Let’s talk about cancer with Alyssa Burkus

As the pace of business accelerates and the wider operating environment becomes ever-more complex, organisations are struggling to maintain cohesion and focus. Endless cycles of change, continuous restructuring and a lack of clarity cause engagement and goodwill to flatline. Now more than ever, internal communication is a mission-critical business function. For all this, its scope – and therefore its impact – regularly remains hard to pin down. This episode, we welcome Chris Coburn, one of the module leaders for the IOIC’s Master’s in Internal Communication management programme. He shares his thoughts on what good internal communication looks like and why it can be so challenging to define.

Gallup’s 2026 research shows global engagement has flatlined at 20%. Stress, anxiety and burnout are rife. This has a hugely detrimental effect on business performance, at precisely the time organisations need motivated colleagues to deliver innovation and transformation outcomes. This episode, Jen, Cat and Dom chat with Ellen Griley, former head of global employee communications at Cisco. With master’s degrees in communication and leadership studies and Trauma-Informed Leadership, Ellen advises on and offer trauma-informed internal communication. They discuss the rising pressure to create work cultures where people's emotional and psychological needs are recognised and how internal communication can be adapted to meet people where they are.

One area where AI is failing to deliver impact is recruitment and hiring. If anything, AI has made already inadequate processes worse. Algorithmic bias is rife and only cookie-cutter candidates seem to make it to the shortlist. This is leading to age discrimination, with people in their forties and fifties struggling to secure new job opportunities. Years of accumulated deep experience, knowledge and wisdom get overlooked and disregarded as they are impossible to whittle down in the overly standardised CV structure recruitment algorithms demand. In an already shrinking labour market, this is a disaster. In this episode, Jen, Dom and Cat chat with Victoria Tomlinson about why tapping into the talents of the over-fifties is one of the biggest opportunities in business today.

Having completed an MSc in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology, leadership development coach Ian Pettigrew wanted to share his findings. His studies have identified hope as an essential feature of any leadership communication endeavour and a linchpin of successful and lasting change. And yet it’s no mean feat to instil a sense of hope when the external operating landscape throws up persistent challenge, complexity and ambiguity. But as a recent Harvard Business Impact article noted, leaders “have astonishing influence over the internal performance environment, including employee engagement, morale, and productivity.” This episode, Jen, Cat, Dom and Ian explore the link between trust and hope and the role internal communication plays in helping build hopeful, high-performing operating environments About Ian Pettigrew Ian B Pettigrew is a coach and leadership development consultant focused on helping leaders inspire hope. He’s a Gallup-certified strengths coach, a Fellow Member of the Association for Coaching, and a member of the Association for Business Psychology. He has an MSc in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology, has twice been named by HR Magazine (in 2023 and 2026) as one of HR’s Most Influential Thinkers, and his debut book – Hope is a Strategy – is a finalist for the Business Book Awards Leadership book of the year. Ian is the founder of a skills-based volunteering initiative called Connecting HR Africa. Outside of work, Ian competes in Agility with his Border Collie, Buddy, and is currently training for an Everesting cycling challenge to raise money for charity.

Good quality, meaningful work is vital for mental, emotional and financial wellbeing. This is even more important for young people entering the labour market for the first time. US research shows university graduates entering the workforce during a recession experience lower earnings for at least 10-15 years longer than those who start work when economies are doing well. But what is good work and why does it matter? As pathways into working life face their biggest challenge in decades, creating high-quality apprenticeships matters more than ever. In this final episode of series 16, Anna Ambrose, CEO of Workwhile, shares her insights on the importance of creating work and career opportunities that deliver meaning and purpose for young people.