Latest / Cutting Through with Natasha Plowman / Cutting Through with Alexia Sommer

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Cutting Through with Alexia Sommer · Cutting Through with Natasha Plowman

• 0:19
  Welcome to Cutting Through With Me, Natasha Claman.
• 0:21
  Today I'm joined by Alexia Summer, who is the Chief
• 0:24
  Communications Officer for Wholesome, a Swiss company
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  working mainly in the building trade, but we'll hear more about
• 0:31
  that in just a moment. Alexia and I worked together
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  many years ago and got our stripes in corporate affairs and
• 0:37
  communications at Diageo where we work, particularly in Western
• 0:40
  Europe. She's gone on to amazing things
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  and I'm looking forward to hearing more from her about
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  where her career has taken her from those those starting days
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  at Diageo in London. So welcome to Cutting through
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  Alexia. So First off, give me a little
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  bit of a whistle stop tour to who you are and what makes you
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  tick. Hi Natasha, great to be here.
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  Thank you for the invitation. As you mentioned we were
• 1:01
  together at Diageo. We did a fantastic work in terms
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  of connecting people and our stakeholders with purpose.
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  My job has continued in the same arena.
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  So I worked for some time in the travel industry and now have
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  been with Wholesome just over 4 years.
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  First in employee communications, enabling world
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  class events and making sure that we actually put our story
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  on loudspeaker with digital and advocacy.
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  And now, since April, I've expanded my remit to look over
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  the overall communications agenda for Wholesome.
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  So let's kind of get a bit of an understanding of who Wholesome
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  is, because what we want to talk about today is how you've had to
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  use all of your communications knowledge and corporate affairs
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  insight to build visibility and change the perception of the
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  company. So can you give us a bit of an
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  overview of what they do now, where they're going to move to
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  in the future? Yeah, that's a that's a great
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  question. So often when you read the
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  headlines about wholesome or if people ask you about it, they'll
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  say, oh, that's a cement company or that's the cement giant.
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  But the amazing thing is that actually once you uncover this
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  business and the industry, it's actually much more than this.
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  What we do is offer actually one of the largest ranges of
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  building solutions. So that's everything you need
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  from the foundation and the flooring all the way to the
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  walling and roofing. A big part of it across the
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  different audiences is to change that perception that it's not
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  just about offering one product, but actually offering that whole
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  range for you to build. And so much of where our
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  economies need to go, a reliance on kind of building and getting
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  the right building structures in place to be fit for the future.
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  I mean also it's been really interesting reading up about
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  Wholesome around how they're trying to change perceptions of
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  the building industry, particularly in an environment
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  where we're looking at sustainable change and the
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  impact of of climate change on different companies.
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  Is that something you've seen increasing in your remit over
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  the last couple of years? Yeah, absolutely.
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  So actually one of the biggest opportunities to actually
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  decarbonize the built environment comes from within
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  our industry. And that's actually a big
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  motivator why people join the company.
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  You have many different levers that you can pull in order to do
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  that. So you can either look at, you
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  know, the operations itself, looking at different ways to
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  decarbonize it. You can look at decarbonizing
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  our product range itself, helping people create an more
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  sustainable buildings. So looking at your building
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  choices, where do you get the best energy efficiency through
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  your insulation? What types of decisions can you
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  make on roofing that ultimately would reduce your carbon
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  footprint across the life cycle of the building?
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  And then what's quite interesting is at the final
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  stage, when a building is no longer, it can no longer be
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  renovated or prolonged in terms of the time that it's in use,
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  what do you do with that building once it's knocked down?
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  And this is something that a lot of people don't know.
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  You can actually take that building, recycle it properly so
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  sort it, and then actually reuse that material into new products
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  like like concrete motors or other building solutions.
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  It's interesting. So I had in a previous podcast,
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  I had Matt Seacole, who kind of is The Who has ESG advocate a
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  fantastic sub stack if anyone wants to kind of be up on some
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  of the sustainability issues. And we unpicked a little bit
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  more around some of the politicisation of some of these
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  issues, which I won't necessarily go there now, but
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  it's it was really interesting to hear, you know, this is just
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  the way you do business now. This isn't some kind of special
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  tick box exercise. How you talk about and how you
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  build resonance with wholesome seems to be sustainability.
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  Is that red thread around what you do?
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  Would you say that's kind of how your business is really trying
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  to kind of build its own purpose and its own visibility with
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  customers in particular? Yes, absolutely.
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  So we are all connected by our purpose, building progress for
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  people and the planet. And that means that you can
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  actually work with different people along the value chain
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  from the policy to the strategic planning, when you're doing
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  design and feasibility studies all the way to post construction
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  circularity when a building is at the end of its life cycle.
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  So actually as you partner across the value chain, you can
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  enable conversations and considerations in order to make
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  the building ultimately more sustainable.
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  And actually also to earn recognition for that as it
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  becomes more desirable also for people like us who who live or
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  work studying a building. Yeah.
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  And that's what we all do. I mean, often when we talk
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  around the impact that we're seeing on the environment, it is
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  often buildings. And I really like that
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  circularity is absolutely embedded into everything you do.
