Internal Communications: 5 Things All Practitioners Must Know

Imagine a company where employees aren’t briefed properly about their tasks. Also, they aren’t encouraged to share their progress or update the team regarding what they are working on. This limited communication will result in inefficiency, miscommunication, duplication of tasks, lack of coordination, and counter-productivity. The only way to tackle such chaos is through effective internal communication. It is the backbone of a company as it plays a crucial role in ensuring that every person involved in the organisation is informed, engaged, and working towards achieving organisational goals. In this blog, we will explore five things all internal communication practitioners must know.

Ensure two-way communication

Internal communication should be a two-way street. For instance, employees of a company have become less productive in the past few weeks. The leadership team takes notice and an anonymous survey is taken by employees. One of the feedbacks states that there’s a lack of proper training and that is why they haven’t been able to complete tasks on time. Once the reasons are heard, the organisation quickly takes action to resolve them. As an internal communication practitioner, encouraging feedback should be one of the priorities. When employees’ voices are heard and their issues are solved, that can lead to more productivity and efficiency.

Align the organisation’s goals with employees’ personal goals

According to Deloitte’s research 77% of executives think that companies are not focused on aligning employees and their personal goals with corporate purposes. This can bring the morale down. However, if the goals are aligned then this strategic approach can lead to increased employee engagement. Transparent and regular internal communication ensures that employees understand the company’s vision, mission, and goals. When employees have a better understanding of the organisational objectives, they can better align their objectives.

Tailor message as per the audience

Employees within an organisation have different expectations, understandings, and needs. You can’t craft and deliver the same message to someone at an executive level and one at an entry-level. It is important to tailor messages according to what the audience would find relevant. Audience-centered communication also fosters engagement as it shows that you value them.

Maintain transparency

Transparency in internal communication significantly contributes to the organisation's overall success because it builds trust and confidence. Transparency can also mitigate crises and stop any rumours that can cause panic among employees. It also helps them to make more informed decisions as they have all the information they need to know.

Prepare for any crisis

Crises are inevitable. As an internal communication professional, you must predict what crisis one can expect and develop crisis communication plans according to it. This way, when there is an emergency, you will be able to define the roles and responsibilities of people and communicate the protocols they need to follow. Taking swift action is necessary to mitigate a crisis.

Internal communication is a great tool which ensures that the workforce is engaged, informed, and coordinated. If practitioners excel in the art of effectively communicating with their internal stakeholders, then the organisation will indefinitely have a healthy and motivated work environment which will only push the people involved to do better.