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17 internal communications best practices for a stronger employee engagement
Team LumApps
All organizations must determine the best ways to communicate with their employees. When internal communication is done well, organizations benefit in multiple ways and have happier and more engaged workers.
We’ve taken time to find 17 great internal communications best practices that will assist team members, managers, and executives in communicating more effectively with each other.
Why is it Important to Improve Internal Communication?
The purpose of internal communication is to provide an effective flow of information within the company so employees can perform their job well.
The way a message is shared among colleagues can be just as important as the message itself. Effective internal communication can be crucial to an organization’s efforts to keep employees engaged and enthusiastic about their work and interests and form a long-term relationship with the company.
As Russell Grossman, Director of Communications, Office of Rail and Road and GCS Head of Profession for Internal Communications points out:
“Internal Communications’ function is to help leaders in your Department or Agency inform and engage employees, in a way which motivates staff to maximize their performance and deliver the business strategy most effectively. It is not about ‘sending out stuff.’”
Poor employee communication either leads to or contributes to the following negative consequences:
- Higher employee turnover
- Misinterpretation of goals
- Missed deadlines
- Personal conflicts
When employee communications improve, employee performance also tends to improve. The company is more successful as a result.
Employees who communicate directly with their peers and supervisors are more likely to stay motivated and engaged with their work. In the modern business world, competitiveness is often directly related to the ability to enact change. Companies with larger and more widely distributed workforces must constantly balance the need for rapid innovation with robust internal communications best practices to ensure all employees are kept informed.
Internal Communications – Measurement to Mastery
Enhance your internal communication strategy and learn the impact of communication done right.
1. Have a Communications Strategy for your Company
When implementing an internal communications strategy, one of the first steps is to understand your organization’s specific needs. Start by asking yourself (and your team members) these types of questions:
- What would you like internal communications to do for your team and the company?
- What steps will you take to get there?
- What does employee communications look like now?
- What is working? What areas need improving?
- How soon would you like to reach your goals?
Without a specific internal communications plan, it’s impossible to proceed in an organized fashion or measure the progress being made to improve internal communication. It’s also difficult to improve communication within the organization if no one has determined exactly where the problem areas exist.
For these reasons, having a plan in place and a time frame for improving internal communication is crucial.
2. Set Realistic Timelines and Goals
A new domestic or international teams’ communication best practices strategy won’t automatically change employee experiences as soon as it is implemented. It takes time to bring about change in any organization. Ensure that your goals are achievable and realistic.
Start by looking at internal benchmarks to determine where there are areas that can be impacted quickly. Another great way to discover how to improve internal communication is to ask employees what they think by sending out a survey.
To ensure that employees answer the survey questions honestly, make sure the survey is anonymous. Staff members are much more likely to communicate freely if they know their answers won’t be held against them by their manager or their co-workers. Along with prewritten questions, include some space for employees to write their own thoughts if they wish to share them.
Employees may have some excellent (and very creative) notions about how the company can improve its internal communications plan. Often, all they need is for someone to ask what they think!
3. Set out an Approval Process
Part of your internal communication plan must be to create an approval process for your content. This process is designed to prevent any erroneous or confidential information from being published accidentally.
The first step is to decide who owns your organization’s internal comms strategy. If the company doesn’t have a dedicated internal communications system, who will write, edit, and approve the messages for company employees, managers, and executives?
The next step is to determine who will approve content from each department. In most instances, this role is taken on by the Marketing Department. These staff members have the skills to convey the company brand, voice, and overall image.
The Marketing Department works on company campaigns. They can put together relevant content and find industry-specific resources discussing pertinent trends. The Marketing Team can deliver messages that are precise and on point for co-workers.
4. Make Certain There is Consistency in Communication
One of the most effective internal corporate communications best practices is a strategic internal communications system. In large, decentralized companies there is not always a consistent flow of information through to all departments and levels.
Certain managers may decide to share information only when and how they choose. This type of information hoarding doesn’t benefit other team members if the manager decides not to share pertinent information with the entire team. It’s unfair for one person to withhold information that other employees need to do their work. Employees should receive communications consistently and not be at the mercy of someone who wants to play psychological games.
Ensure that all employees are aware of the company’s mission statement and values. These are the messages that underscore everything the employees do and help create the company culture. They also frame the company’s internal communications strategy.
When the company communicates frequently, consistently, and fairly, employees feel that they can trust what management says and are more comfortable about expressing themselves.
5. Personalize Internal Communications for More Employee Engagement
An easy way to ensure that internal communication gets to the right people is to personalize email subject lines and the body of the copy. This type of focused communication means that the message was deliberately sent to the recipient. It implies that the message is meant for them to read and has some importance.
These types of messages are much less likely to be overlooked among the large amounts of email correspondence employees receive regularly. When used carefully, they can help to build the company’s internal brand among staff members.
