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🧍🧍In this week’s edition, Reema Venkat will dig into the basics of internal communications and how to nail the basics for your employees
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Reema and I started our careers together in Mumbai. I was the first hire at an agri-startup, and she entered the world of corporate communications. Since then, she has worn several hats - instructional designer, content writer, transformational change expert, corporate and internal comms advisor.
Recently, Reema moved to Dubai after a 6-year stint leading internal and transformational change comms at Shell India. In today’s post, she gives an introduction to internal comms, and what you can do set yourself and your organization up for success in this space.
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Internal comms is a crucial “employee marketing channel” - it’s how you keep them engaged, get their buy-in to company priorities, and keep teams motivated.
At its core, internal comms is about answering three foundational questions for an employee:
What do they need to know to be successful at their job?
What is the most effective way to deliver this information?
How can it be done in a way that is authentic and appropriate to the company's culture?
It can take years to arrive at constructive and truthful answers to these questions. The answers can also vary greatly between new and tenured employees.
Then come the broader questions - What is the culture of communications within a company? How do we encourage more authentic and informed communication between peers as well as leaders and teams? How do we develop an environment where constructive conversation is the norm rather than a forced "Town hall" or "All Hands meeting" occurrence.
While each set of the questions warrants a deep dive, this time I will try and focus on the first set.
As an employee:
1. What do I want communicated?
2. How do I want to be communicated with?
3. When do I want to receive communications?
An employee wants to be successful at what they do
Employees usually only work at one place at a time and partially define themselves by their occupation and workplace.
First, they should know how to complete their day job effectively.
After that communication need is met, they must know what they need to be working on (and where they’re are headed).
Once they’re aligned with their team is when they can then consider the company, its larger purpose and the potential path to achieving the vision of the company.
Though there will always be variables that impact communication needs, not least of which is the relationship between them and their manager and team, this would be the basic chronology of how an employee would want to receive communication.
Push vs. Pull
Push communication: The best way to do this is by sending a periodic newsletter containing important and interesting news for that set duration. This could include changes in policy, events, awards or call outs that employees have received. Like any marketing channel, add in a tracking mechanism into your email such as an action for the receiver to complete or sharing an introduction/summary linked to a measurement platform (such as SharePoint). Tracking readership will help you understand how effective your communication is.
Pull communication: Build an intranet repository with detailed information that employees can access easily containing all the information they might need, for example HR policies, details of active employee networks, Single Points Of Contact (SPOC) for specific requirements (meeting room booking, facilities etc.)
Need-to-know vs. Nice-to-know
This depends on the content that is being shared with employees as well as the work culture of your organization. Ambiguous as the answer is, it is the only one I have.
Example: Assuming your organization generally works Mon-Fri, 9-5, if you’re thinking of sending a periodic newsletter, you might want to do it closer to the end of the week. If it’s communication that requires employees to take action, that would need to be sent out at the start of the day, preferably in the first half of the week.
Now let’s try and put this in context of your potential next message. Consider the following:
What? - Is your message something that your reader MUST know to complete their jobs effectively or is it something you WANT them to know. Is it a “need to know” or “nice to know” message? Your answer will dictate everything about the communication itself, the words to be used, the platform on which you share it and when you share it.
How? - Depending on your answer to the question of “what”, choose to send your message out on email/during the next company-wide meeting if it is a “need to know” message or on the internal social platform (Yammer, Slack or SharePoint) if it is a “nice to know” message.
When? - Plan to send it out early in the work week and work day if it is a “need to know” message or later in the week for a “nice to know” message.
If you consider these three questions carefully, you will already be well on your way to communicating effectively with your employees. Sure, there are MANY more aspects of communication that will need to be considered as you go along, but as the saying goes “Well begun is half done.”
Happy communicating!
Reema is an Internal Communications specialist, and is looking for her next opportunity in Dubai. You can check out her LinkedIn here or reach out to her at Reema.venkat@gmail.com
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Crisp and Sensible write up Reema. Best Wishes for your future.