Internal communication is critical. Communicating with your employees is more important than communicating with your customers. Creating a culture that encourages open dialogue and makes employees comfortable sharing their views is important for your success.
You can find the presentation notes here: http://www.scilogs.com/the-leap/what-did-i-just-say-yes-to-my-first-ignite-presentation/
Why you should invest in internal communication…
Based on a list by Shel…
Employees almost always treated as second class citizens when people responsible for external PR/marketing take on the task of internal comm.
More often than not – all communication is rolled into one unit – and external comm reigns supreme
It’s like taking a quarterback and asking him to kick the game winning field goal. Different skill set / Different focus
Of course, this means that your own employees – your team – goes from sitting in first class to coach.
I believe that all communication should begin with your own people. I’m going to run through some of the reasons why internal comm should be a huge priority for you.
It’s not the most glamorous job, but it’s critical. Resist the temptation to treat it as a throw away task you give to an intern or an entry level person. It takes skill to effectively communicate across an organization.
Your employees (your team) is as important - as your customers – more important actually.
Don’t insulate them from what’s going on with your organization.
If you’re going to be successful – everyone has to be on the same page.
Employees don’t want to be isolated – they need information:
What effect does this have on my employment?
What impact will this have on how I do my job?
How does my job align with the big picture goals, plans and strategies of the organization?
Employees want – and need – to know more than WHAT you’re telling the public. They need to know WHY decisions are being made. Don’t just give them the party line…give them the rationale. This will help them buy-in to the strategy, and in the end they’ll be much more supportive – and effective.
Internal communication isn’t a one shot deal. A monthly employee newsletter isn’t going to cut it.
Like drinking coffee, internal communication needs to be part of your daily routine.
It needs to be top down AND bottom up - their input and feedback is critical to your success.
…but you need to to have a corporate culture that encourages open dialogue.
…otherwise employees will keep their heads down and their mouths shut. That’s not what you want.
They can see opportunities and threats you may overlook…
Making employees feel secure and comfortable sharing views – even if they stray from that of management.
They can see opportunities and threats you may overlook…
Making employees feel secure and comfortable sharing views up the chain – with no pushback or penalties – is critical
You want them to challenge you – if you don’t encourage it – you do so at your own peril.
(tricle down)???
Employees want to – I mean they NEED to hear from their leaders.
Research shows that CEOs are the least credible spokespeople for an organization – externally.
Internally the opposite is true.
They want the leader to share his/her vision – and get them excited about it.
They want to feel like they’re part of something bigger than their daily tasks.
They want to know how their job fits in and how they support the organization’s goals.
They want to know what’s expected of them.
Most of all…
They don’t want to be surprised…
If it’s going to be in the press – good or bad news – your employees should know about it first.
You have an obligation and responsibility to make sure they know first.
…or this is how they’ll feel when customers, or people in the community ask them about the news.
They can help beat down rumors, clarify things that the public misunderstands – but only if they know the whole story – and know it early…
Also…
Also…
Think about how you’d feel if you picked up the newspaper and read about something that will have a negative impact on your job – your future?
Prepare your people – in advance - for anything that could ‘go public’ – good or bad.
I bet many of you use the trickll down approach now.
The boss tells senior execs to ‘get the word out’ and it magically happens right?
Not really, like a game of telephone – messages change as they’re delivered.
A focus on internal comm. can help cascade consistent messages throughout the organization.
Many external communication, PR and marketing people are notoriously weak when it comes to internal communication – not because they don’t have the skills – but because it’s just ‘another duty as assigned’ and gets treated as a lower priority.
If you’re serious about success, get serious about internal communication by making sure you have someone focused on it 100% of the time.
Organizations that communiciate effectively with employees are 4-times more likely to have higher engagement levels.
This means having employees who truly understand, believe in and work every day to support the goals of the organization.
Internal communication is the central nervous system of your organization.
Leadership, departments, groups, units, all feed into the system…
Messages are then synthesized and coordinated – and “BOOM” – there’s a smooth flow of information back that keeps things running smoothly.
