Internal communications: everything you need to know...
Gain a clear view of what internal communication is, how
to get it right, and the benefits you can start to enjoy.
It’s often said that strong employee communication is the backbone of every business. But why is this? We’ve broken down the benefits of good internal communication into three key areas:
An effective internal communications strategy will effectively address the seven main challenges faced by every business. These core issues are fundamental to the success of your company and can mean the difference between success or failure. Internal communications that are targeted and effective will address these challenges and ensure your organisation is robust and resilient.
Effective internal communication is a keystone for successful organisations; it binds the organisation together, gets colleagues collaborating around specific business goals and creates transparent and productive work environments where staff thrive.
This is all the more vital given the changing nature of the modern workplace. With people on the move, remote workers, and disconnected employees, the hard-to-reach workforce have presented a new set of unique challenges.
Communication in a crisis is an issue that has recently come to the fore, and this is where internal communications can really make a difference. By reaching and connecting with all workers, whether remote, furloughed or active, you can maintain that essential flow of information and support.
Information is power. Being able to advise senior leaders on what an audience group is really thinking will be highly valued. For example, if you’ve done your research by listening carefully to the workforce, you will know why some facets of a planned change are doomed to fail because employees will never accept them. Knowing your audience is pivotal to you being invited to play a part in strategic discussions.
This is why measuring internal communications is such a crucial element of any strategy.
By understanding what employees are thinking and how they are reacting to your communications, you can adjust your approach accordingly.
In many ways, empathy lies at the heart of successful communication. Therefore, always try and put yourself in your audience’s shoes when developing an internal communication strategy. You need to visualise how your plan will affect all your employees, from the office interns to the senior managers..
For an internal communication strategy to be fruitful, each activity must lead to change and each employee must know where they fit in the overall vision. A robust internal communication strategy will have three main objectives:
In order to deliver on these objectives, you need to employ three key actions in the delivery of your strategy:
Whatever you need to communicate, these five essential questions can provide the foundation of your strategy:
Why? What is your overall business or project goal? This is the critical launchpad, defining what value you are going to add.
Who? Who is this specific piece of communication aimed at? What do you want people to do differently as a result?
What? What are you actually asking people to engage with? And why should they care? By defining the core content of your message, you’ll help to add clarity and focus.
When? Are other messages or events going to overshadow your timing? Do you need to get a message out urgently, or can you afford to wait?
How? Which channels will work best for the content and the audience you have in mind? Will you be able to reach every employee, even those working remotely? And what communication style should you use?
Did it work? Are you making progress towards your target? Or do you need to tweak your plan and reshoot? This is one of the most crucial elements of defining your internal communication strategy. You always need to measure your success and be prepared to refine and adapt your plans accordingly.
As you construct your internal communications plan, keep these five common errors in mind. They have the potential to ruin a perfectly good strategy.
Don’t just assume your employee engagement plan is working. Monitor it carefully. All effective plans place a heavy focus on measuring internal communications.
Assess the priorities you identified by asking ‘Why?’ by carefully evaluating whether your internal communication plans are actually delivering.
People find it hard to absorb multiple or complex messages, so keep it simple. It is a sad truth that employees often have far less understanding than the management team realise. Make sure you use suitable language and appropriate channels for your messages. Always bear your audience in mind when constructing communications.
One of the common errors is to transmit all your messages in a big information blast, and then put messaging on the back burner for a while. This stop-start approach will have a negative effect on your employee’s engagement levels. A steady drip-feed of news, reports, advice and surveys will ensure staff remain connected and motivated.
Keep a finger on the pulse of your workforce. It’s easy for senior management to experience a disconnect from employees, which then results in a failure to communicate effectively. Spend time talking and listening to employees to find out how your organisation actually works from their perspective.
Obviously, you want your internal communications to be your employee’s top priority, but this can’t always be the case. Remember to take into account their other projects and responsibilities as you construct your messages. Look for ways to cut through the noise and make yourself heard.
Selecting the best channel for your communications is a crucial step. In internal communications, how effectively a message is communicated is just as important as the message itself. If you’re looking to improve internal communication within your organisation, your aim should be to choose a channel that best fits both your target audience and your overriding objective.
When thinking about internal communication channels, keep these three things in mind:
We’ve drilled down into the most popular communication channels to help you decide whether they will succeed in meeting your objectives and resonating with your target audience at the same time:
Email overload is a real problem in the modern office. A report from the Radicati Group revealed that 126 emails are sent and received every day. And it’s no surprise that 20% of these are never even opened. If you are relying on email as your main delivery method of important news and information, you should be aware that many of your messages will not be read.
The employee intranet is a popular tool for internal communications and many offices have one in place. However, there are numerous reasons why intranets fail to engage employees. Without hands-on management, the information on an intranet will quickly become out-of-date. In addition, many are hard to navigate and fail to provide that all-important two-way communication stream.
Newsletters and memos are still in common use, despite the drive for a paperless workplace. This tried-and-tested route is a popular way to share information. However, there are also considerable downsides to this channel. Information dates quickly, it relies on costly delivery methods, and crucially, it does not invite feedback.
