🫖 Internal Communications Introductions: Meet Rachel Miller

Director, All Things IC; International Internal Communications Consultant and Mentor

I enjoyed learning about Rachel Miller’s internal communications career. This is her story.

About Rachel

Rachel Miller is an internationally recognized authority on internal communication. Through her business, All Things IC, she advises professional communicators via training, consultancy, and mentoring.

Her clients include ARM, BBC, LEGO, NHS, HSE and Transport for London. She’s taught 2500 Comms pros via her in-person and Online Masterclasses and written her popular blog since 2009.

Rachel is a Chartered PR professional and Fellow of both the Institute of Internal Communication and Chartered Institute of Public Relations. She’s a regular keynote speaker whose thoughts have been featured in several best-selling PR books and she hosts the Candid Comms podcast. She lives in London, UK.

You can find her on Twitter @AllThingsIC or her website www.allthingsic.com.

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What sparked your professional path into Internal Communications?

I started my career as a Journalist back in 1999 and discovered the world of internal communication four years later. I was looking for my next career move and found an Internal Communication Executive role via an online jobs board. I’d never heard of corporate communication before as I’d gone straight from education into a newsroom.

The role drew on all the areas I loved including writing, meeting new people, editing and interviewing. It piqued my interest because there were many areas I’d never considered and I was excited to learn more.  

Using my skills to benefit employees and organizations, rather than to sell newspapers was incredibly attractive. I’ve never looked back and thoroughly enjoy being an internal communicator.

How do you describe your current work in the field?

I’m an international consultant, trainer and mentor who helps internal communicators thrive in their roles.

One of the wonderful things about this profession is the requirement to constantly learn, innovate and raise standards. I’ve been teaching Comms pros via Masterclasses since 2016 and to date have trained 2,500 communicators in person or online.

I founded All Things IC consultancy back in 2013 to advise and support in-house internal communicators. I’d been blogging about all things IC related since 2009 and wanted to expand my work.

Working in internal communication is a privilege as you’re invited to discover how a business truly works, from the inside out.

I’ve been building my team and what drives and motivates us is the ethos of nurturing IC pros. That shows up in a variety of ways, from consultancy, training and mentoring to my podcast episodes. I relaunched my podcast at the start of 2021 and through Candid Comms I’ve connected with Comms pros around the globe and will be featuring some international guests in season two.

What is one project you are particularly proud to have accomplished?

I launched The All Things IC Inner Circle in 2021, which is a membership to support senior-level internal communicators. It lived in my heart and head for five years and I’m proud to have turned it into reality. I knew from my own experience and one-to-one conversations with Comms Directors and Heads of IC that working at this level can be lonely.  

Seeing the group of six peers work together to support and advise each other brings me such joy as the collective wisdom in the group is amazing. The current group includes senior Comms pros from the US, UK and Luxembourg. I work with a different cohort every six months, we have a two-hour monthly mastermind and I have monthly 1-2-1 calls with them all.

What are the skills that are most important for someone to succeed in Internal Communications?

You need to be constantly curious about people and cultures. This means always asking questions and not stopping until you get to grips with what’s happening. As professional communicators, it’s our business to know our business from the inside out. So you need to develop fantastic relationships at all levels inside a company and hone your listening skills.

How do you continue learning about the field of Internal Communications?

I’m fascinated by the world of internal communication and work with hundreds of Comms pros each year through my work.

I’ve been blogging about IC for 12 years and published 1500 articles to date – which equates to 11 books’ worth of content. All my research and interviews for those articles mean I’m constantly learning. Looking at the search terms people use to reach my blog tells me what’s top of mind for communicators.

I mentor IC professionals through All Things IC and through the Institute of Internal Communication. Through those conversations I’m able to constantly learn and help my mentees increase their skills, knowledge and confidence, while also improving mine too.