Internal Communication28 Feb 2024
Best Practice Tips for your Internal Communications
Mastering the art of internal communications is essential to help organisations and their people adapt to constant change. When done well, internal communication can help align people towards a common goal and streamline their ways of working. The alternative can lead to confusion, rework, and low morale, ultimately impacting performance.
At Belong Creative, we’ve helped organisations of all sizes create internal communications that support organisational objectives and help drive performance. In this article, we share internal communications Best Practice tips we've found to be the most helpful.
Recognising the importance of Internal Communication strategy
With organisations facing constant and rapid change, the stakes for effective internal communications strategies have never been higher. The right strategies can help create a positive work culture, spark innovation, and drive performance, even amongst ongoing change. By helping engage and bring people together across your organisation, effective internal communication lays the groundwork for the ongoing success and adaptability of your organisation.
Internal communication strategies can be used to:
1. Improve employee engagement
2. Reduce employee attrition
3. Attract new talent
4. Promote wellbeing
5. Improve productivity
6. Improve agility
7. Support change initiatives
Following a Best Practice approach to developing Internal Communications
When developing an internal communications strategy, there are some key best practice steps to keep in mind.
One of the most critical steps in ensuring that your internal communication efforts align with the overall goals of your organisation is to define and agree on project objectives. Clear and agreed-upon objectives provide direction, ensure accountability, and help measure the success of your communication efforts. Establishing clear project objectives at the start will help provide a clear direction and framework for when you need to change and re-adjust.
Segmenting content for internal communication based on the audience, particularly leaders and non-leaders, allows for messages that are more relevant, impactful, and tailored to the specific needs of each group. Understanding the needs and wants of each audience helps you choose the right message and delivery channel and enhance the effectiveness of the messages.
Involve employees in all stages, from setting objectives to evaluating effectiveness. Understanding how they prefer to receive information; such as format, language nuances, and even when and where they like to consume internal information, can provide powerful insights to help craft a more effective communication strategy that is cohesive, will resonate and also help with employee buy-in along the journey.
Reviewing your internal communications
Organisations are constantly forced to respond and adapt to change. These changes can come from a number of different influences, including:
1. Technological advancements - Developments in mobile apps, AI, and cyber security demand changes in communications and processes for both your customers and employees.
2. Social trends - Expectations around work and the customer and employee experience continually set new standards organisations must meet to stay competitive.
3. Legislative changes - Mandatory changes can be industry-specific, or they can apply broadly to the business world, such as legislation around employee practices, privacy and the use of technology.
Because of this ongoing change, it’s important to keep in mind that your internal communication can never be a set-and-forget exercise. To ensure your organisation is responding effectively to change, you’ll need to regularly reassess and update your internal communications. Regular reviews can help ensure your internal communications strategies are relevant, effective and aligned with your organisational objectives.
Connecting with your employees
Creating communications that connect with and are understood by your employees is critical for any internal communications strategy to work. This helps spread key messages, drives employee engagement, and encourages employee feedback. Feedback is especially important when evaluating the success of your internal communications strategy and helps to guide readjustments along the way.
To create internal communications that connect with your employees, consider the suggestions below:
1. Follow the principles of clarity, conciseness, connection, conversational tone, and correctness.
2. Always link back to your organisational objectives.
3. Incorporate technology into your communication channels.
4. Consider inclusivity and ensure you cater to the needs of a diverse workforce.
5. Cater to both in-office and remote employees and teams.
6. Measure success by tracking metrics such as email open rates, engagement, and productivity.
7. Actively promote a 360-degree feedback system.
Are you serious about internal communications?
As organisations strive to perform, it's crucial to ensure that all stakeholders are aligned and working towards the same goals. When confusion, suspicion, and conflict arise, chaos can quickly follow. The leading cause of these issues is often a lack of strong internal communication.
That's where Belong Creative can help. Our team has a proven track record of helping organisations craft effective internal communication strategies that promote alignment, foster a positive workplace culture and support growth. To learn more, schedule an appointment with one of our communications specialists.
