a strategy and best practice guidelines
for achieving highly effective internal communications, aligned with
our five-year strategic framework. Project manage the implementation
of the strategy, evaluate progress and advise on our future
requirements.
3. Promote involvement by all staff in all locations, ensuring full
understanding of and engagement with our strategic plans, campaigns,
brand and values and increasing integration between staff from
different teams and locations.
4. Ensure optimum staff engagement in the development of the internal
communications strategy, its implementation and evaluation.
5. Evaluate our use of the Infocentre (intranet), e-mail, Yammer and
other new media tools and advise on how best these media can
contribute to our goals.
6. Coordinate the delivery of staff briefings by the Executive Director
and the annual all-staff briefing; provide support as necessary to
ad-hoc briefings by teams.
7. Facilitate the coordination of all-staff communications to deliver
streamlined, effective sharing of necessary news and know-how.
8. Ensure that our brand values are properly reflected in our internal
communications.
9. Recognising that this is a newly created post in a rapidly changing
environment, perform any duties and responsibilities which are
necessary to ensure that UNICEF UK has the best possible internal
communications and staff engagement.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
The person specification describes specifically the traits, skills and
experience that are needed for the job. At UNICEF UK, the recruiting
manager identifies behaviours and skills, chiefly, from UNICEF UK’s
Competency Framework. All criteria in the Person Specification are
‘essential’.
1. Relevant Experience
Expertise and demonstrable success in a comparable organisation of
introducing effective internal communications using all relevant media
2. Personal Competencies
Competency Title
Ability to….
Communication &
influence
Produce concise, well constructed written
communication, coupled with the ability to
present verbally in a clear and persuasive
manner, with all communication tailored to the
needs of the audience
Communication &
influence
Work effectively with people at all levels of
the organisation, across all teams and
locations, influencing effectively while having
little formal authority
Communication &
influence
Support senior managers in communicating
sensitive issues internally
Innovation
Facilitate engagement among different groups of
staff in the development and implementation of
new ways of working
Efficiency &
effectiveness
Plan, manage and lead a complex crossorganisational project, setting realistic
objectives and achieving them both through own
effectiveness and by working with others
3. Specific skills and knowledge
In depth understanding of the challenges involved in managing change.