The internal comms audit: can you really afford not to do one?

Do you know whether your colleagues think the internal comms provision in your organisation is any good?  And we mean do you really know? Feedback from a select few doesn’t count; we’re talking about the hard, possibly uncomfortable data which tells you precisely what is and isn’t working right now across the business. If the answer is you don’t know, then it begs another question – how do you know if your internal comms strategy is any good either?

As the saying goes, knowledge is power. And that means any communications strategy, be it external or internal, can only ever be as good as the data it’s based on; if you don’t know where you’re starting from you have no way to measure whether what you’re doing is having an impact. Remember too that a good internal comms strategy, grounded in a solid understanding of both the business and staff needs, will have a direct and positive effect on employee engagement – and that’s something a lot of companies are prioritising after the last couple of years, mindful of the growing mountain of statistics showing the more engaged your employees are, the more likely you are to keep them. So comms audits are important; so important we believe they should be the foundation of everything you do. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, we do a lot of comms audits at Cosy Meerkat and the benefit for our clients is we get to see the bigger picture; spot the trends, if you like. September, with everyone back and re-energised after their summer holidays, is also as good a time as any to get yourself armed and ready for the new year and that new set of, hopefully data-driven, comms goals – so we thought we’d share some of our insights with you. We hope it’ll give you an idea of the kinds of things you might want to be mindful of when you come to update your internal comms strategy.  

·       Back at the start of the first lockdown many companies were forced to bring in new communications channels almost overnight. Thankfully, we’re now post pandemic, but it seems many firms have forgotten that staff had to teach themselves how to use these channels. If you think a new channel is here to stay, ensure employees are given the proper training and that way you’ll make sure your new channel’s potential is maximised.

·       People have always preferred face-to-face communication but post covid they want that even more.

·       Information overload or ‘noise’ is a continuing problem, and it can mean that those carefully crafted messages you’re sending out aren’t as effective as they could be, because people are self-filtering, prioritising what they think they need to know.  

·       We’re potentially seeing a shift in the way email is being used because a lot of people have transitioned to Teams or other apps to chat about work stuff; email is being saved for more meaningful communications. To make sure it hits the right target, subject lines need to be clear and actionable and it’s better to avoid cc’ing everyone in all the time, overloading people with potentially unnecessary information just because it’s the easy thing to do.

·       There’s a real lack of support and training for line managers when it comes to their role in internal comms; to make sure they’re helping, not hindering, they need to know when and what they should be communicating.

·       There’s sometimes an assumption that everyone ‘gets’ new tech, but we’re not all highly tech-literate Gen Z; there are a lot of older people in the workplace for whom it doesn’t come as naturally. We see a real need for two-way mentoring; younger staff teaching the older generations about technology, while the older ones share their knowledge of the business back.

So, did any of those issues feel familiar to you? If you’re not sure whether they’re a problem (and you probably know what we’re going to say here), the only way to know is by carrying out an audit yourself. If we’ve managed to persuade you that now is the time to get on and do it, because we’re helpful sorts, here are a few tips on how to make sure the information you get is both useful and, most importantly, actionable: 

·       When you’re planning your audit, remember you’re looking for a sense of what really matters to people and, crucially, what will make their working lives easier, so your audit needs to be system wide. Whether you’re briefing an outside agency or planning the questions and structure of the audit yourself, make sure you talk to HR, IT and, depending on the make-up of your organisation, to the Diversity and Inclusion and Wellbeing leads at the outset. You want to have a good sense of what sort of problems you might be looking to solve.

·       Make sure you have buy-in from leadership; that they will listen and take action as required.

·       While it’s good to have an idea of potential problems, be ready to suspend your own ideas about solutions until you’ve heard the findings.

·       Review channels based on qualitative and quantitative measures – e.g. focus groups to dig deep, as well as surveys to get an overall picture.

·       Make recommendations actionable, with a business case for investment.

Put simply, a good internal comms audit will highlight your strengths and weaknesses, as well as providing suggestions and recommendations on how to improve. You’ll deepen your understanding of your audience, be able to optimise your budget and make better use of existing tools and channels. Have we persuaded you yet?