Internal Comms: what difference does it really make to business performance?
You can probably guess what we’re going to say here – internal comms make a BIG difference to business performance. It is our bread and butter, after all. If you want to prove the contribution internal comms makes, however, that’s a far more difficult thing. Unlike sales, for example, where it’s easy to pull together stats which show precisely the contribution that team is making, finding the hard proof around internal comms is more of a challenge. And it means some business leaders tend to see what we do as a cost rather than an investment. If that’s an attitude you recognise, this blog is here to help you prove the nay-sayers wrong.
Let’s start with the reasons internal comms makes a difference to how well a company performs:
It brings everyone into alignment and provides clarity about purpose. When employees receive consistent, transparent information, it’s a lot easier for them to understand not just the company’s vision and strategy, but their role in making it happen. It fosters a sense of purpose and direction. People are less likely to be confused about what they need to do to be successful. There’s less wasted effort.
An informed workforce, which knows its concerns will be listened to, is a more engaged workforce. We all know (and there is plenty of research out there proving it too) that a more engaged, happy workforce is a more productive workforce (by 12%). And one component of this is two-way communication. Not just because workers who feel listened to are happier and more motivated (a good enough reason in itself), but because the insights you get from your employees can drive improvement and innovation.
Clear channels of communication increase productivity and efficiency. If your internal communication ensures employees have the right information at the right time, they can make informed decisions more quickly and complete projects in better time. Good internal comms also aids collaboration across teams. No more working in silo – processes are streamlined, knowledge is shared. You get results faster.
Big changes are implemented smoothly. When transformation projects fail (and it happens a lot) it’s almost always down to poor communication. Good communication – the clarity and openness we were talking about before – reduces anxiety and resistance at what is often a stressful time. Employees who are well informed are also more likely to readily adapt to new technologies, processes and market shifts.
Your employees become your best brand ambassadors. Employees that understand and believe in the company’s mission are far more likely to become advocates of your brand. If your employees know and follow your company values they will also boost your reputation among current and prospective clients.
Staff turnover falls and you attract top talent. Engaged employees are less likely to leave and good comms fosters that loyalty. What’s more, when jobs are advertised externally you’ll find more people apply because they’ve heard the culture in your business is awesome.
It becomes easy to share innovation and learning. A wisely chosen internal comms platform can facilitate knowledge sharing. It can also encourage continuous learning and development, giving you a workforce equipped with the skills to futureproof your business.
So, they’re the arguments and, chances are, if your business already operates like a well-oiled machine you have good internal communication. To prove its value, however, you need to create some form of metric for measuring the above and that means looking at the impact on employee behaviour, productivity, engagement and attitudes – all tricky things because they’re very subjective.
We use the four Engage for Success enablers as the foundation for a lot of our work with clients. They prove to be useful lenses which can help organisations assess the effectiveness of their approaches. They are:
Strategic Narrative
Engaging Managers
Employee Voice
Organisational Integrity
These four enablers have been identified in businesses that have high levels of both performance and engagement, and focusing on them can be a great foundation from which to measure improvement, but also quantify your long and short term efforts.
Metrics will differ for each and every business because your internal comms KPIs will depend on what your business is hoping to achieve. Remember, internal comms isn’t just a method of communicating the business’s strategy, it’s one of the strategies the leadership needs to employ to reach its goals. Do you, for example, want to use internal communication to improve employee productivity or retention rates? Or are you being asked to drive a culture of engagement? Pick your focus and work out what kind of data you need to prove your impact.
Here's an example: if improved productivity is your focus, can you show how your comms channels (which links to Employee Voice) do that? Do they reduce the amount of time it takes to do certain tasks? Have they allowed employees to cut the time they spend searching out information? Do they aid collaboration and what impact does this have on the projects employees are involved in?
Gathering that information may take some planning and effort, but if you can report back that your new comms channel has cut the average amount of time it takes employees to complete a key task, that’s proof, right there, that internal comms really does make a difference to business performance.
