Why aren’t you guys talking? Importance of Internal Communication
I see that while measuring PR and communications from an external perspective is usually PR executives’ first focus, analyzing the success of internal communications is just as vital. The reason for this is that your employees are your most loyal brand ambassadors, not because you need a headcount for this summer’s BBQ.
They’re tweeting about firms they admire, creating essays for Medium, and exchanging Slack conversations about how you can improve. That’s a lot of chatter, and it has the potential to change people’s perceptions about your company. Despite this, the term “measuring” is more commonly linked with customer-facing campaigns than internal communications. As internal communications tactics get more sophisticated, this is changing.
The Coca-Cola Company, for example, offers a Coca-Cola Ambassador employee brand advocate program that prepares employees to effectively communicate with external and internal stakeholders about urgent business challenges.
We don’t all work for firms of this magnitude, nor do we all require such meticulous procedures. Nonetheless, we all struggle with how to provide information to our staff in such a way that it is truly ingested.
So, how can businesses of all sizes improve their internal communications messaging and measurement?
Remember that in most cases, less is more.
Employees will ignore some of your stupid messages if you send too many emails. When you send out FYIs on a regular basis, most of the messages get static.
Some Corporations utilize an unusual criterion to assess their performance: the number of emails they don’t send to employees. She filters out messages that aren’t relevant to the company’s strategic goals, ensuring that employees hear what matters most. When she looks back at the emails that weren’t sent at the end of the quarter, she considers them a win because they assisted with message penetration.
Target Effectively Groups
The term “strategic targeting” isn’t commonly associated with internal communications. Internal communications, on the other hand, is essentially staff marketing. The more you tailor your message to a specific target, the more effective it will be, just like in traditional marketing.
To help take out superfluous static, consider who needs to know what. You can still be transparent with information (for example, by posting all firm news on social media or on intranets) but putting everyone on these notes isn’t always required.
Make what you want to achieve clear
The Coca-Cola Company gives priority to indicators linked with whether employees comprehend the company’s vision and strategy, including how their individual work is connected to those strategies, while sending out its annual employee engagement survey.
“A firm cannot produce sustainable value and development without employees comprehending where it’s headed, why, what it’ll take to get there, and why each individual matters,” you must put these words into your stubborn head.
Avoid Playing the Part of A ‘Corporate Publicist.’
If I am trying to tackle a problem in my business, I will make sure I am doing something about it first. Perhaps you’re familiar with the following scenario: According to the results of an internal poll, a lot of employees would be more satisfied with their jobs if they had more prospects for promotion.
You focus on developing a few employees with leadership qualities until they’re ready to take on management responsibilities as part of the solution. You announce their accomplishments on your intranet and on your Slack channel to spread the word. This endeavour demonstrates that if you remain with the organization long enough, you too can achieve success.
Overall, you will have performed well as an internal publicist, but you will not have solved the problem. In contrast to temporary bandaging, a proper fix necessitates a much deeper dig into the facts that can generate comprehensive, long-term solutions.
Give your employees a chance.
Are you planning to launch an intranet? Add an iPhone video of an employee demonstrating how to obtain important information to your next company-wide newsletter. This corporate-journalism strategy empowers staff to act as brand ambassadors.
When internal communications go well, your employees get so tuned in to the company that they’ll start telling the story for you – and they’ll take pride in it.