Hub member profile: Ali Carruthers, McDonald's

Ali Carruthers, formerly head of internal communications at

McDonald's UK, is now head of management communications
for McDonald’s Europe. Here, she discusses her role at
McDonald’s and the future of internal communications.

What has been your career path in internal

communication?
I have a degree in PR from Mount Saint Vincent University in
Canada, which involved a year’s practical experience, including a
work term in internal communications. I moved to London in 1996 and
took an internal communications role at Mercury Communications
(which became Cable and Wireless Communications), then joined
Virgin Atlantic as internal communications manager before taking the
role at McDonald’s UK.

What initiatives have you planned for your new role?

My immediate focus is to find innovative ways for the European
management team to enhance how they communicate with each
other. I need to know what they want to achieve and understand the
needs of their key internal audiences, so that we can find the best
ways to make the connections.

What strategies are used to communicate with McDonald’s

employees?
Globally, we have a blog from our COO, Mike Roberts, and there are
other initiatives that come from the US, as well as UK- and Europe-
specific strategies. In the UK, we need to communicate with our
restaurant employees differently than with office-based (support)
employees. We use magazines and crew communication kits – which
include games and competitions – to engage them in the introduction
of new menu items and other key programs. Sometimes, we use
video to put names to faces and explain initiatives. We place a great
deal of emphasis on face-to-face training.
 We use crew communication kits – which include games and
competitions – to engage employees in the introduction of key
programs.

For our restaurant managers we operate a strict “email protocol”

which means that they can expect to receive key business
information before 2pm on Mondays, enabling them to spend more
time with their teams and customers. For our UK office-based
employees we have “Town Hall” sessions that people can attend live
in the head office or regional offices and/or watch web-streamed live
or watch later if they’ve got something else on.

What challenges are you likely to face in your new position?

Getting to know the personalities of the new European senior
management team and reviewing the existing communications
strategy to find the best ways to support the new team. Plus, trying to
find strategies that work across all the different systems in all the
different countries, which respect their language and cultural
differences.

What key skills should an internal communicator possess?

To be good at listening and being diplomatic, observing and knowing
when it’s important to influence decisions, and to find and choose
opportunities to make change happen in the most effective way.

Do you have any tips for influencing management decisions?

Always do what you promise you’ll do. Make sure you feed back to
management what you’ve heard from employees, in a respectful
manner. Choose your time wisely to make sure your audience is
receptive to what you’re saying.

We share information with employees about our commitment

to the community through things like our Ronald McDonald Children’s
Charity.

Being able to show results is good – in our “Your Viewpoint” employee

survey, conducted throughout McDonald’s UK, it was a reflection of
my team’s hard work that out of 25 departments, internal
communications (in its first year as a separate department from
corporate affairs), was ranked fourth for our support employees and
seventh for the restaurant teams.

Will McDonald’s’ recent corporate responsibility report affect

its internal communications practices?
We’ve always believed in the importance of this area as it directly
links to the pride people feel in the company. We share information
with our employees about our commitment to the community through
things like our Ronald McDonald Children’s Charity, our “Just Bin It”
program promoting environmental responsibility through education
about litter and recycling, and our creation of nearly 10,000 coaches
in partnership with the Football Association. The publication of the
report is likely to mean an increased focus on telling those stories
internally.

What challenges and trends are internal communicators likely

to face in the future?
The advance of technology will improve access to and for remote
employees. There’ll be a greater emphasis on corporate responsibility
– companies will need to listen more to what employees are saying.