Group Lead: Internal Communication at Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) presents an exciting opportunity for an experienced Group Lead: Internal Communication, to join the Public Affairs, Communication and Sustainability function in CCBA. This is a senior level resource and they lead efforts to improve CCBA’s success with their employee communication agenda.

The successful applicant will be reporting into the Group Head: Strategic Communication and Corporate Reputation.

CCBA is the largest African Coca-Cola bottler, accounting for 40% of all Coca-Cola volumes on the continent. CCBA is a NARTD market leader in Africa with an extensive footprint in Africa, employing over 17,000 employees. CCBA’s vision is to "refresh Africa every day and make the continent a better place for all", growing successfully as a business and creating a better shared future for our people, customers, consumers, communities, planet and shareholders.

The applicant may reside in any of the CCBA footprint of countries: South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia & Zambia.

The Group Lead: Internal Communication is responsible for implementing the internal communication strategy, approach and associated plans for the organisation. They use their influence to engage and network with key role players, becoming deeply embedded in the business to understand business strategy. They have an important responsibility to ensure the constant management, monitoring and evaluation of the impact of internal communications towards meeting strategic objectives.

This role will own and lead employee communication across the business, building relationships with key internal customers and oversee and/or support specified corporate events for CCBA Group Office. They communicate credible, relevant and contextualised information to the right internal audience via the appropriate platforms in order to drive message alignment across the business and create employee ambassadors at all levels of the organisation to be passionate about CCBA.

They support and enrich the employee experience by planning and delivering relevant content to help promote awareness, engagement and a sense of connection to the organisation’s vision, values and culture.

This employee is a specialist that focuses on leading the internal communications function through the organisation and ensure that best in class communications practices for employees are implemented. As an influencer, they interact with a wide variety of groups and individuals including stakeholders, employees and other functions such as HR to provide guidance on the execution of internal communication strategies. They collaborate and consult with other internal communication functions at TCCC, as well as relevant communication networking bodies, to ensure best practices are implemented within CCBA.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

Research and Knowledge:

• Continuously researching and learning about internal communication best practices
• Building alliances with external counterparts and communities of practice to exchange knowledge and ideas

Strategy and Planning:

• Formulating plans and approaches to improve internal communication
• Workshop and agree on metrics, targets and objectives for internal communication initiatives
• Formulating budgets and managing them throughout the year
• Developing relevant stakeholder maps and key internal messages
• Designing internal communication frameworks and selecting methodologies and approaches
• Ensuring alignment of messaging with external communications
• Developing and implementing communication content plans
• Developing and implementing comprehensive communication campaigns

Documentation and Processes:

• Mapping, documenting, and maintaining current internal communication practices
• Developing and distributing tool kits, support materials and work procedures
• Reviewing digital solutions and recommending them to the business
• Standardising internal communication standards and practices across countries
• Implementing methodologies and test methods to track and measure outcomes and effectiveness
• Gathering employee feedback and leveraging data for continuous improvement
• Visualising communication data for leadership teams
• Contributing inputs and insights into reports

Collaboration and Relationship Building:

• Building alliances and networks across the organisation
• Partnering with key stakeholders for message consistency
• Engaging in workshops and meetings to share approaches and plans
• Regularly meeting with team members and manager to report progress
• Attending team meetings and workshops and contributing ideas
• Supporting team members and communicating expectations
• Contributing to the shared knowledge of the team
• Supporting internal improvement initiatives within the department

Personal Development and Administration:

• Developing own competency through training, self-study, and networking
• Performing administrative requirements such as reports and time sheets

Skills, Experience & Education

Qualifications:

The minimum qualification required for this job is a degree in communication, journalism, public relations or related field. Post-graduate qualifications will be an advantage.

Experience:

8 to 10 years’ experience in in a corporate communication environment with exposure to employee communications, publications, intranet, media and related areas. Experience in the FMCG industry would be preferable, especially prior experience across markets in Africa.