Look at any good business plan, and you should see Internal communication right up there as a top priority. Internal communications is considered a critical business discipline, and for good reason. With the workforce now dispersed between home and office, it’s never been more important to connect effectively with employees.
But what is the importance of internal communication, and why is it grabbing the CEO’s attention? The fact is, the benefits of good internal communication can’t be overstated. The effects are both powerful and far-reaching, influencing almost every aspect of your business. When your focus is firmly set on how to improve internal communication, you can’t fail to see results.
Why it’s critical to improve internal communication
A robust internal communication strategy will have an immediate impact on your employees. You’ll find they work with greater motivation, taking ownership of projects and coming forward with ideas and suggestions. Staff turnover will be reduced, and new hires will onboard more smoothly. Moreover, you’ll find the workplace is infused with a new sense of purpose and enthusiasm. This is vital for employee satisfaction. A global survey of LinkedIn members revealed that 73% of millennials seek a career where they feel their jobs have purpose and meaning.
When you address the issue of improving internal communications in the workplace, you’ll find the benefits stretch well beyond employee happiness. A survey by Tower Watson showed that businesses with effective internal communication practices deliver 47% higher returns to their shareholders in comparison to organisations with poor internal communications. Engaged employees work with greater productivity, which in turn boosts your profit margins. Customers are retained, healthcare costs decrease, and even your brand image is improved. It’s an all-around win.
In this blog, we identify 12 simple initiatives to improve internal communication, plus one extra hack that will make all the difference. Build these elements into your internal communications plan, and you’ll soon be enjoying the many diverse benefits to your business.
12 easy hacks to improve internal communication
Hack #1: Reach every employee
This is easier said than done, especially when you have a hybrid workforce to contend with. Yes, it’s simple enough to send a company-wide email to everyone in your workforce. However, ensuring that email is opened, read and understood is a different matter altogether.
In every organisation, there will be a small group of employees who are not receiving the efforts of the internal communications department. These hard-to-reach employees slip through the net for a variety of reasons. Some may be remote, working from home or on the move. Others will not have access to the necessary technology. And there will be some who are just sitting across the desk from you but are still not engaging with the messages being issued.
Ultimately, what makes an employee inaccessible is not down to their location or role. It’s all about the internal communications channels they have access to. If they are not connected to a shared two-way channel, you’ll find it almost impossible to engage with them. An internal communications app solves these issues. By allowing employees to connect to your internal communication software using their own devices, you’ll be opening up the access channels and information can start to flow smoothly in both directions.
Three easy fixes:
- Make sure you reach every single employee
- Don’t let hybrid workers fall out of the loop
- Allow staff to choose their favourite channels
Hack #2: Use the right channels
One of the key factors, when you are working on improving internal communication in the workplace, is to select the right communication channel. Because when it comes to internal communication, it’s not just what you say; it’s how you say it.
When faced with a huge selection of internal communication channels, it can be hard to know which one to choose. Should you create a new web page on the employee intranet, send out a company-wide email, film the CEO or organise a company conference? With so many options at your fingertips, it can be a challenging decision.
This is when an internal communication app comes into its own. It offers a range of channels and tools and essentially covers all bases. As one of the most effective internal communication tools at your disposal, it allows you to personalise your approach by offering channels to match individual preferences. The best apps offer the ability to share news, gather feedback and support two-way communication, especially with remote workers.
Three easy fixes:
- Match the right channel to the message
- Break down barriers by providing a choice of channels
- An internal communications app will handle all the hard work
Hack #3: Engage not announce
Although many of your internal communications will be announcing news, events and successes, your aim is to ensure that your audience also has the opportunity to respond to these messages. This is especially relevant in the hybrid workplace, where face-to-face chats are becoming less frequent.
One of the common internal communication mistakes is to deliver a is a one-way information stream. Leaders deliver organisational information, expect it to be read and understood and leave it at that. However, what you need to deliver is a vital two-way dialogue between leaders and employees.
