Brian O'Connell Email & Phone Number

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Actively seeking a role in Internal Communications, Employee Engagement, and Employee Experience, with emphasis on driving strategic clarity and alignment, engagement and motivation, and supporting the broad People & Culture agenda. I recently took time away to be with my family in the UK. After supporting each other through a difficult period, I have returned to Sydney with renewed enthusiasm and clarity of purpose.

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Rebuilt the global communications function of this ASX-listed, AI-enabled digital investigations company, and a global, enterprise-wide 'head of' role, focusing on the employee experience and delivering a cultural turnaround.COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGIES: covering channels, audience analysis, content planning calendar and editorial processes, corporate and executive messaging, sensitive HR topics, and advising C-Suite.✅ Improved engagement with content by 120% in 6 months through creative messaging and streamlined channel management.CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION: close collaboration with the Chief People Officer, using the Cultural Web framework, employer branding, wellbeing, and a focus on diversity, inclusion and belonging initiatives.✅ 18% improvement in Glassdoor ratings.SUCCESS MEASURES: expanded use of metrics and analytics to assess performance of content and messaging, and to shape and refine over time. Tackled the challenge of demonstrating contribution to commercial strategy by instituting OKRs and identifying appropriate proxy measures.✅ Ability to baseline engagement with content for the first time and show improvement.

Sydney, Australia

Trusted senior leader and culture carrier, refining my expertise in people and strategy, and executive communications. I successfully guided the business through major cultural challenges and established the combination of communications, engagement, and organisational culture as my professional expertise.ALIGNING COMMUNICATIONS WITH STRATEGY: Curated communication channels to reduce noise and amplify important messages. Orchestrated executive collaboration to refine purpose, vision, and strategy, integrating these elements into all communications.✅ Improved employee engagement by 13 points in 9 months.✅ Delivered 13- and 19-point increases in 'Strategy Clarity' and 'Role Clarity' respectively.IMPROVED FLOW OF INFORMATION: Holistic review of information flow, formal and informal networks, operating rhythm, decision-making forums and timelines, systems and channels for accessing content. Revised operating rhythm to streamline information sharing and decision-making. Established combined curriculum of compliance training and knowledge sharing.✅ Secured 18- and 14-point increase in 'Knowledge Sharing' and 'Open & Trusting' respectively.CHANGE COMMUNICATIONS: Managed complex communications projects for large-scale change initiatives, developing clear and consistent messaging, stakeholder engagement strategies, while co-ordinating multiple work streams and timelines.✅ Secured funding and executive sponsorship for largest investment program in core technology and product capability.✅ Achieved higher NPS scores from top-tier clients following integrated internal and external campaign around service model changes.

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Moved to Australia. Completed short engagements as a Communications & Content Consultant. Shared my love for specialty coffee as a Barista.✅ Consulted on strategic sales messaging for a FinTech;✅ Social media management for a Sydney restaurant;✅ Employer branding on Instagram for a software company;✅ and an investment pitch for a Chinese aged care company.

London, United Kingdom

Founded a creative team, where I added appraisal and implementation of digital communications technology, change communications, complex stakeholder engagement, C-Suite advisory, and business cases for organisational change to my prior internal and external communications and engagement expertise.EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT TURNAROUND: Revamped internal communications, establishing a community of practice and editorial processes, and introducing visual communication. Advised Executives on message clarity, consistency, and prioritisation.✅ Achieved a 9-point increase in employee engagement, reversing a six-year downward trend.STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT: Elevated stakeholder engagement above specific projects and programs, and equipped our key people to deliver confident and comprehensive messages to counterparts and stakeholders.✅ Secured funding and executive engagment, as well as buy-in and excitement among colleagues, for a £250M digital transformation.✅ Pioneered an innovative approach to internal year-end performance communications to partners and stakeholders, setting a new standard, and securing an ‘Excellent’ rating for the department.DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY: Identified, appraised and/or implemented technology platforms to improve the employee experience and generate improved insights and analytics, including email marketing platform for internal communications, and Jive employee social platform.✅ Established 12 targeted communities on Jive, and a process to support organic growth, reaching 30% interactive users within 3 months.

London, United Kingdom

Founding member and subsequent leader of a new function where I added team leadership, internal communications, creative campaigns, and employee engagement strategies to my prior marketing communications expertise.✅ Reduced internal communication noise and increased audience engagement with a channel strategy tailored to audience behaviours.✅ Overhauled approach to sales and consulting interactions, applying my expertise in visual communication and PowerPoint presentation, and increasing win rate from 49% to 67%.✅ Managed project and internal campaign to establish two-way communications, and the delivery program for ideas generated by colleagues, achieving double-digit improvement in four key performance metrics.✅ Collaborated closely with Corporate Communications team on message alignment, external media and events, and speaking opportunities for SMEs, which included managing budgets and vendor relationships.

Led a team of 5 that created tailored proposals and pitches for Corporate and Global Banking customers in response to formal Requests for Proposal. Devloped a team that consistently met deadlines.

Postgraduate Diploma, Environmental Policy

Environmental Policy including Environmental Economics

Cert, International Cash Management

Certificate of International Cash Management

Ba (Hons), History

Activities and Societies: University Finance Committee Students' Union Executive Committee - Treasurer Chairman of UNU Services Limited.