The 5 Love Languages & Comms
Now, I find that my best ideas come to me either in the bathroom or just as I’m drifting off to sleep, and the theme for this newsletter is no exception!
If you haven’t heard of the 5 Love Languages™ before, the concept is quite simple, and I think has some interesting overlap with the world of comms: “different people with different personalities give and receive love in different ways. By learning to recognize these preferences in yourself and in your loved ones, you can learn to identify the root of your conflicts, connect more profoundly, and truly begin to grow closer.”
I've listed the 5 love languages below and how they relate to our latest IABC news - enjoy!
Before I get into the meat of this blog, I wanted to give a special welcome to all our new members! We had a very successful Member Month campaign in March, and our membership grew by 30%. Make sure you follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to stay up to date with all our campaigns and events.
Acts of Service: For these people, actions speak louder than words.
April is Volunteer Month at IABC. You can read more about the value of volunteering in this article. I’d like to extend a special thank you to all the members of the UK & Ireland team – it’s a pleasure to volunteer alongside you and learn from each other every day!
We will be looking for new Board members soon for the 2022-2023 year. Please reach out to Simon Monger if you’re interested and would like to know more.
And if you’d like to get involved as a mentor, we will have a short introduction to our award-winning mentoring programme as well as some speed mentoring on Monday 25 April at 6pm BST.
Receiving Gifts: For some people, receiving a heartfelt gift is what makes them feel most loved.
Not long before our next Gift of Comms event. These have been very popular in the past, and are open for IABC members to participate.
You’ll be matched with a charity so you can understand who they are and what they want to achieve. You can then share advice and suggestions specifically relevant to them, during a two-hour session.
Give the gift of Communications
Quality Time: This language is all about giving the other person your undivided attention.
We all know the value of knowing and listening to your audience and their needs.
Check out the latest Listening report by Howard Krais, Mike Pounsford and Dr Kevin Ruch on The critical role of senior leaders for effective listening in organisations.
And speaking of listening, if you were a woman in PR in the 90s, Gloria Walker is supporting a research study into this period and wants to hear about what it was like for women in the PR & Comms industry.
Words of Affirmation: This language uses words to affirm other people.
I found this interesting article about how people don’t actually quit their jobs to look for better compensation. Most of them leave because they didn’t feel valued and lack a sense of belonging at work.
Getting into the habit of writing short but meaningful thank you notes could make a huge difference, both to your happiness and that of your colleagues at work. Give it a try and let me know how it goes!
Read the article on thank you notes
Physical Touch: To this person, nothing speaks more deeply than appropriate physical touch.
OK maybe I’m stretching the metaphor here, but two years of lockdowns, it’s so exciting to be meeting in-person! Being in the physical presence of colleagues, friends and family makes such a difference, and at IABC we’re keen to bring communicators together again.
World Conference is upon us!
Register now for IABC’s flagship global event, World Conference in New York, NY, and meet comms pros from all over the world.
Next in-person networking
Join us for Off The Clock networking on 19 May at 6pm BST. The location is TBC but will be a London pub.
And before we go… some sneak previews
Take care from both Laura and Whoolio
We’re working on a lot of great initiatives for our IABC UK & Ireland members, some of which aren’t quite ready, but I wanted to give you a sneak preview.
In the coming weeks we will be re-launching our website! It needed a revamp, clearer navigation and better usability, so we’ve been working on a new platform and will be sharing it with you very soon…
We are planning an exciting in-person conference in the UK for later this year… so if you missed out on World Conference or want to meet more local communicators, watch this space!
And finally, you may have seen him at yesterday’s pub drinks, but our new mascot Whoolio will be out and about, and you can learn more about him and what he represents by following us on LinkedIn and Twitter
I do hope to see you at one of our next events, in-person or virtually!
Until then, take care,
Laura
Laura Desert
IABC UK & Ireland President 2021-22
Internal Communications Manager (Lead), CityFibre