If you’re ready to take personalized communications a step further, LumApps has an employee campaigns feature that allows you to send targeted and timely messages. Campaigns allow you to segment your audience and deliver appropriate messages based on various factors such as job location or title. For example, employees in the US can receive a different message from Europe-based employees with appropriate updates and at the right time of day based on timezone. Campaigns are also a great way to get more exposure on your messages.
Be selective about the types of topics covered by company-generated emails. Some recipients may already be overloaded by work or personal issues. It may be helpful to add a standard blurb at the bottom of the email suggesting that an employee who is feeling overwhelmed contact their manager or the company Employee Assistance Program for confidential help.
6. Avoid Overloading Employees with Too Much Communication
In a large or fast-growing company, employees can suffer from communication overload. It’s vitally important to maintain internal communications strategy best practices. Companies should share information regularly with employees but keep all communications brief and on point.
When large chunks of information are shared with team members, management should wait before sending the next message. Give staff members time to digest the messages being shared before sending out the next one. Otherwise, employees may become overwhelmed and stop paying attention when they get notifications from company communications tools.
Internal Communications – Measurement to Mastery
Enhance your internal communication strategy and learn the impact of communication done right.
7. Make Internal Communications Channels a Source for Industry News
Employees are a crucial part of a company and the industry category it occupies. All staff should receive regular updates on the latest industry news and trends. Employees should also be encouraged to discuss and share insights about the news stories they have access to at work.
When employees feel that they are part of the “bigger picture” in the industry, it reminds them that their work is valuable. Informed employees have a better grasp of the company’s ideal customer, what motivates that customer to make a buying decision, and the length of the average sales cycle for the company’s market. This information is invaluable to the company’s sales, marketing, customer service, and service and repair representatives.
8. Encourage Inter-departmental Communication
Inter-departmental communication is vital if a company wants to be successful. Different departments are all parts of the same organization so they must work in tandem for the good of the company.
To ensure that all departments are on the same page, hold regular Q&A sessions between departments to enhance communication and collaboration. During these sessions, staff can share insights and develop better ways to work more effectively together.
Examples of Inter-Departmental Q&A Sessions
Sales and Accounting Departments
The Accounting Department regularly processes the Sales Department’s expense reports. Sales representatives may not realize why the Accounting Department needs the expense reports submitted in a particular style. These issues can be addressed in a Q&A session. The Accounting Department employees may not appreciate the pressure the Sales Department is under when it requests information from the Accounting Department for a customer.
Marketing and Sales Departments
These two departments within the company are separate but have linked functions within the organization. The Marketing Department conducts market research, develops plans for promoting products, and determines the ideal price to attract customers. The Sales Department staff will have an easier time hitting its sales targets if the Marketing Department’s campaign is successful. These two departments should be communicating through internal comms to increase chances for success.
9. Schedule Internal E-mail Communication in Advance
Planning to send internal communications in advance offers multiple benefits, including:
- Keeping the content fresh by avoiding repetitive subject matter in e-mails
- When more time is devoted to writing and editing content, the quality improves.
- Recipients are more likely to look forward to receiving e-mail communication
Boosting e-mail engagement and open rates by sending e-mails at times when employees are most likely to read them - Avoiding a last-minute scramble to send out internal e-mail messages
It’s possible to schedule weekly and monthly e-mail messages in advance to avoid overwhelming employees with too many messages being sent at once.
Company events can be included in the “regular” e-mail messages employees receive. When this content is added to the regularly scheduled e-mail messages, the recipients can be asked to RSVP for the company holiday party, picnic, etc., by a specific date.
10. Provide Feedback Channels for Ideas
Consistent, two-way internal communication is a crucial part of any internal communications program. Instead of management communicating with employees from the top down, a better option is for employees to offer their thoughts to their managers and company executives.
These conversations can be held in an online chat or as comments on a blog post. The company can convey that its managers’ and executives’ offices are always open to employees who wish to discuss their ideas about the workplace. Some employees may be more comfortable with an in-person discussion.
A study published in the Journal of Communication Management found that an organization should “practice a two-way, employee-centeredcentred symmetrical communication system in its everyday communication management.” The study also found that developing a positive internal communications relationship with team members has a “significant positive influence” on employee engagement.
→ Read more: 30 Employee Engagement Best Practices
11. Use Internal Communications Tools to Recognize Employee Efforts
Make a point of acknowledging employees who consistently distinguish themselves by making a concerted effort on the job. This is different from recognizing those who meet their sales quotas month after month, although it’s important to acknowledge those top performers as well. The employees who can be best described as the “workhorses” on the job are those who consistently come to work day after day and put in an effort to do their work well. Generally, these employees are not sufficiently recognized despite being the backbone of the organization.