Opinion is divided as to whether the internal communication tools provided by social media are suitable for internal communications. Close monitoring is imperative. While social media channels are great for encouraging information exchange and feedback, remember that private content is easily made public, whether you wish it or not.
Using leaders and managers to deliver information to the workforce is highly effective, especially when you are communicating change. However, presentations and team meetings are not suitable for all types of information. In addition, the success of these events depends almost entirely on the communications skills of the leader.
We’re focusing on this particular channel simply because it’s so effective at connecting with the hard-to-reach and remote workforces. As such, it’s a perfect fit for the modern working world. In fact, the adoption of an employee engagement app is one of the key internal communication trends of 2021.
An internal communication app has been designed to specifically support every element of your internal communication strategy. It has been constructed with a comprehensive set of features designed to help companies connect and engage with their staff. These all-encompassing apps connect employees with your business, your leadership team and each other in a simple-to-implement software platform that can personalised to your unique requirements.
In an increasingly digital age, with remote working becoming the norm, it can be a challenge to rebuild company-wide communication. Employee engagement apps can play a transformative role in improving both reach and engagement. They seamlessly connect every member of staff to create happier employees, greater productivity, satisfied customers and increased profit.
So, how do you convert a disengaged and disconnected workforce into an organisation where every employee knows their contribution is valued? Look for apps that foster internal communication through:
How can you assess whether your chosen internal communication channel is actually working for you? In order to assess whether your channels are working effectively, you need to consider whether they meet three vital objectives:
This final point is absolutely crucial, but often forgotten in the bigger picture. One of the most common internal communication mistakes is the failure to measure the impact your messages are having on your audience. A successful strategy relies on the ability to compare how your teams are interacting, and how your engagement levels are performing. Only with this data to hand will you be able to act on the incoming data and adjust your plans accordingly. Measuring internal communications is as important as the messages you’re sending out in the first place.
This is where an internal communications app really stands out from the crowd. Most apps will offer the tools to tools to monitor participation and improve engagement. Look out for real-time dashboards and built-in reporting to track engagement levels and export management reports. The employee engagement platform really excels at collating feedback as well. With ad-hoc polls and internal communication survey modules to gauge opinions and preferences, you can really keep your finger on the pulse of your company.
After you’ve got to grips with your internal communication strategy and selected the best channels, it’s time to put together your internal communication campaign. Here are our five top tips for creating an engaging delivery that really resonates with your workforce:
Get people interested by building a teaser into your internal communication campaigns. By the time you officially launch your announcement, employees will have already bought into the fact that something exciting/important is coming. You might build tension with “coming soon” hints, or a new logo or image that gets a buzz going around the business.
Be bold and try something that will tickle your audience’s imagination. A good example of a creative internal communications campaign came from insurance giant AXA. They used Valentine’s Day-themed cards to re-energise a disaffected workforce. The cards asked employees for one reason they liked working at AXA, and one thing they would change.
Make sure there is a clear link between your internal communication campaign and a business-critical decision. When you’re communicating with employees, it’s important to ensure everyone can understand the reason behind the campaign, as well as the senior leadership team.
Put a human face on what employees might perceive to be dull rules and regulations. You might create a cartoon character, an avatar or designate a named member of staff to front your campaign. This will work even better if you ae running and ongoing campaign and your human face can answer FAQs along the way.
Co-creation can be a powerful tool for internal communications. When it’s right for internal communication to be a joint effort, try to get a broad range of employees involved.
When it comes to internal communications channels, this is the star performer. The Internal Communications App is the perfect fit for the modern working world. It’s highly effective at connecting with a hard-to-reach workforce, which makes it the ultimate solution for the current status quo. Internal communication platforms are a powerful force in driving employee engagement, employee-generated continuous improvement and innovation.
It’s all the ultimate all-rounder. An internal communication app has been designed to specifically support every element of your internal communication strategy. It has been constructed with a comprehensive set of features designed to help companies connect and engage with their staff. These all-encompassing apps connect employees with your business, your leadership team and each other in a simple-to-implement software platform that can personalised to your unique requirements.
It's specifically designed to connect with remote workers. In an increasingly digital age, the workforce is no longer confined to the office and it can be a challenge to rebuild company-wide communication. Employee engagement apps can play a transformative role in improving both reach and engagement. They seamlessly connect every member of staff to create happier employees, greater productivity, satisfied customers and increased profit.
it encourages feedback and participation. Effective communication in the workplace relies on two-way channels. Essentially, you need to give your workers a chance to speak out. This is where an internal communications app really comes into its own. It offers free-flowing feedback channels, inviting responses and opening up new opportunities to interact. The app encourages participation by inviting responses and enriching information with real-time updates, multimedia and posts that promote clicks.
It allows you to measure impact and engagement. Most internal communications apps provide the tools to monitor participation and improve engagement. Real-time dashboards deliver an instant view of engagement levels, while built-in reporting tracks engagement and exports for external reports. You can also monitor the success of your roll-out, by closely monitoring onboarding rates as the app launches across the company.