Q&A with the UK Civil Aviation Authority

‘We take a people-first, value-led approach to help engage, inform and inspire colleagues’

Winner: Team > Best Public Sector or Not for Profit Team (1-5 people)

Congratulations on winning the IoIC Award. How did you feel to win?
Hearing our name called was incredible. We are a relatively new team. In fact, when we submitted our entry, our team was only just over a year old – so it was a big surprise. We were proud to have been shortlisted, and to win was just amazing.

What do you think makes your team so special?
It was important that our entry reflected who we are as a team and the breadth of our work, and clearly demonstrated how we put colleagues at the heart of everything we do.

We included visual representations of all our comms campaigns to help bring them to life and included testimonials from colleagues, our most important stakeholders, that highlight our success and the impact we were able to have across the organisation.

What do you put your success down to?
Before embarking on campaigns or projects, we take a step back and consider how our work will help colleagues in their own roles, if it aligns with our organisation’s priorities and how it reinforces the CAA’s mission of protecting people and enabling aerospace. 

Additionally, the CAA Values (Never Stop Learning; Do the Right Thing; Build Collaborative Relationships; and Respect Everyone) are fundamental to our work in IC. This people-first, value-led approach helps us engage, inform and inspire colleagues at all levels of the CAA. 

What advice would you give to anyone considering entering the IoIC Awards next year?
We found it helpful to have each team member provide snapshots, screengrabs and data from their areas of focus and provide it to a central member to curate into our entry. This ensured each person was involved in the process and adequately and accurately captured the scope of our work, but, by having one person lead, it meant our entry spoke with one voice that was representative of us all. 
 

What do you think of when you think of IoIC?
When we think of IoIC, the word “opportunity” comes to mind. As a relatively new and small team, the award from IoIC was great validation of our work from our professional peers. We really appreciated the opportunity for us to shine a spotlight on our work. We also benefit greatly from the knowledge, training and event opportunities IoIC provides throughout the year. 

As an IC team, what would you like to achieve next? 
Now we’ve established ourselves as an internal comms function and proven we can deliver, we’re keen to push to the next level, developing more effective collaborative partnerships and connections with departments across our organisation. We want to be seen as a more strategic support partner, understanding and anticipating what the organisation needs, to help us set the internal agenda and reach more colleagues effectively.