Article written by Marana Brand, Stone Consultant

A company’s internal communications effectiveness is the single most important driver of employee commitment. When information flows freely employees are more engaged and aware of organisational activities and management decisions that affect their jobs.

According to an article on cebglobal.com, many factors have converged to make effective internal communications harder than ever:

  • Employees have grown accustomed to personalised, on-demand content in their private lives, and they expect this standard to be met on the job as well.
  • Leaders struggle to communicate about where the company is going and how that will affect employees.
  • Managers don’t communicate often or well enough with their teams.
  • Intranets is more of a “wild west” of unwieldy content than a tool to help employees get their jobs done.
  • Employee disengagement has doubled in the last two years, and reversing this trend will only get harder as the downturn continues.

One of the key challenges any internal communicator will face is how to select the right channels – and the right mix of channels – for both the audience and the message. The practical considerations are:

  • Availability: What channels either already exist within the organisation or can be introduced effectively?
  • Audience: Who are they, where are they based, how do they prefer to access information and how effective will the proposed channel be in reaching them and engaging them?
  • Objectives: What does the organisation want people to learn, think, feel or do as a result of the message?
  • Content: What is the context and substance of the message? For example, sensitive messages may need to be communicated face-to-face, rather than by, say, SMS text message.
  • Timing: How urgent is the message?

A company shouldn’t have to choose one channel and use it all the time. Depending on your message, rather use a combination of these channels. For example, if you want something remembered, do a video, if you want something to be available for reference like a policy, post it on the intranet along with an email announcement, and maybe a few posters, and so on.

Formal channels typically fall into one of four broad categories:

  • Electronic: Communications that are delivered and/or accessed electronically. Examples include email, intranet, video and webcasts, DVD, electronic newsletters, podcasts, blogs, voicemail, SMSes, screensaver messaging, desktop alert messages, and internal social media tools like internal Twitter-style sites. Email is obviously one of the most common and versatile channels because of its simplistic beauty. Remember, however, that depending on how you write, structure and present your email, there’s no telling when and if an employee will read it, let alone process and retain the information in it. Depending on the platform/system/technology your company uses, the intranet is an extremely versatile medium, and unlike email, anything that goes on the intranet is there to stay, there to read at your own convenience, there to refer back to when needed.
  • Print: Paper-based communications. Examples include magazines, newsletters, brochures, posters, and memos. Employee newsletters and magazines are an excellent and engaging communication channel if there’s a fair balance of business to non-business to social content.
  • Face-to-face: One-to-one and one-to-many forums where people are physically present. Examples include a “cascade” of team meetings or briefings, conferences, site visits, consultation forums, and round-table discussions. It is important to highlight, however, that senior, middle, and frontline management should be prepared for any questions or concerns and how to respond to them on these forums.
  • Workplace: The working environment. Examples include notice boards, plasma and LCD screens, and accessories like mouse pads.

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