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  And you've looked at how you can reuse products rather than
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  always go for virgin products, which is an interesting part of
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  of the building trades, which I think a lot of people don't
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  realise. But I suppose when we first
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  started talking about coming on cutting through, I mean it's
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  like one of the things you really wanted to talk about is
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  how you changed that perception of being a cement company to
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  being a more end to end building company, which we've talked
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  about now. So how we've so talking about
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  some of the tactics and some of the things that you kind of
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  really put in place to change that perception and where are
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  you saying that impacting the business more positively?
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  So what we do is look at case studies across the world, So
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  what we call building icons and what we do there is actually
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  feature where are they really at the cutting edge of innovation
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  and sustainability. So these can be projects in
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  Athens, Melbourne, all the way to London.
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  One example is actually quite near you in the Canary Wharf,
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  where we partnered with the architect to be among the first
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  to actually use recycled construction materials in new
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  products. And actually through that
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  process, we actually proved to the policy makers, the local
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  public authorities, that this is a possibility, that you don't do
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  any compromise in terms of strength or durability and that
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  it's a feasible mechanism for building in the future.
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  So through the projects itself, we can provoke further thinking
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  across the value chain and actually push the boundaries in
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  terms of making it a showcase for the way of building in the
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  future. So let's bring it back a little
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  bit to communications. So you know, how have you found
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  the way you've come from in your career?
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  I mean, you know, we had the same kind of training in lots of
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  ways working at Diageo and being really focused on our
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  reputation, being focused around audiences.
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  How have you taken that through into your role now to kind of
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  change perceptions of wholesome as a communicator?
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  Yeah. So I think the great thing about
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  communications is that once you know the tricks of the trade,
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  you can really use that across industry.
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  And I think my career has definitely shown that there's
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  some key elements. So in terms of the magic is
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  definitely around storytelling, that's art that's as old as
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  humankind. And in fact, that's actually one
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  of the biggest tools that any of us have in order to be an
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  influencer. I think where we've become more
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  sophisticated as communications professionals in addition to
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  impact and measurement is the ability to be very audience
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  centric, which is really much more necessary in today's
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  fragmented world. So for us at Wholesome, we
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  really know very clearly who are our priority audiences.
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  So we really look at, for example, talents, we look at the
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  building value chain as we discussed at length earlier, the
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  city makers, the sustainable building partners.
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  And of course, what's ultimately very important to us as a
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  communications team is to look at the investor communications
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  as well, who are ultimately the ones who enable us to create the
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  value for the people, for customers and for shareholders.
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  So each of them we really look at how do we reach them in the
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  most optimal way possible, but also how do we capture them with
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  messaging that that resonates with them.
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  Yeah, I mean, that's always music to my ears when fellow
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  communicators talk around being really audience 1st and audience
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  centric. And I know in my own for my own
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  career, but also my own consultancy, that's always the
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  absolute foundation is who do you want to speak to and what do
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  you want them to either think, feel or do differently.
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  And I think that's a definitely more of the way that I stole
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  from Dias these days as well. But everything you're doing is
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  connected to how your business makes money, where your business
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  is now, where it needs to go into the future.
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  And that seems to be so integral to the kind of commercial
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  realities of how communication supports the business.
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  So are you saying that your ability to speak the language of
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  the business is empowered and enabled you to have more
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  influence on getting the case studies, getting the information
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  and being able to then share it with the right audiences?
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  Yeah, absolutely. So recently we we relaunched or
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  we launched a new strategy, Next Gen Growth and communications
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  had a seat directly at the table there, which is obviously very
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  important as we simplify messages, make them
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  understandable to all the different audiences and make
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  sure that it's in a way that everybody can understand and
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  connect to. I think something that's quite
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  unique about Wholesome is that there's a business case that's
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  linked to each and every action that we do.
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  So we have many examples where sustainability is driving
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  profitable growth. And with that, it's much easier
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  to then tell the communications and the story in a way that
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  actually directly impacts the bottom line.
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  It sounds so obvious in so many ways, but it's always not as
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  common for that commercial reality.
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  Often we find some communications to be more
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  building fame for the company rather than influencing the
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  stakeholders that you're trying to influence.
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  So it's, you know, it sounds like the strategic direction of
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  what you're doing is absolutely founded in those those
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  commercial and audience outcomes as well.
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  So how what has been your most favourite thing that you've
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  worked on to really enable wholesome to kind of suppose,
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  cut through some of the the murkiness of the building
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  industry and be seen as a leading life in what you're
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  doing now? I think one thing that's really
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  special is that we actually enable our employees to be
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  ambassadors for wholesome. So rather than having specific
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  stakeholders who are pushing out the message, actually what we
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  try to do is make sure that everybody sees what is their
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  role in bringing the purpose and the vision and the strategy to
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  life. And that means that we have over
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  48,000 ambassadors for the organisation who are all singing
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  from the same hymn sheet. And this is something that we
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  did quite early when I joined. It wasn't just about sessions
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  that equipped and made sure that people had a strong feeling of
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  who this company is and, and their role in it.