Since these workhorses can be outshone by other employees, it’s often easy to overlook their contribution to the company. When it’s time to reward the top performer for the month or the quarter, make sure to acknowledge other employees for their efforts. One person can be the person at the top of the sales leader board and someone else can be acknowledged for other qualities that are valuable to the organization. Be sure that each person’s contribution is acknowledged to make it clear that their contributions are separate and that both are appreciated.
Employee experience platforms, like LumApps, will include employee recognition walls so managers and coworkers can send virtual shoutouts and awards to colleagues.
12. Contact Employees with Important Messages Through SMS
The communications best practice is to send a message via SMS when employees need to be reached quickly or don’t have easy access to e-mail. This is the best option for companies that have deskless, frontline, or on-site workforces. Text messages can be forwarded to all employees and received instantly. This communication method can be used to convey urgent information and updates to employees.
SMS can be used to communicate with employees in an emergency. They can also be used to convey information about weather conditions, shift changes, and other situations where the company needs to reach people immediately.
With LumApps, your employees can select this preferred method of notification so they receive email announcements or SMS, whatever is best for them. LumApps Campaigns also allows you to segment employees by their preferred communication method so you can schedule an SMS at the appropriate time of day, instead of knowingly sending them an SMS in the middle of the night that isn’t truly urgent.
13. Inspire Action Instead of Simply Informing Employees
Companies that want to remain competitive must ensure they inspire and motivate their employees. It’s important to put out messages that will inform team members. Internal communications should lead to some form of action.
Some ways to motivate the team to go above and beyond the norm are as follows:
- Include the company’s mission statement at the bottom of e-mail messages
- Share motivational quotes with team members that will influence them to take action
- Add calls-to-action in e-mail messages
- Offer rewards to teams or individuals who reach specific goals or accomplish certain goals
14. Make Internal Communications Fun
The internal communication channel is the perfect medium to create a fun space that employees will want to return to. Adding contests, polls, and surveys that workers will enjoy can help to increase employee participation rates. Staff members who visit the channel are likely to tell their co-workers how much they enjoy the channel, especially if the content is updated regularly.
Engage employees by using a variety of media, such as interactive newsletters, videos, and infographics. People are much more likely to remember information if it is accompanied by an image, so don’t hesitate to include them with the content on this channel.
15. Measure Engagement Levels and Effectiveness
Adhering to internal communications best strategy best practice is critical to the success of an organization. Unless engagement and uptake are measured, it’s impossible to determine whether messaging is working or getting through to staff members.
The company must track its Internal communications metrics. This will allow the organization to make appropriate adjustments and improve its strategy to get the best possible results.
To monitor engagement levels effectively, consider implementing an internal communication app. An internal communication app can monitor engagement levels in real time. This makes monitoring engagement an easy and convenient process. Once data is gathered about how various teams and divisions are interacting with each other, specific steps can be taken to improve participation.
16. Share Options for Employee Resources and Training
An effective internal communications plan should involve consistently sharing benefits and resources available to employees. These can include information about pertinent matters, such as employee health and dental insurance coverage options for individuals and families.
Employees should also be made aware of training opportunities. These training sessions can include refresher safety sessions, company-sponsored seminars, and sessions for employees to obtain or maintain work-related licensing. Employees should also be made aware of lunch-and-learn opportunities and career-building workshops.
Be prepared to use several methods to ensure that all employees, including those performing remote work, are made aware of training opportunities. E-mails, chats, blog posts, and team meetings (virtual and in-person) can be used to ensure that everyone is aware of company benefits and the training opportunities available to them.
17. Maintain Transparency in Internal Communication
Transparency in communication is an important mindset for everyone at the company. It is required for promoting trust and accountability among team members. When employees feel their employer isn’t being upfront about some matters, they may be discouraged from asking questions to clarify the situation. Other staff may also hesitate to share their thoughts and concerns on the subject.
Everyone knows that some information must always be kept confidential. Other information can be shared with people at the right time. Employees must simply be patient.
Employees don’t like secrets, especially if they have a bearing on their work efforts with the company. For example, if the company is going through a difficult time but the executives feel that the organization will be able to weather the storm, this information is something that could encourage employees to make a greater effort in their work.
These internal communications best practices are meant to encourage employees and management to have a dialogue. The old way of executives and managers telling employees how to behave at work while employees didn’t say very much of anything has passed.
The modern workplace depends on people talking to, not at, each other. People doing different types of jobs work together in the same way that musicians in a symphony play different instruments to play a piece of music. All of them are essential to reach the goal, whether it is to perform beautifully together or to ensure that a business runs successfully. All employees have a role to play, and their feedback and opinions are important. For this reason, it’s important that everyone is included in an organization’s internal communications.
Internal Communications – Measurement to Mastery
Enhance your internal communication strategy and learn the impact of communication done right.
