The British Association of Communicators in Business (CiB) – soon to be the Institute of Internal Communication – has launched its Advanced Diploma of Proficiency in Internal Communication as a key part of its strategy to raise industry standards.
Professional accreditation is a core role for the new Institute, along with thought leadership and advocacy for good communication.
The Advanced Diploma is the second element of CiB’s two-part qualification. It is designed to help communicators deal with the increasing complexity of internal communication practice and growing employer expectation for a significant, and quantifiable, contribution to the achievement of overall business objectives. It continues CiB’s progress towards a complete suite of industry-recognized qualifications for practitioners at all career stages.
This launch follows on from a highly successful first year for CiB’s Foundation Diploma for new entrants to the profession, with the Advanced Diploma setting the standard of proficiency for an experienced internal communication practitioner. It calls for a greater depth of skills and knowledge than the Foundation Diploma, together with the broad business and organizational understanding expected of a professional aspiring to operate effectively at management level.
Areas covered by the Advanced Diploma include understanding of business issues such as customer relationships, financial reporting and the impact of the economy; organizational culture; interpersonal and presentation skills; planning and delivering internal communication programmes; management of stakeholders, internal/external clients and suppliers; measurement and evaluation.
Students are required to attend an initial stimulus event, develop an evidence-based experience portfolio and take part in a group project.
The first candidates will join the programme in March 2010.
Senior internal communication practitioners with very broad-ranging experience – public and private sector, in-house and agency – have shown huge support for the benefits offered by the Diploma programme, with 30 signing up to be part of the independent monitoring panel that assesses the students.
CiB education and accreditation director Sheila Parry comments: ‘’For internal communication to achieve its full potential, it has to be seen as an integral part of an organization’s top-level strategy. However, for this to be a reality, internal communication practitioners also have to be able to liaise effectively with senior management and have a well-rounded understanding of business issues, as well as possessing first-rate skills relating to their own function.
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“The Advanced Diploma will ensure that individuals have firm foundations for dealing with today’s challenges, and is a key element of our focus on raising practitioner performance levels and the standards of organizational internal communications across the UK.”
