Happy Holidays from the In Orbit crew! In our final episode of 2022, our hosts sit down with Philip Ivy, vice president of Global Marketing and Communications at KBR, in a discussion that highlights the important role marketing and communications plays in the life of KBR, the best-in-class services and solutions the team delivers internally and externally, and what’s on the horizon in 2023 and beyond.
Happy Holidays from the In Orbit crew! In our final episode of 2022, our hosts sit down with Philip Ivy, vice president of Global Marketing and Communications at KBR, in a discussion that highlights the important role marketing and communications plays in the life of KBR, the best-in-class services and solutions the team delivers internally and externally, and what’s on the horizon in 2023 and beyond.
IN ORBIT A KBR PODCAST
Season 2, Episode 20
It’s the Season Finale!
John Arnold
Hi, I'm John.
Lubna Salim
And I'm Lubna and this is In Orbit.
John Arnold
Welcome to the final episode of 2022. If you're new to the show, we're happy you found us. If you're tuning in again, thanks for keeping us in your orbit.
Lubna Salim
This is a podcast for everyone, inside and outside of our business, that talks about what's happening around the world and in our various industries, and that is what keeps us all connected and in each other's orbit.
John Arnold
Lubna, how are you doing?
Lubna Salim
I'm very well, thank you John. How about you? What's happening in your orbit?
John Arnold
Not a whole lot since the last time we saw each other — in London, with our broader global team. We had such a good time and were so busy that we never really got around to recording our live episode. But we are excited to close this year out, and our second full season of In Orbit, with a very special interview.
Lubna Salim
Absolutely John, and we have with us today a very special guest, Philip Ivy, the vice president of Global Marketing and Communications at KBR, and we have saved the best for the last.
John Arnold
That's right. Philip, you joined KBR in 2009, having spent the previous seven-plus years working in the political sphere. From 2009 to 2015, he worked in government relations for KBR, leading outreach efforts to elected officials at all levels of government, on behalf of KBR, and helped guide the then U.S. Infrastructure business to contract wins from state and local governments. Welcome, Philip.
Philip Ivy
Yeah, glad to be here. Thanks John, thanks Lubna. Sorry we couldn't put this together in London, but work came first and ...
John Arnold
That's right.
Philip Ivy
Didn't even want to get in the way of a little bit of fun either. Glad we could finally connect.
John Arnold
That's right. Well, we're going to use what we were just talking about. I wanted to read your full bio, because it's very interesting, but thought that we would use that to really lead into our first question. Since 2015, which is when you really started to transition into the communications part of KBR, you've seen a lot of changes obviously, because KBR has changed so much since then. I'm wondering if you could talk about your trajectory and the bigger changes you've seen in how they relate with the changes in your own career and then the broader culture at KBR.
Philip Ivy
Yeah, I would tell you that if you look at KBR, there is a break in the timeline. In 2015, 2016 when our now CEO joined the company and began to reshape what KBR is today and everything in my world has changed. The culture has changed, the type of work we do has changed, and the type of communications and marketing and how we sell ourselves out to the public has changed. And how we communicate with employees internally has changed. And in 2015, I started working in the Communications department with KBR. Had worked alongside of them for many years in the government relations group, because a lot of what we did was communication just to a specific audience.
We worked very closely with then, the KBR Communications team. Bit of a reorg took place and we joined up groups and started focusing the majority of my time on communications and really opened the door up to and we were given the remit of the art of the possible.
Thinking about new ways of doing things, not just because it's been done this way for 100 years and that seemed really exciting to me at the time. And from 2015 to 2017, those two years, we worked really hard at finding ways to communicate with our employees and communicate the change that was happening in the company, which is a difficult thing to do, to do it in a concise way, that people understand that there's clarity in what we're doing and the reason behind what we're doing and where we're going and that challenge was a lot of fun at the time.
It took a lot of effort and listening to what other people had to say, about the way we were communicating. And so we really worked hard to try and find a way to get the message out, about this is a new KBR.
John Arnold
Awesome.
Lubna Salim
Speaking of this challenge, tell us how and if at all, the Global Marketing and Communications team has changed over the past couple of years.
Philip Ivy
Yeah, great question, Lubna. It has completely changed. I will tell you that, when I talk about, in 2015, started to work with the communications team, that is specifically the Corporate Communications team.
Lubna Salim
Right.
Philip Ivy
We had so many different businesses and different business lines. Some of them had communications teams, some of them had marketing teams. None of them were aligned across at any level. Even if they did have a marketing team and a communications team embedded into the business, it was solely dedicated to that business, but those too were separate groups. They weren't working together. And in 2019, we completely rebranded the company and formed a global team. Because we had, had so many marketing teams and communications teams — I think we had 22 different versions of a KBR logo. There was just not any consistency across the company. And we burned it down to rebuild completely, and out of that is what our group is today.
