Five quick wins to help you improve your internal comms
Are you worried your internal comms isn’t hitting the mark? Perhaps you’re communicating a lot but, for some reason, not enough people are hearing what you’re saying. If that’s the case, you’re in the right place, because this blog is all about how to improve your internal communications. That said, you won’t find anything here about what to say (we’re going to assume you already know about the need for a good set of clear, key messages), this is all about how you say something. The quick changes you can make to help everyone in your organisation become better, more engaged communicators, particularly those in small and medium sized businesses.
1. Communicate less. Yes, you heard us – send out fewer messages. Information overload is a problem which affects over a third of people in the UK. According to the scientists, it’s because technology has evolved so quickly we haven’t had time to adapt and catch up. Our overworked brains can’t process everything being thrown at us and, as a result, we get anxious and stressed. Stressed employees are far more likely to leave critical messages unread, miss deadlines or forget about urgent tasks. If you’re prudent with your comms, if you target it appropriately and if what you communicate is perceived as helpful and easy to consume, people will make a point of stopping to read or listen when they get something from you. Sometimes less really is more.
2. Use technology to make your comms targeted and personalised. This point is all about how you most effectively do the above. There are now so many digital and non-digital communications options – intranet, emails, videos, social media, town hall meetings, newsletters (the list goes on and on…) – that even for an internal comms pro it can be hard to figure out what’s best.
As a minimum, make sure you and your colleagues are clear about the purpose of each channel and what it’s most effective at. You could, however, go a different route and streamline everything via one internal comms app. The offerings out there have grown in recent years and now, as long as all your staff have a smartphone or tablet, an app can be one of your most effective and efficient options. The best apps can be used to share news, gather feedback and support two-way communications and are particularly good for non-desk or remote workers. No-one has to go looking for updates, they can tailor what they do and don’t see and staff can choose to have push notifications for the things that are most important to them. Before you choose an app, make sure you’re clear about the sort of information you and other departments will need to send out. Will it need to have a chat function? Could it be used for emergency comms? Will you get detailed metrics so you can see what’s working? And, most important of all, is it user-friendly?
3. Train line managers in the art of good communication. When we do comms audits for clients, what comes up again and again is that people’s preferred method of communication is face to face. They want their managers to brief them on the important things. Yet all too often, these managers are seen as a barrier to good comms. We’re told they don’t communicate the right messages or that they don’t communicate them at all. You can find a whole set of recommendations from us on how to help this important bunch of people communicate better on another of our blogs. What’s key, though, is specific communications training for line managers (many of whom were never trained to be managers in the first place), using workshops or mentoring. It’s also a good idea to make sure there is a clear comms remit in their job descriptions.
4. Create How To guides on all things comms, especially how to use new channels. These can be written or filmed, one detailed guide or a series of quick hacks, for example how to turn off notifications. However you choose to do it, make sure all staff know how to use the technology you have and that they know where to go when they need help. If you’ve got older staff who aren’t quite as au fait with new technology as younger members of the team, switch the traditional mentoring around and get your digital natives supporting them instead.
5. Listen. Listen. Listen. You’re not a good communicator if all you do is talk at people. Ask staff how they prefer to receive communications before you take the plunge and you’ll be able to develop something which works from the outset. Once it’s in operation, get feedback and you’ll be able to refine it further to make it even better. Pretty soon you’ll have an app everyone raves about. It’s a process known as closed-loop feedback and it’s been shown to be one of the best ways to make big improvements in business. Just remember to always let staff know you’ve taken their changes on board, because employees who feel listened to feel valued and that makes for a much happier workplace.
We provide bespoke packages to suit our clients’ needs, and our workshops about comms channels are a brilliant way to take an in depth look at your channels and see what is and what isn’t working for your audience. You can find out more here: https://www.cosymeerkat.co.uk/our-packages.
We hope you found our suggestions useful and, remember, if you need any more advice on how to get these things happening, we’re always here to help – we’d love to hear from you.
