Natasha Collins-Daniel, Head of Communications at Centre for Sustainable Energy
As Head of Communications at The Soil Association, Ruth took on the challenge of revamping our communications through developing and embedding a new organisational tone of voice. At first, there was a lot of initial skepticism from different teams, along with conflicting opinion about what the organisation should convey.
But Ruth demonstrated understanding and compassion, listening to colleagues concerns and challenges. She then used diplomacy and tact to find solutions, in a way that brought people along on the journey. Ruth engaged people through showing rather than telling colleagues about the value of a consistent tone of voice. This really resonated with varied and people from a range of backgrounds and job roles across the organisation. It also meant they genuinely contributed to the development of the new tone of voice, and were therefore more engaged.
Ruth’s passion for storytelling and putting audiences first shone through, particularly when she initiated a training programme to support teams in gaining more confidence with their writing skills. She successfully delivered several workshops and activities, all of which had positive feedback and strong attendance from colleagues across the organisation. Not only did people gain more confidence and enjoyed writing more, but our communications became clearer, as well as more open and confident.