Lubna Salim
Wow.
John Arnold
A lot of people listening to the podcast right now might be wondering, after having listened to a lot of the other episodes in the past two seasons, why are we doing an episode about marketing and communications? I would like to dive a little bit into what role does Global Marketing and Communications play in the life of KBR and why is it important?
Philip Ivy
Yeah. Obviously, I have a vested interest in why it is important, as do the two of you. But I'll try to give you a very unbiased answer. Obviously, we're a people company. Let's talk internal first.
What KBR offers is the services that our people provide, whether that's engineering in the Sustainable Technology Solutions group or engineering in the Government Solutions group or is it actually helping support the military on the ground, in different locations around the world or designing the next space suit.
We have folks that work really hard and they're really smart, but that's what KBR is. It's a people company. We don't have very many widgets that we actually sell. Communicating to those people, our people, about what the company is up to, just basic information, is pretty important, and it's hard to do when you've got a company of our size and finding ways to communicate, which is one of the challenges obviously our team has and companies of large size have, reaching out in a number of ways, including podcasts. But if you can't communicate with your people and you're a people company, I just don't think you have a bright future ahead of you, because you want everyone rowing in the same direction and understanding where the company is going.
And it can be anything. It can be communicating about medical benefits or what your holiday schedule could be. It could be an update on some safety issues or some training that we have to do. It is a broad range of items that we communicate internally to our people, and it's extremely important to do it in a way that reaches those people. And in order to do that, we have to do it across many different mediums.
Externally, we pivoted the company in 2015. Changing the perception outside of KBR is really hard and something that we've been working on in a number of different ways, also including a podcast.
John Arnold
Alright!
Philip Ivy
It's important for us to showcase that old KBR is behind us, new KBR is in front of us. As a tagline that we often use is we have a proud history, but a bright future. We're not shying away from what KBR was. It was a 100-year-old company that propelled us to where we are today. But we're staying ahead of where modern trends are going and offering solutions to those countries and companies that we service and marketing that new KBR, the solutions we provide to outside to the industries, is incredibly important so that they know, "Hey, KBR now offers these things." And we do our very best at that and I hope to see that part of our marketing efforts grows here in the very near future.
Lubna Salim
Absolutely. Absolutely. And Philip, we are going to use this forum to also ask you, as to which or what are some of the services and support that probably the group Global Marketing team is providing to our employees and perhaps they are unaware of it.
Philip Ivy
Right. It's interesting. I think internally, and perhaps externally, people think of Communications and Marketing as, "Oh, they're the people that send out the emails to employees and they're the people that put together brochures and posters." Yes, those things are true.
John Arnold
Right.
Philip Ivy
However, we do so much more. We help brand buildings. We help create our sustainability report, which is a massive undertaking, and our proxy, and there are these large items, events that we put on, that we do and those also gain a lot of attention. But we also do a lot of what I just call run and maintain work. Right? It is sending out those emails to employees. It is a newsletter. It is putting together brochures. It's monitoring and updating the website. It's our social media efforts, which we're coming up on a million followers across all of our channels, which is an incredible number.
It's helping our employee resource groups grow and prosper and advertise what they do. There are so many things that we do, that if you're an employee on the inside of the company, you may just know us as one or two little things. Or if you're on the outside of a company and you don't really know what marketing communications folks do, you may just think, "Oh, they create billboards or they create these little one-off things," and the fact is that we create thousands of pieces of collateral a year. And part of our job is to make sure there's consistency and message in those things.
John Arnold
Absolutely. As we've alluded to before, listeners with the podcast will be familiar with the fact that Lubna and I, and you, were all in London recently for our Global Marketing and Communications All Hands meeting. It was the first time prior to the pandemic, and really the first time that this broader global team had done something like this in its current manifestation. Why was it important for something like that to happen?
Philip Ivy
First, I'm just a big believer in connections. I'm a big believer that if you get people face to face in a room, that don't regularly see each other, something positive will come out of that just at a high level. That's a belief that I have. Secondly, you're right, it was pre pandemic the last time this group got together, and it wasn't the entire group.
We were kicking off this global team in the latter half of 2019, and there were, I don't know, maybe 15 or 20 of us that sat around a table and kicked around the idea of what we thought this thing could be. We roll into 2020 — bang — a pandemic hits us and we have to completely change the way that we're working, which we did at an extremely high level. I can't be more proud of the way our team responded through the pandemic, not just the way we worked, but what we worked on, to help the company thrive in a completely different environment that no one had experienced ever. And it was something that, it didn't matter if you were working in Australia, India, the UK, the U.S., Poland, wherever, we were all experiencing something very similar, which helped unify us.
