Internal Communications

Every organization, no matter how large or how small, usually could stand to devote more attention to internal communications. Okay, if you're a one-person shop, maybe you don't need to. But everyone else, you should think about it. If you consider your clients, investors, and customers all stakeholders, but not your employees, you are ignoring a key audience.

Essentially you can think of internal communications as participatory media with your employees. You need to consider your audience and the media most appropriate for them, you need them to participate, and you need to listen. If you are open and communicative and listen to them, they will be happier, they will contribute more and work harder for the organization, they will be more likely to stick around, and it will be easier to harness their resources during times of organizational change. In fact, when your organization is undergoing any kind of significant change, internal communications can make you or break you.

So it seems logical that companies would devote time and resources to internal communications, right? Yet historically, internal communications has not been valued as much as external communications, such as advertising and marketing.

It is fairly simple to get started, but as with any communications endeavor, it is hard to keep it going without a plan. Sometimes it is also difficult to decide which department in an organization might be responsible for internal communications. Communications? Marketing? Human Resources? As with any communications or marketing effort, it is important to have a plan, determine who is responsible for executing the plan, and... measure your results.

Does your organization have an internal communications plan? Perhaps something as simple as a closed Facebook or Twitter group? What metrics do you use for measuring your internal communications progress?