Welcome to Athru Communications
Culturally intelligent communications for a more connected world
Transforming how we communicate across cultures
Our Mission
At Athru Comms, we are all about culture.
About Athru
In our interconnected world, we constantly work with people from diverse organisational, regional and cultural backgrounds and identities.
That’s why cultural intelligence is a crucial skill for impactful communicators. By understanding and adapting to these differences, we can build trust, foster inclusivity, and ensure that our communications are not only heard but also genuinely understood and valued.
Ready to begin your cultural intelligence journey? You’ve come to the right place! Athru Communications is a leading CQ expert, empowering people and teams to be more inclusive communicators for an interconnected world.
How we can help you
Training
Educating individuals and teams to develop cultural intelligence capabilities in half-day and full-day workshops.
Assessments
Delivering CQ assessments with detailed debriefing and action planning to help measure and improve cultural intelligence.
Consulting
Providing a culturally intelligent lens on communication strategies that inclusively connect across cultures, identities and regions.
Communication support
Creating culturally resonant communications and messages for different regions and audiences.
Testimonials
What our clients say
To communicate effectively with people different to us! Need we say more?
Why do comms teams need CQ?
What is CQ?
The Cultural Intelligence Center defines CQ™ (cultural intelligence) as the capability to relate and work effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds. As organisations operate in more diverse, global environments, CQ is critical for effective communication and collaboration across different cultures.
Why does cultural intelligence matter?
When teams or individuals build their cultural intelligence, they are more likely to work together more effectively across cultures, regions, and geographies. This is where the magic happens! Imagine a workplace where there are fewer misunderstandings, greater connection and innovation, better business performance and fun. Trust us, it is possible!
How does CQ impact communications teams?
CQ helps individuals, teams, and organisations develop a deeper understanding of differences and how they can impact communication styles, preferences, and outcomes. Being self and culturally aware helps communicators adjust their approach to be more inclusive and effective.
This is critical for communicators working across diverse organisational, regional and cultural backgrounds and different identities.
How do I know if I need CQ?
Great question! We all have biases – which is normal – but sometimes, we aren’t aware of them which can impact how we communicate. Cultural intelligence helps us learn more about our own and others’ cultural values and preferences, which in turn can help us become better communicators.
How can you help my comms team?
Our CQ training and consulting services transform how communications teams and leaders communicate across cultures. With cultural intelligence in their toolboxes, teams and leaders can:
- Be more effective: Understanding your own thinking and communication preferences combined with audience data to adapt your communication strategy and action so you can have a positive impact.
- Build trust: Building your cultural intelligence can help you build trust with those with different beliefs, values, experiences and behaviours from you. This can include colleagues, clients and stakeholders.
- Be more inclusive: CQ contributes to developing psychological safety. It can help us better understand and harness the value of different opinions, expertise, experience and perspectives in our work.
- Understand different perspectives: Handling almost any issue well for our stakeholders or clients means that we need to be able to anticipate, see and understand the wide variety of responses and reactions to an issue. CQ helps us step outside our own experience to see other perspectives more clearly.
Anything else?
As PR/comms professionals we should already be skilled at cultural adaptation in some ways. We take a ‘story’ with key messages but we tell it in multiple ways depending on the channel and the audience. We handle social media and TV differently, trade vs consumer press and even a technical audience differently from targeting the under 5s. But we need to get beyond that to reflect on our thinking about these things (metacognition) and realise what of our own values we’re baking into comms, and then build strategies and knowledge for adapting appropriately.
Meet the founder
Sarah Black
In 2018, Sarah founded Athru Communications. With over 30 years of experience in communications, Sarah has worked in-house, within agencies, and as a consultant and has lived and worked in many countries, including Ireland, Norway, Texas, England and now Scotland.
She has strong expertise and credibility in communications, PR and now cultural intelligence, with decades of experience in leading teams and working across organisational cultures from tiny start-ups and groundbreaking, grassroots peacebuilding community groups to some of the biggest consumer brands in the world. In 2024, Sarah achieved CQ certification as a facilitator from the Cultural Intelligence Center and now works with organisations and teams on applying CQ frameworks and assessments.
Sarah’s ethos is to “always take the work seriously but never myself.” She is straight-talking and known for her empathetic and supportive approach, focusing on empowering clients rather than criticising them. Sarah is approachable, funny, and full of positive energy.
