It was perhaps hardly surprising that the 2012 London Olympic bid team, chaired by Sebastian Coe was named Communicator of the Year (COTY) 2005 by the British Association of Communicators in Business (CiB). When the team of dedicated professionals set out to reach that ultimate goal of bringing the Olympics to London, their message was simply this: ‘Believe in us. This will happen.’ The outcome was success.
It was no easy task, not only did they have to communicate to the British public and the world, but they had to ensure the team was engaged, motivated, they all understood what their roles were and how they contributed to the team as a whole. It is obvious that having a successful team will bring success to your business. This goes beyond recruiting the right people, it is about how you motivate and inspire your staff. It is about people-centred internal communications. Something that is easy to forget when you are busy trying to generate business.
Yet internal communications as just as important as your external promotions and it needn’t be complex stuff either; it’s mostly about common sense. Don’t forget, excellent customer service and external communications start with informed and engaged internal audiences.
More than words
So what is effective internal communications? All intermediaries with staff should think about how they can use internal communications to improve staff performance. Your staff are the primary stakeholder and you need to ensure everyone works together to deliver the same organisational goals.
Although there may often be a need to provide information about certain initiatives, internal communications is most effective when it is a two-way process. Effective,
two-way communication between managers and staff improves staff satisfaction and the performance of your business, and reduces the opportunity for confusion and misinterpretation of information. It also helps to drive staff engagement, which in turn can lead to an enhanced customer experience and ultimately increased business.
So effective internal communications can affect the bottom line and research has shown the one factor common to most organisations identified as high performers was a commitment to quality communication.
The timing of internal communications activity is crucial, just like external communications. It is essential that internal and external announcements be tied in together. Your staff should pick up information from the organisation first, before they see or hear about it in external media. Sounds simple, but I bet many of you have called some of your competitors about a new rate and the person at the other end didn’t know what you were talking about. There may be times when this may not be possible, but the overriding principle should be to provide staff with whatever information is available as soon as you can, with the promise of further updates when available.
Rules of engagement
So, how do you actually go about communicating within your organisation? Well in the same way as external communications there are many different ways in which you can do this, with the best choice of method depending on the objectives, on what you wish to say, to whom and when. No matter how good, using only one medium to communicate with staff will not do the job; a good mix of methods is required.
The table on page 46 sets out some suggested different communication methods. These methods can be used, depending on whether you are simply raising awareness or trying to get full commitment runs from initial awareness through to commitment. It is vital, however, that you make decisions based on the suitability of the channels in your own organisation.
Research shows that face-to-face communication is still the preferred method for staff especially when receiving information about individual or organisation changes. Face-to-face communications give staff a sense that leaders value them sufficiently to take time to talk to them directly and respond to their questions or feedback. It is also enlightening for the management who get to hear things straight from the coalface.
Cross channels
So let’s take a brief look at some of the main channels you can use.
The intranet
There is little point having an intranet just for the sake of it or because you’ve heard a competitor has one. It has to be right for your business. Decide on what you want the intranet to achieve, how will your staff access it (important if you have many staff on the road) and what you want it to look like. Content is the key – think about how much text and imagery should go on, who will add content and monitor usage. Once you have an intranet you need to keep it fresh.
E-mail is an effective form of communication if used properly. At GMAC-RFC, for example, all internal business-related e-mails are sent from one source. This seems to work well. E-mail can be used to direct staff to the intranet, via appropriate links. While effective, you should avoid the dangers of over-relying on this method and neglecting the value of face-to-face discussions.
Staff magazines and newsletters
After years of companies appearing to believe that online communication was the cure for all communication problems, internal magazines and newsletters have recently made something of a comeback. That is definitely the case for us. Our internal newsletter, Informall, has managed to inject a sense of fun into our communication efforts and created a sense of pride and belonging amongst staff.
Again content is key. The success of Informall is down to the fact that it draws the attention of staff with a mix of human interest stories, humour, shows them what colleagues in other departments are up to and includes some ‘must reads’ e.g. the Chairman’s vision for the company or changes to company policies.
Team briefings
A team briefing is a face-to-face briefing of staff by their managers. Messages are co-ordinated from the centre and briefings work best when staff are given the opportunity to discuss and give feedback, allowing for understanding and engagement. Staff hear messages from someone they know and trust, and can make the information relevant to their department or team. If the messages are delivered from a central source
it is important that feedback is relayed back to that source, to ensure the briefing sessions are kept real and relevant.
Staff presentations
Staff events that involve senior management can be a very useful method for generating engagement, particularly if staff are allowed the opportunity for a Q&A session. They are also an effective channel for communicating organisational change and demonstrating how the company is doing against targets and goals.
Like any good communication tool these events can create an emotional bond, spurring staff to act in the company’s best interest. It is important to have senior management support for these events to demonstrate the importance of internal communications. At our last company-wide event, we showed staff a video of our senior management team in the Big Brother house. The team were asked to do certain tasks, called to the diary room to talk about their achievements and plans for their departments and doing ‘household chores’. It was the best received event we had ever organised and our ratings (for internal communications) shot through the roof.
Noticeboards, display stands and plasma screens
Noticeboards can be a great way of delivering consistent and timely messages around your organisation. These need to grab attention in the same way an advert does, so you
will need to think about the layout quite carefully. Display stands can be produced for reception and common areas. Electronic screens meanwhile are also a useful means of keeping staff up-to-date with current news or delivering specific messages, as well as providing external visitors with an insight into your organisation and its activities.
It’s good to listen
Finally, don’t forget to listen and obtain feedback. You probably spend time and money on researching your client base. It is important to find out what your staff want and need. Keep up-to-date with the most effective ways to reach your audiences by asking them what they want and remember that different methods can be used in different ways.
We use an external company to measure whether people have become motivated to improve service, how they perceive their relationship with their boss and how motivated they are about their work. In short we want to know how engaged our staff are by their job and the company, because enhancing employee engagement and capturing their hearts and minds is, ultimately, what internal communications should be about.
Jeanne Tan is employee communications manager at GMAC-RFC
