5-Day Corporate Communications Masterclass

Master every dimension of corporate communication in five intensive days.

Corporate communication professionals are expected to operate across multiple specialist disciplines - and do all of them well. This five-day programme builds breadth and depth across internal communication, ESG strategy and communication, and advanced media engagement. Each day covers a distinct discipline in depth, combining best practice frameworks with practical workshops tailored to the industries and challenges in the room.

What this course covers

Internal communication strategy and campaigns, change management and employee engagement, ESG strategy, reporting and stakeholder communication, and advanced media relations and media engagement.

How it works

This five-day programme runs in a small, boardroom-format group of senior professionals. Each day covers a distinct specialist discipline, with modules combining evidence-based best practice briefings, structured discussions, practical workshops and peer learning. Your trainers tailor content to the specific industries, organisations and challenges in the room. The format has a coaching and consulting flavour - you work on real situations and produce outputs you can apply immediately. You will leave with practical capability across every dimension of corporate communication - internal, ESG, media and stakeholder engagement.

What you will be able to do

• Create effective internal communication strategies and campaigns
• Motivate and engage employees through periods of change and disruption
• Support and communicate with employees effectively in times of crisis
• Design ESG strategy and reporting frameworks for your organisation
• Craft credible messaging and positioning for ESG initiatives
• Navigate the relationship between PR and the media at a senior level
• Build editorial authority and drive thought leadership through media engagement
• Advise and support spokespeople for media encounters

Internal communication strategy and planning This module covers how to create an internal communication strategy with organisational systems and a practical action plan.

• The IC strategy framework and planning cycle
• Defining your messages
• Selecting your channels
• Business ownership for internal communications and the profile of the IC specialist

Internal communication tools, channels and campaigns This module covers how to select and deploy the right channels and tools for internal communications.

• Auditing and selecting the right channels
• Technology and collaboration tools
• Creating effective and creative internal communication campaigns
• Showcase of international best practice campaigns
• The importance of the information cascade

Change management This module explores how internal communication can support change within the organisation.

• Change programmes and sources of change
• A practical roadmap for communicating change
• Handling the downside: communicating bad news
• Keys to successful knowledge management

Internal communication in a crisis This module explores the role of internal communication during a crisis that impacts an organisation.

• Preventing internal issues from becoming a crisis
• The role of the internal communicator in crisis management
• Communicating with employees during a crisis
• Supporting employees during trauma
• Aligning internal and external communications in times of crisis

ESG strategy and communication This module covers the principles and rationale for ESG and approaches for developing an effective strategy for your organisation.

• Understanding the concept and context of ESG and its growing role in organisations
• Exploring the role of corporate communications in ESG strategy
• Overview of key concepts and terminology in ESG strategy and communication
• ESG strategy design and reporting frameworks
• Case studies on effective ESG strategy and reporting

ESG messaging and stakeholder communication This module covers how to generate effective positioning and deploy it consistently across stakeholder audiences.

• Identifying key stakeholders and their expectations related to ESG
• Crafting compelling narratives around ESG strategy, goals and achievements
• Developing a key message framework for ESG
• Selecting and integrating communication channels for ESG campaigns
• Effective communication techniques for complex ESG topics

Advanced media dynamics This module covers top-level approaches to media management from a communication director's perspective.

• Navigating the charged relationship between PR and the media
• Balancing tactics and strategy
• Trends and developments in media relations tactics
• Online media relations

This module covers strategic engagement with journalists at a senior editorial level.

• Building authority in the media
• Thought leadership
• Stimulating and managing third party advocacy
• Issues-led media relations: planned opportunism
• Handling tricky media situations

Ethics in media relations This module covers why and how communications professionals can and should uphold ethical standards in dealings with the media.

• Managing the reputation of the reputation managers
• Universal codes and principles of ethics as applied to PR
• Veracity, harm avoidance, beneficence, confidentiality and fairness

Supporting spokespeople This module covers how to prepare senior spokespeople to perform well in media interviews, from the perspective of a communication director.

• Media insight
• Analysing the news landscape
• Practical messaging for interviews
• Q&A and briefing documents

Who should attend This course is for senior PR managers, communications directors and agency professionals who want a comprehensive grounding across all the key corporate communication disciplines. It is ideal if your role spans multiple specialist areas and you want to strengthen your capability across all of them.

All prices exclude local VAT where applicable

The following are some of the ISOC trainers who regularly lead this course, depending whether you join us in London, Dubai or live online.

Corporate communications strategist and trainer

Corporate communications professional with 20 years' international experience. Former Jumeirah Group and Rezidor Hotel Group. Co-founder of In2 Consulting, Dubai. Former MEPRA board member.

Corporate trainer and leadership coach

Senior corporate trainer with over 20 years' experience in hospitality, sales and leadership. Former Director of Operations, Hotel Dynamics Middle East. Coaches individuals in management, leadership and interpersonal communication.

Elena Yakunina

Strategic communications and reputation specialist

Communications and PR professional with 15+ years' experience. Former comms lead at Nestlé, GlaxoSmithKline and Ehrmann AG in Russia and Eurasia. London Business School leadership alumna. Speaks English, Russian and French.

Communications specialist and executive coach

Communications specialist and certified executive coach with 15+ years' international experience. Former comms lead at Burj Al Arab, Jumeirah Group and Euromonitor International. Trains on executive presence, communication strategy and reputation management.

Corporate trainer and executive communication coach

Corporate trainer and communication coach with 15+ years' experience in government, education and industry. Former advisor in the Canadian federal government. Certified executive coach. Master's in communication. Delivers in Arabic, English and French.

What participants say

"Covered all the key concepts and went deeper into specific areas based on student feedback. Very well presented - general enough to apply to many situations and detailed enough to action next steps. Great job of covering all the essentials in a limited period of time."

DECIEM

"Anouska provided valuable insight into internal communications. Her wealth of knowledge and experience was showcased in her explanations and the relevant examples provided. This contributed to the content being easier to understand and applicable to current job functions."

"Very enlightening course for corporate communicators. Also, a good refresher for those in the system. I mostly enjoyed the creativity training where we got to analyse different campaigns, as well as guidelines for crisis management."

TotalEnergies EP Uganda

"Thanks to a very good organization, the quality of the material presented, the quality of the trainer and the user-friendly online tool, I have many take-away points from this course to capitalise on."

Judith Adrien

UN Climate Change

"It gives good tools and a strategic point of view about internal communications, the module of crisis management is applicable not only to the current situation but also to future crisis situations."

"Frances was very clear, shared lots of experience, and facilitated conversations and workshops very effectively."

Viktoriia Gryshko

Philips

Frequently asked questions

Yes. We deliver this course for teams of any size, tailored to your organisation's context and objectives. Contact us to discuss your requirements.

The Corporate Communication Programme covers specialist technical disciplines - internal communication, ESG strategy and media engagement . click apply for full job details