To drive engagement, you need to offer opportunities for staff to give feedback and discuss. Enrich your information with real-time updates and clickable posts to encourage staff involvement. Invite responses and open up new opportunities to interact. This simple but vital step is one of the prime ways to improve internal communications.
Three easy fixes:
- Avoid one-way communication streams
- Enrich information by inviting participation
- Encourage feedback and two-way dialogues
Hack #4 Lead by example
Leaders and their senior management team have a big role to play in internal communications. They are responsible for setting the tone of the organisation. It is senior management’s role to convey the company values and beliefs in a positive light. This is crucial for creating stability and reassurance in the new working landscape and during economic uncertainty.
Leaders also need to set an example for internal communication best practices. Information needs to be shared, two-way dialogues need to be opened between teams and individuals, and regular feedback needs to be provided.
Ultimately, if you want your employees to communicate effectively, make sure your leaders are doing it too. When you are considering how to improve internal communications, one of the best things you can do is lead by example.
Three easy fixes:
- If you want staff to communicate, make sure leaders do it first
- Ensure the management team is on board with your strategy
- Make sure managers share information and give answers
Hack #5 Make goals public
A simple way to improve internal communication is to ensure employees are fully aware of the bigger picture. When people are a step removed from the office environment, it’s easy to lose sight of the larger goals. Once your staff understand your vision for the company and how they fit into it, you will see an immediate uplift in engagement.
A statement of core values and a clearly communicated overall vision gives employees a sense of drive and purpose. This is particularly important when you are communicating change. If your staff understand your aims, they feel more motivated to pull together and deliver results.
Don’t just stop at company goals. Include team goals and personal targets as well. By making your goals visible, you will make your employees’ work easier and more meaningful.
Three easy fixes:
- Publish company, team and personal goals
- Communicate your overall vision for the company
- Make staff feel part of something bigger
Hack #6 Keep it simple
Beware of overloading employees with complex and extensive information. Your job is to carefully curate and condense your messages into what’s absolutely necessary. Effective communication in the workplace relies on clarity.
When crafting a communication, keep it simple, brief, and to the point. Make sure it’s interesting, too. If you want to connect with your employees, you need to grab and hold their attention. When your aim is improving internal communication, never forget that your messages have to be easy to understand and relevant to your audience. Your communications need to connect on an individual level. This is true for both internal and external communication.
The best practice is to send the right information, to the right people, at the right time. You also need to consider whether you’re sending the right amount of information. When it comes to the internal communication process, less is more.
Three easy fixes:
- Simple, straightforward language is always the best option
- Reduce the amount and complexity of the information you send out
- Make sure the messages are targeted at your audience
Hack #7 Stick to a schedule
Your employee communication should always be regular, scheduled and meticulously planned. The role of internal communication is to deliver a consistent pace of messaging to sustain regular contact with your employees. In a hybrid working environment, consistent contact is crucial.
When your internal communications become erratic and unpredictable, you will find engagement levels tend to plummet. Employees will soon feel forgotten if a previously regular communication channel is no longer populated with new information. This is especially true for remote and hybrid workers, who rely on regular updates to keep connected to their work.
An internal communications app will give you the tools to schedule all your regular communications: send out notifications of upcoming events, conduct routine checks and surveys and release daily updates. With minimal effort, you can deliver a constant stream of information to your workforce.
Three easy fixes:
- Maintain a consistent information stream
- Avoid big information blasts followed by times of silence
- Pre-schedule messaging via internal communications software
Hack #8 Reward and recognise
Looking for a simple way to go about improving communication in the workplace? Try being generous with your public praise and recognition.
If you allow hard work to go unnoticed, your employees may stop delivering to the same level. There is also the knock-on effect to consider. When staff witness a colleague receiving rewards or appreciation, it has two consequences. Firstly, they feel motivated to seek out praise for themselves. And secondly, they view the organisation in a more positive light, viewing the company culture as supportive and encouraging.
Book a demo to see how internal communications software can help increase staff motivation and productivity. From simple techniques such as tagging employees in connection to projects to social tools and peer-to-peer recognition modules, a positive company culture becomes easy to cultivate.
