Welcome to Checkmate Communications
Successful strategic communications programmes require: clarity of objective; a thoughtful and focused game plan; awareness of a changing environment; and skilled management of multiple moving parts. A bit like chess.
Checkmate specialises in providing strategic communications advice and support to clients operating in complex stakeholder environments.
Checkmate Communications is designed to respond to today’s client requirements for high quality independent thought and challenge delivered through flexible and agile working arrangements. Whether it’s short term project delivery; strategic consultancy; or interim executive leadership, Checkmate is geared to provide you with a solution to meet your needs.
Checkmate draws upon a wealth of experience gained in consultancy, blue chip private sector and government agency environments. Through that experience, a range of skills and thought processes have been developed that could help your business with its communications and stakeholder challenges.
Take a look at the Checkmate checklist, and see if any of these questions resonate with you.
The Checkmate Checklist:
• Are you crystal clear on what your communications objectives are and why? Do you know if your strategy is working?
• Is your corporate narrative fit for purpose and in sync with reality? Is it consistently being applied internally and externally?
• Is your volume control at the right setting and are your messages landing with the impact you intend?
• When was the last time you reviewed your reputational risks and challenged your mitigation plans?
• Are your issues and crisis management plans in place and tested? Do you have the capability to not just defend but actually enhance your reputation in the process?
• Do you really understand your stakeholder environment? Are you proactively planning and managing your stakeholder dialogue and getting value out of the relationships you’ve developed?
• When was the last time you conducted a stakeholder audit to gain a deeper insight into how you are perceived by unlocking the views of those whose opinions really matter to you?
• Do you have someone you trust to hold a mirror up and challenge thinking on the reputational impacts of your big decisions?
• Could you call upon opinion formers and influencers to support your position in the corridors of power or in public, and would they know what to say and when to be most helpful?
• Is your company doing enough to earn its social licence to operate? Are you viewed as a valued corporate citizen? Would your business benefit from a more positive relationship with its local community?
Flexible Solutions:
A quick fix
If you have a short term capacity problem, I can provide an injection of senior level capability – from project design and set-up through to management and delivery of agreed outcomes.
Or would you benefit from a fresh pair of eyes to act as a critical friend? I can work with existing teams to provide safe, constructive challenge and support to review and improve existing plans or devise new approaches to emerging risks and opportunities.
Strategic counsel
I can bring insight, judgement and expertise based on thirty years of experience to help solve your strategic communications challenges on a project or retained basis. See the Checkmate checklist for the kind of value I can bring to your organisation.
Plugging an interim gap
Ready to hit the ground running and a safe pair of hands, I can provide interim cover for senior Corporate Communications, Public Affairs and Stakeholder Relations positions at short notice. I have built a department from scratch, led successful teams and worked in partnership with a network of subsidiary and operating companies.
About
Checkmate was launched by Jon Phillips in April 2016.
Jon has spent his entire career as a communications professional. He started in agency PR in 1987 where he cut his professional teeth in two central London consultancies working for clients such as Pitney Bowes office equipment, Southern Electric, Intercontinental Hotels, wines and spirits distributor Hedges & Butler, and the Press Association.
Shortly after BAA plc lodged its planning application for Terminal 5, Jon left the agency world to join the award winning in-house communications department at Heathrow. During a 12+ year career at BAA Heathrow, he held a variety of roles including Community Relations Manager, T5 Campaign Manager, Head of Media Relations, Assistant Director of Public Affairs and Director of Communications.
Having played a key role in winning Government approval for the £4.2 billion T5 project, Jon continued to lead on communications for the flagship project taking it well into its construction phase. During his Heathrow career he also helped to deliver global media coverage on the airport’s 50th anniversary, oversaw filming of the popular Airport documentary series, and handled many issues and crises including crash landings and Terminal 1 fire, regularly acting as company spokesperson on TV and Radio.
He also successfully completed a company-sponsored MBA with the University of Surrey.
In 2005 Jon was recruited to join a newly-created government agency established to provide strategic leadership of the UK’s publicly owned nuclear energy sector. Across Scotland, Wales and England, 17 nuclear sites previously under the ownership of BNFL and UKAEA were transferred to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority which had been given responsibility to set the UK’s first decommissioning strategy and oversee its implementation. As its first Communications & Stakeholder Relations Director, Jon’s brief was to set up a communications function from scratch and build stakeholder support for the NDA’s unique and complex mission.
As a member of the executive team and operating at Board level throughout his time at NDA, Jon helped steer the reputation of the organisation from nuclear ‘new kid on the block’ to established and respected leaders in the international nuclear industry. He worked directly with Ministers, advisers and senior officials, regulators, trade unions, NGOs, contractors and communities to build the relationships necessary for NDA to secure and deliver its £3 billion a year programme and fulfil its Energy Act responsibilities with the support and trust of its stakeholders.
Jon has now embarked upon the fourth chapter of his career with the creation of Checkmate Communications, a vehicle designed to bring his skills and experience to bear in a flexible way for a variety of clients. Jon also has a network of experienced communicators and specialists that can support him in delivering client requirements if necessary.
If you think Checkmate could help provide the answer to your strategic communications and stakeholder relations needs I’d be delighted to have a preliminary conversation. Please contact me on jonphillips.checkmate@gmail.com