There is no denying it: internal communication plays a strategic role within a business, as it promotes organizational culture and keeps all teams aligned with the company's values and objectives.
However, internal communication is not always among a company's main strategies. This creates a series of difficulties in daily operations, such as mismatched information and a lack of engagement, which can affect a company's overall performance.
This article will show you the importance of efficient internal communication, the tools to help your company disseminate key messages across multiple channels, and how to establish metrics to evaluate best practices.
Importance of internal communication in companies
More than sending emails or memos, internal communication is the basis for effective collaboration, quick problem-solving, and building a more productive work environment.
It's essential to the success of companies, as it ensures everyone is on the same page and committed to working towards the company's goals. Furthermore, internal communication offers several benefits to organizations, including:
- Intensifies employee engagement;
- Defines the organizational culture, aligning everyone's expectations;
- Improves interpersonal relationships in the corporate environment;
- Prevents the emergence of conflicts and misunderstandings between teams;
- Allows leaders to make more informed decisions;
Increases motivation and, consequently, productivity.
Strategies for maintaining efficient internal communication
In practice, there are some essential steps to building an effective internal communication strategy for your company, with actions that will help overcome challenges and eliminate bottlenecks in this process.
Step 1: Review your current strategy
Before starting a new internal communications strategy, start mapping the processes in the area that your company already has today and take stock of all this. The tip here is to identify the weaknesses and strengths of how your organization communicates with employees and what can be improved.
Some fundamental questions can help in this process, such as:
- How does internal communication work in my company currently?
- What key messages are being distributed? On which channels?
- How is essential information circulating within the organization?
- Is there a standardization of all this content?
- What impact does current internal communication have on company culture?
- Are we using any software to optimize this process?
Step 2: Define your audience
A big mistake in companies is treating all teams, from the most diverse departments, as a homogeneous group. This is not a realistic scenario; each area has its particularities that must be taken into account when developing an internal communication strategy.
Therefore, segmenting the target audience and defining their persona within the company helps bring the right message to the right person through the most diverse communication channels available in the organization. For example, distribute content based on functions, different areas, and even in multiple languages, if necessary.
Step 3: Establish clear goals and objectives
Before implementing any strategy, it is important to define clear objectives. What do you hope to achieve with internal communication in your company? Goals may include improving employee engagement, increasing alignment with the company vision, or improving department collaboration.
Furthermore, it is important to have realistic goals and a schedule that includes a minimum structure in the internal communication process, such as idealization, action plan, and execution.
Step 4: Utilize multiple channels
Efficient internal communication requires a variety of channels, such as email, intranet, in-person training, and instant messaging, among others, to reach all teams.
After all, people have different preferences regarding communication, and the goal here is to reach them all clearly to generate interest and engagement.
Step 5: Attractive content
For everyone to be on the same page, messages must be clear, concise, and relevant, with simple and attractive language. This means the content must be carefully thought out, including different formats such as newsletters, internal social networks, videos, games, corporate TV, workshops, and the like.
In general terms, to diversify the content for effective internal communication in your company, we have listed some relevant topics.
- Informative: Ideal for informing teams of what is happening in the market and news within the company itself.
- Educational: Perfect for sharing knowledge, news, and innovations in the company's area of activity.
- Entertainment: This is content with more general and lighter information, such as important dates, anniversaries, birthdays, and internal events, among others.
- “Youtility” content: A type of service with relevant information for common problems among all teams, thus strengthening the sense of belonging.
- Inspirational: This is where testimonials and stories of overcoming challenges come in to inspire and motivate teams.
Remember, transparency is fundamental when building trust among the people who work in the company. Be transparent about the decisions you make, the challenges, and the organization's progress.
Metrics for internal communication in your company
Regardless of whether internal communication is carried out by human resources or marketing teams (or even by both departments), metrics and KPIs are essential to measure results, identify bottlenecks, and check potential improvements.
Here are some ways to check your internal communication efficiency
Feedback: Conduct satisfaction surveys, discussion groups, or periodic feedback meetings to evaluate performance and adherence to your internal communication strategies.
Reach: Measure how many employees are reached with internal communication by checking the internal message reading rate or response time.
Engagement: Analyze employee engagement in forums, discussion groups, posts on social media, and company events.
Impact: Check whether the communication positively impacts behavior, performance, productivity, employee engagement, and talent retention, among others.
Tips for improving internal communication
If your company already has good internal communication or if you are just starting this process in your business, check out some tips to further optimize this resource:
- Adapt internal communication to changes in the company and the market in general, adjusting strategies whenever necessary.
- Promote two-way communication where everyone can express their opinions.
- Invest in training to improve communication and collaboration between teams—don’t just focus on leaders.
- Celebrate achievements and share important milestones to keep employees more engaged.
- Use appropriate technology to improve internal communication, with team collaboration tools suited to the company's needs. Qntrl can help your company organize workflows and campaigns related to internal communication, automate sending messages and emails from the platform, and offer a digital environment to share information, ideas, and announcements within the company.
Efficient internal communication promotes the alignment of objectives, employee engagement, quick resolution of conflicts, and the construction of an even more solid organizational culture. This means that adopting internal communication strategies and best practices helps your business have more collaborative, productive teams willing to work for the company's growth.
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