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  But we also dubbed our employees as builders of progress.
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  And this is essentially, you know, through three small words,
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  you can actually shift people's mindset and you can then as an
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  individual say, OK, I'm not just working here, but actually I'm
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  making a contribution to building progress for people in
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  the planet. And therefore, actually no
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  matter where you go, which whichever of the 45 markets that
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  we operate, you'll see when you talk to people, you can actually
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  hear their direct impact on the business.
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  So there's so many stories that we can tell.
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  It's actually an endless amount of stories that actually then
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  inspires the next person to say, hey, I could do that too.
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  And I would like to, or I will take this best practise and
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  actually let's see if we can change the formulation and be
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  even more innovative with it. So it's really about empowering
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  our people. Which is brilliant.
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  And I think, you know, that's often where, you know, internal
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  communications become so much more important.
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  It isn't about a broadcasting of messages to people.
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  It is about that engagement and involvement, which is in the
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  language, but not always as evidence in some of the
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  communications tactics that we use.
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  And there's something interesting that you've said
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  around the channels that you started using differently and
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  using external channels like LinkedIn to kind of build that
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  ambassadorship. Is that something that's been
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  really successful to to kind of change perceptions of wholesome?
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  Yeah, absolutely. So we're on we're Instagram,
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  Facebook with LinkedIn, we're about to hit 1,000,000
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  followers. So encourage you to be one of
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  the final few in on that course to 1,000,000, which is quite
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  good for AB to B Company. So yeah, of course social media
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  and we also know that our own employees are actively involved
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  in it. So it actually becomes one of
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  the most powerful employee communications channels as well.
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  But what we also do is look at specific leadership platforms so
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  where people can do speaker engagements to get the messages
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  and have more of a dialogue with relevant stakeholder groups.
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  We also look at third party recognition.
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  So it's one thing to be known as a top company for
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  sustainability, but when that's actually validated by external
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  parties, it's much more powerful.
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  So that's something very special in our own communications mix
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  that we always try to close the loop and look at where can we
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  earn recognition for that and then do another communications
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  round with our our partners on that.
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  Yeah. So it's also, I mean, like you
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  said, you've got the strategy, you know what you're trying to
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  achieve. It's lined up to the business
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  and it all seems seems to be linked up in a coordinated well,
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  which is a testament to the kind of the work that you and your
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  team are doing and also that obviously there's value and the
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  businesses value in the role of communications and corporate
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  affairs. So what's coming up, coming up
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  next? So what's your next big hurdle
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  that you're trying to solve in Wholesome's journey?
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  Yeah. So this is coming back again to
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  where we started. It's looking at how do we really
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  sell that whole building solutions for any project that
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  is coming up. So looking beyond selling
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  individual products to actually selling yeah, across the way.
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  So that's also for us the ability to know your product
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  portfolio extremely well and be able to specify that with
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  architects and other partners across the building value chain.
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  Brilliant. And what about for you, what
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  would you say is the big thing that you want to drive forward
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  in the next, next kind of six months?
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  Yeah. For me personally, it is
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  continuing that journey that everybody really understands the
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  strategy, understands what we will communicate and equally
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  what do we say no to so that we have very focused communications
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  where you can always see that line of sight back to the impact
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  that it's having on the company. So I think that's the biggest
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  gift that we can give as a communications team, both
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  internally and externally, that it's very clear who wholesome
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  is, what we stand for, and the impact that we have on society.
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  So I think most of my listeners will be really interested to
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  hear, you know, from about your career and where you've got to.
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  So give me a little bit of a snapshot of how many people in
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  your team that you've got in Wholesome.
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  Yeah. So we're, we call it small but
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  nimble team, we're actually about 15 people in the group
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  communications team. We're supported by a
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  communications network which is close to 200.
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  So this is kind of our secret sauce that we're actually really
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  a strong communications team across the world and we're able
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  to activate very actually and nimbly across different things
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  that come up or to roll out key community indications campaigns.
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  So while centrally we might be relatively small, we feel that
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  we have a very good set up. Yeah, no, it sounds like it.
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  And obviously the impact you're having is is obviously clear to
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  be seen. So look, thank you so much for
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  coming on, coming through Alexia, It's been really, really
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  interesting to hear more about wholesome, but also so much
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  around your journey of being an internal communicator and then
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  moving more towards the external communications, but also how
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  central internal employee communications always to the
• 17:40
  business strategy. It isn't a part of the function
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  that is seen as, you know, a nice to have.
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  It is absolutely integral for communications practitioners to
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  understand that area. And I think what we've really
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  heard is how, you know, you've used all of the communications
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  tactics that you've got to kind of cut through the noise and get
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  wholesome known and visible to the audiences that they need to
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  know. So thank you so much for coming
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  on to Cutting through. It's been a real pleasure to be
• 18:04
  reacquainted with you and hear how you're doing.
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  And congratulations again on the new job.
• 18:08
  It's fantastic to see. Thank you, Natasha for the
• 18:11
  opportunity. Let's let's keep cutting
• 18:13
  through. Absolutely.
• 18:14
  Thank you.