Now, we've been trying to have an in-person All Hands. We've done a couple of virtual. We were able to get together just a few weeks ago in the UK, and I think the biggest value that came out of it was the connections piece. These people coming together, getting to meet each other in person and spending two and a half days together, learning about what each other likes to work on, what each team's excel at. And it'd been a while since we've done something like that. But also what came out of it were some really great ideas that we're going to take into 2023. And I think looking back on it, that's the high point, is we made the connections with one another.
There's relationships that were either started or that were furthered along down the road, and we came out with some really great ideas — about how we can work in a more collaborative way than we already do. Not to say that we're not already collaborative, but how do we foster that relationship and keep it going? Some really, really strong ideas came out of that. I think it's something that's very important and I'm glad we did it. There was not a single negative in my mind that came out of doing it, and I think it's something that other teams should be doing as well, because it can only help your organization grow.
Lubna Salim
Absolutely. Couldn't agree more with this, Philip. It was a beautiful experience for each one of us. But would you like to share with our listeners what were some of the ideas that came out of our meeting and how do you hope to capitalize on the momentum?
Philip Ivy
Yeah, sure. One of the biggest ideas that hit me, that I just instantly said, "This is non-negotiable, we're going to do this," was the idea of creating a community of practice within our team and pulling together people that have the same set of skills but are looking at ways to improve those skills and how to do things maybe a little bit more efficient or a little bit different, raise the bar somehow.
We're creating a couple of communities of practice that will kick off the first part of January. The first two are going to be focused on the writers on our team and the designers on our team, and I'm excited to see where that goes, and I think it can only improve upon the way that we do things. We do try to follow the AP Style of writing, but there's still some inconsistencies in places, and getting all the writers together and the groups are going to be owned by the members of the group.
How often they meet, what kind of schedule they want to have, what kind of end product they want to have. My only instruction to them, is going to be to come and give updates on a routine basis to the marcom [marketing and communications] leadership team, so that we can see if there's something we need to do to help or align with those two groups. But the communities of practice that we're going to kick off the first of the year, I'm really excited about where that's going. And secondly, the idea of, I'm not sure what the name of it is going to be, but these ambassadors, these KBR connectors. We have requests that come in and any marcom team, anywhere you work, whether it's a big team, small team, you're dealing with some routine clients right within the business.
How can we better foster that relationship, so that we can just stay in sync with those teams and understand and learn what's going on in some of those businesses or some of those functions, so that we can help prevent these last-minute fire drills of, "Oh, I need this thing and by the way, can I get it tomorrow?"
John Arnold
Right.
Philip Ivy
But also, to help us learn about some things that are coming up into the business and maybe we can get on the front end of helping design and think about the best way to market and communicate those ideas that are being worked on. Those are the top two things, top of mind, where the communities of practice and creating this ambassador program or connection program from our team down into the businesses.
John Arnold
Yeah, and I know we're all very excited on the Corporate side, and I know there was a lot of positive reaction to those ideas. We're looking forward to those things in the new year. Real quick, a couple more questions, then we'll let you go, because I know you're a busy man. What are some of the KBR Marketing and Communications initiatives, outlets, projects that have stood out to you and differentiate our team?
Philip Ivy
Well, I think we have the best-in-class newsletter. I'm not even sure we should call it a newsletter, but the Link [KBR Link] which we produce, is an amazing document. Every time it comes out, the platform it sits on, the articles that are produced, and the information that is in it is just always really well done and it's really well received. That's something I'm extremely proud of.
I wanted to kick off a newsletter, because it's just another way we can try to reach our people and it's another way that we can promote the company out, because we publish it publicly out on to social media. Link is probably something I'm extremely ... it's top of the list of something that we've kicked off and it has exceeded expectations.
Look, the podcast, right? I think it's really cool that we have a podcast that folks inside and outside the company listen to, and I learn something every time. There's been a handful of podcasts that have just stayed with me, that I've learned something from, and I've just taken what I've heard and used that in other places. And the podcast is great. And then I think one thing that has of slid under the radar, that our team does and it goes to show you the fabric and the culture of KBR that has changed, is sustainability, and using sustainable items in our marketing and comms world has just become commonplace.
We don't even think about it. It's not something we try to push, and we say, "Oh look, we're doing a sustainable thing over here." It's just who we are. Right?
John Arnold
Right.
Philip Ivy
If we see something that we're trying to purchase and there's some swag or whatever it may be and there's a way we can do that in a sustainable way, we obviously choose that, and I think there's not even a conversation about it. We just do it.