Three easy fixes:
- Always recognise and praise success publicly
- Build a supportive and appreciative company culture
- Include employee tagging and social tools to celebrate success
Hack #9 Encourage open dialogue
‘Open dialogue’ is a popular buzzword in 2024. It’s one of the key internal communication trends of the moment. But what does it actually mean?
Open dialogue is all about recognising that internal communication isn’t a one-way street. Good employee communication flows both ways. So, it’s not just about giving feedback to your employees. You need them to give you feedback too.
The only way to encourage an open dialogue is to create a culture of trust and candour. Set up internal communication tools that ask for comments and opinions. An internal communications app will allow you to create polls and surveys, along with groups and chats to open up discussion and comment.
Three easy fixes:
- Open dialogue is communication that flows both ways
- Develop a culture of trust and openness
- Open up channels for feedback and comment
Hack #10 Listen and act
So, you’ve set up your surveys, you’ve collated opinions and you’ve facilitated discussions. All well and good. But when you’re looking to improve internal communication, you can’t stop there. You need to listen to what has been said. And you need to act on it.
Research from Gallup reveals that only 30% of employees feel that their voice is heard. At the heart of employee engagement is the feeling of inclusion. Quite simply, listening shows you care.
When staff initiatives and suggestions are followed through and make it into company policy, this is something you need to publicise widely. This will promote a company ethos of innovation and continuous improvement. Moreover, it encourages employees to continue contributing to the overall success of your business.
Three easy fixes:
- Don’t forget to listen to your feedback
- Publicise all employee-led initiatives
- Encourage and reward innovation
Hack #11 Measure your success
All effective strategies have one thing in common: they focus heavily on internal communications metrics. You need to identify your priorities and carefully monitor whether your employee communication is delivering.
Each organisation will have a different measure of success. For some, it will be managing a period of transition; for others, it will be increasing profitability or reducing staff turnover. Whatever your business goals, you will need to analyse how effectively your strategy is meeting these aims.
An internal communications app makes it easy for you to continually evaluate the success of your communications. Built-in reporting provides a detailed analysis of performance levels, while dashboards give you an instant snapshot of your audience and how they interact.
Three easy fixes:
- Set your targets and track your progress
- Keep a close eye on engagement levels
- Detailed reporting is essential to improve internal communications
Hack #12 Prepare for change
In the spring of 2020, it’s fair to say no one was prepared for what was coming next. We had no choice but to react to the sudden change in circumstances and think on our feet.
But now we have a chance to put some planning in place. Something unexpected is always lurking around the corner, whether it’s economic uncertainty, new competitors on the scene, or (hopefully not) another worldwide crisis. It’s time to make sure our communications channels are robust, our employees are fully trained, and our IT solutions are ready to go.
What’s needed is a defined internal communication strategy that will guide you to success, no matter how choppy the waters are. Will you need your staff to accommodate new working practices? Will you be implementing IT adjustments? Will they need to pull together as a team? Now is the time to think ahead and draw up your plans. There’s never been a better time to improve internal communication.
Three easy fixes:
- Draw up strategies for potentially difficult situations
- Make sure you have the resources on board and ready to go
- Ensure your strategy connects everyone in the organisation
Bonus Hack: Have fun
It’s estimated that we spend one-third of our lives at work. That’s 90,000 hours over a lifetime. So, it’s understandable that our employees want to have fun in the workplace. Although people are there to work, notching up the levity makes everyone more productive. It’s a win-win.
A recent Forbes study revealed that 60% of graduates would rather work for a company with a positive social atmosphere, even if it meant a lower salary.
An enjoyable working environment not only benefits individual employees but the organisation as a whole. And internal communications offer the perfect opportunity to introduce some lightheartedness into the workplace. Whether promoting social events, celebrating new babies, or sharing amusing news, it’ll be far more effective if you make it fun.
Three easy fixes:
- Look for opportunities to communicate lighter aspects of work
- Encourage colleagues to have fun with their communications
- Remember that enjoyable communications are more engaging
