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Spotlight on internal comms

July 2021

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Boris Johnson has given the green light for people to return to workplaces from 19 July. It’s time to bid farewell to interrupted kitchen Teams meetings, casual dress – from the waist down – and starting the dinner an hour earlier.

It’s no longer enough to make announcements through a universal email

Why your internal communications are important

It is now time to communicate with your staff and let them know the – apologies in advance – ‘new normal’. During a period of overwhelming uncertainty, it is not enough to make announcements through a universal email. Your internal communications should be as strategic as your external.

Your staff are your first brand ambassadors. Well-managed internal communication is essential for retaining both customer and employee satisfaction. This increases staff retention and creates a constructive team environment.

No matter what your return to the office plans are, observing effective and transparent communication within your business is essential.

It keeps your employees informed and makes them feel valued. This creates a greater sense of employee wellbeing and, in turn, increases confidence and motivation.

Defining your audience

Your workforce is likely to vary in seniority, generations and with diverse backgrounds. They may also hold opposing values, as well as having varying levels of technical skill.

Differing circumstances will affect how messages are received and responded to. Selecting the appropriate form, style and tone of communication will demonstrate you understand and value your employees.

What you can do

Initiate conversation

Remote working may have resulted in employees failing to feel seen and heard. This transition period is a crucial time to be open to feedback and guarantee employee satisfaction across the board. This can be done in several ways, for example: surveys, discussion forms and meetings. Encouraging feedback from your employees demonstrates that not only are they being heard, but also that you are looking to improve.

Channels of communication

Just as you would assess the best channels to communicate your message externally, this needs to be applied with staff. Are they younger and will respond better to video, instant messages and text or are you targeting a broader age range where universal tools such as email would perform best? Ensuring your message is in line with your channel is vital for employee buy-in and grabbing attention.

Establish expectations, strategy, and values

Effective internal communications provide a support centre for staff, and a tool to engage staff with management through relevant notices and information. This can be done through an established communications team, or through a collaboration with Human Resources.

Communication following the pandemic must establish a business goal strategy, in line with key projects and external clients. Displaying clarity of these developments with your team enables them to feel part of the conversation.

Measuring success

It is important to understand what success looks like for internal communication initiatives. Measurable, trackable objectives need to be put in place, so that everyone can determine if the goal has been achieved and seek to take this information forward to influence future activities.

Objectives can be measured quantitatively, for example ‘Increase cross sales by 40%’ – which is a hard target that should be easy to track. However, if the aim is employee engagement or brand focused, a qualitative approach relying on attitudes and perhaps employee surveys could be more beneficial.

Need an internal comms strategy?

July 2021 | Adam Mclaughlan