We have stopped printing. I can't even imagine what our print level has been reduced to, but it's a giant amount of paper that we no longer use. And it's not something we really talk about, but it is something I'm extremely proud about, about how we have just culturally changed that way.
I don't know. You guys are part of the team. Is there anything you guys think about, as you sit there? When you think about a government and an energy company and their marcom team, is there something that stands out to you guys, that's different about what we do?
John Arnold
Lubna, I'll let you go first.
Lubna Salim
Yeah. Before I joined KBR, I was really hoping that there is a newsletter and there actually was one. I was very happy about that, and I think we are doing everything, Philip, that any media organization is doing at the moment, to get the news out, and probably more. We are going to be having our very first LinkedIn live conference very soon next week. We are just raising the bar, as you said, higher.
Philip Ivy
That's right. I think we need to challenge ourselves constantly. And just because something works well doesn't mean, "Okay, well, we just keep adding a little bit of fuel into it, to keep it going." I think we have to think about what can we do to elevate that. What can we do to just really get that thing going? And then I'm not afraid to re-evaluate things that we do and say, "You know what? It worked for a while; it's not working anymore. Let's think about something different." I don't know, John, what about you?
John Arnold
I really appreciate the support that we offer all the various parts of the business. I feel very personally attached to all the work that we do — to communicate initiatives and projects internally. I feel pride in the work that we do to help bear the flag of our company values and all of those cultural elements and the things like, as you said, helping with the sustainability report and things like that. But I also really, really enjoy how closely we get to work with other functions across the business to help change that external perception of KBR. The work that we get to do with investor relations, for example, to try to get the rest of the world to see what we all know and realize and the kind of company that KBR is and leading in all of these different ways, I have a lot of respect for the work that our team is doing to change those perceptions and do that good work.
Philip Ivy
Yeah, I think you're both spot on there. It goes back to a question we talked about earlier, about what have I seen as a difference being here since 2009 and then change in 2015 is that people weren't going to the comms and marketing functions for help, and there had to have been a reason for that and we don't need to go into what all of those could be or were. But the fact now that we're a shining example of the company, about the way the culture should be and is, but also we're just known to be helpful to people and that's the way this function should operate.
Quite frankly, if we're not the flag bearers of the culture, who would be? We're in charge of sending the message out. If we don't buy into our values and our culture, then we're falling way short.
John Arnold
Right.
Lubna Salim
Yeah.
Philip Ivy
Right? I think you have a really good point there about being attached to those things. If we're not those people, then we're falling short in where we should be, because it's vital to the company sustainability. As a people company, we want to be one of the best places to work, the best place to work. We're starting to pull in these awards that are verifying this, and I think it's not lost on me that we do employee surveys now. Didn't do one for the first several years that I was employed here, and we know that our leadership listens to those and that just feels good, right? Yeah, I think you're both right on there.
Lubna Salim
And this brings us to the last question of this episode, Philip. Since you've touched upon it, what's more that's coming in 2023 and where do you see us five years from now?
Philip Ivy
Well, let me take the five-year question. I have no idea, but it won't be what we're doing today. If we're looking at December 2027, what we're doing might be some of the same things, but it will be different than what we're doing today. And that's just because we're going to continue to evolve, and whatever the best practices are, that's what we're going to be doing.
Some things that are coming in 2023, we're really going to continue to be pushing on the values and our people, and there's some exciting things coming around that in 2023. But I also think we're looking at ways we can elevate and communicate with our people. How do we reach those folks and how do we change the perception of the company?
We're going to be doing some external — a bit more marketing, and I'm excited to see that, and I hope if we look at December, not five years from now, but just one year from now, we look back and go, "Whoa. Okay. Man, we really accomplished a lot of things in 2023, that maybe we thought were 2024 or 2025 goals," and I'm really hoping that we are able to even push the new KBR and get that knowledge base to grow outside of KBR. That's really where I want to be a year from now, is that we've moved the needle some more on who we are. By the way, if you're listening — KBR.com.
John Arnold
That's right!
Philip Ivy
Yeah, let's go plug the website. Go to KBR.com and learn more about who we are and how KBR has changed. It's an amazing place to work and I get the joy of working with an amazing team.
John Arnold
Awesome. Well, we feel the same way about you. We love being part of this team. And with that, dear listeners, that's a wrap on 2022. Thank you, Philip Ivy, for joining us on this our last episode of the season. Thank you to all of our listeners who stuck with us for the first two seasons, and really, really excited for what's going to come next year. Got a lot of cool episodes already in the pipeline.
Lubna Salim
Absolutely, John and until then, until next year, stay very, very safe, and have a very happy holiday season.
John Arnold
Take care.
Lubna Salim
Bye.