Internal communication is still one of the most important aspects of running a successful business. It establishes a proper information flow within the entire organization and ensures that various departments or teams efficiently communicate and share knowledge with each other.
But right now, internal communication is rapidly changing. While there are some practices that are still widespread, there are also some new trends that are taking over the world of business.
Here are ten emerging internal communication trends that every business owner and diligent manager should pay attention to.
#1 Messaging Becomes More Personal
Personalization has been reaching into every part of business management and into every industry. In fact, it has most influenced the way businesses to communicate with and treat their customers, but internal messaging is also becoming more personal.
This means that employees in the workplace now develop more personal relationships and tend to communicate on a more understanding and empathetic level.
Likewise, responsible staff members also treat their employees in a more personalized way. It is definitely a positive tendency that many companies are now adopting.
#2 Employees Become Brand Advocates
Another change you might have noticed is that employees are massively becoming brand advocates. However, such a shift is not only external and requires alterations within the company to really have an impact.
By properly communicating to your employees what you want them to do, you will notice that they will become more reasonable with their choices about promoting your brand advocating for it. In turn, this might gradually increase your brand awareness and improve your company’s reputation if your employees work on this continuously.
#3 Focus on Privacy
Privacy is extremely important when it comes to internal communication. People want to be sure that their data is protected and that nobody will see their personal conversations with other people or between each other. They want to be reassured that everything will stay private.
This means that most of your employees will need to have the ability to communicate with each other without having to report absolutely everything to the boss. Give them some freedom is certain things and understand that not everything has to be available for the public.
#4 Employees Become More Important
Employees are increasingly becoming more important in various aspects of running a business. Employers want to give their employees the best experience they can and start listening to what they have to say as much as possible.
This is why internal communication now plays a key role. If you want to make your employees more involved and engaged in the company, then listen to them when they have something to say and actively seek out what they think about certain issues.
One way to give employees a voice in your organization is to establish and promote the use of a centralized, transparent, two-way internal communication channel, such as an internal company blog.
#5 Integration Becomes Central
Internal communication has been transferred mostly to mobile now, but integration is still central. Integrating mobile and other forms of communication is crucial for internal communication to run effectively and smoothly.
For example, if you have a foreign employee who does not understand English as well as you would want them to, you could use an online translation service like The Word Point that would help you translate documents and texts and get your message across more clearly and accurately to avoid misunderstandings.
#6 Lessons from Marketing
It might sound incredible, but internal communication has been taking lessons from marketing. This department has a lot of experience working with customers, but this knowledge can also be used for improving communication within the company.
Try to make your HR and marketing departments cooperate and find how they can improve each other’s performance. It is very important that you give this a try because such a change could be very helpful for your business and internal communication within your company.
#7 Building Connections Between Generations
It is not a mystery to anyone that different generations do not always have the best relationships because people born in different periods of history often have different values, interests, and so on. Consequently, businesses that have many generations working within them will find it hard to cooperate well.
This is when internal communication can help a lot. In other words, improving communication between the employees of your company will lead to generations bonding more and finding solutions together.
Related: How to communicate in a team with a big generation gap
#8 Accent Both on Today and on Tomorrow
Have you ever heard of ambidexterity? This is the ability that some people have that allows them to use both their right and left hands equally. But when it comes to business, ambidexterity refers to being able to manage today’s problems as well as thinking about tomorrow.
Internal communication can be extremely helpful in the sense that it allows you to communicate your plans, expectations, and worries about the future to your employees in a more efficient way.
#9 Almost Complete Digitalization
Internal communication is being taken to the next level with an almost complete digitalization. As mentioned earlier, most of the communication is done via mobile which means that almost all interactions are taking place on some kind of digital device.
Nevertheless, it is still important to understand that face-to-face interactions can help tremendously to properly convey what you want from your employees and how you want them to work with each other.
#10 Bring Your Own Device Is Being Accepted
Last but not least, bring your own device or BYOD is becoming more accepted. Companies now accept employees who use their own devices rather than using what the companies provide them with.
This allows employees to navigate their laptops and desktop computers as well as tablets and mobile phones more effectively because they are more familiar with these gadgets. In other words, more freedom, more understanding, and less miscommunication.
Final Thoughts
As businesses try to stay on track with all the new developments and innovations on other fronts, internal communication often gets left behind which inevitably hurts the company in the long run.
Hopefully, tips from this article will help you avoid this mistake and become a better business leader and run your company more effectively.