Internal communication is the invisible force that spreads across the entire company, touching every employee and every department, connecting the dots, and allowing the organization to function as a harmonious whole.
It's a multipurpose discipline that deeply affects various parts of an organization: removes barriers between departments, helps in building positive workplace culture, or keeps everyone calm during a crisis.
But, how much do you invest, and how well do you manage communications between employees (or even across departments)?
The larger the company is, the harder it gets to keep everyone on the same page. Almost every company struggles with issues like:
- Miscommunication
- Missed deadlines
- Confusion
- Disagreements
- Unproductivity
And over time, if these issues are not resolved or mitigated, your employees and managers will grow unhappy with your organization. And when your employees are unsatisfied, they'll lack the motivation to take your business to the next level.
So let's take a look at some of the reasons why it's critical to create an effective internal communication system.
Give Employees a Holistic Company View
When you bring employees aboard, you want them to feel a part of the organization. But this is difficult when your company lacks transparency.
If you think sending out a weekly or monthly newsletter to your teams is enough — think again. While this allows you to divulge important information about company changes and news, it doesn't offer the two-way communication needed.
Your employees want to feel like their input matters, so consider turning announcements, news, and messaging into a conversation. See what your employees think about the new initiative or whether they have ideas to improve your company's brand messaging.
It's easier to pull this off when you have the right tools.
For example, an internal company blog is a simple tool that provides an efficient way of sharing internal news and knowledge inside an organization. It keeps all employees up-to-date and opens a new, transparent, two-way communication channel that allows them to participate in the discussions, ask a question, and get feedback from anyone else in the organization.
The internal blog also works well as a knowledge-sharing platform, providing the inventory of your company’s expertise and a searchable knowledge base available to all employees, all the time.
Or, to collect feedback from your employees, you can use ContactMonkey to create two-way talks with teams across the board (in real-time). You can also collect anonymous feedback from employees and create surveys with star ratings to see how everyone feels about a new idea.
Attract and Retain Top Talent
The best employees are looking to work in the best companies. This includes organizations that demonstrate they care about their workers.
This is why you'll find more businesses offering wellness programs, continuing education, and enhanced work culture.
Retaining your best employees is critical to your bottom line. It's cheaper to keep them, and they can help to improve profits.
Unfortunately, many businesses are witnessing high turnover rates, many of which are voluntary. You’ll also find Millennials are job-hopping to continue finding better work opportunities.
So you can never get too comfortable with your methods.
One way to boost retention is to focus on building internal communications. This way, your employees are always in the loop and have their voices heard.
Build a Positive Workplace Culture
Culture is the talk of the business community. The companies that create a great work environment are more likely to have happy, productive employees.
Or at least, that's the goal.
If you're looking to do the same for your organization, then you'll find that internal communication systems can help in various ways.
For one, you can use it to improve relationships between employees and management. This is a bridge you want to actively build, not reactively fix.
Opening up communication between workers and management means concerns are heard and goals are met.
And while you're searching for ways to improve work culture, consider asking your teams what they think the landscape should look like.
Keep Everyone Calm During a Crisis
Crises — they can occur at any time and can happen to even the best of us. The top companies can't always prevent them, but they can build practices to manage them properly.
You'll find using internal communication systems can reduce the stress involved during these circumstances. You can use the platform to create transparency about the situation and answer questions and concerns.
Delivering bad news is no walk in the park. However, creating a sense of togetherness will make the ordeal easier to manage and overcome.
Improve the Efficiency of Your Teams
Having full access to information and leadership can empower workers to get things done. However, if you lack the tools to make this possible, you'll struggle with team efficiency.
Internal communications make it possible for teams and team leaders to discuss project goals and details.
But it's also critical to have a platform that can also smooth out inefficient workflows. With frevvo, you can improve the work experience by automating tedious tasks, such as:
- Employee onboarding
- Vacation and travel requests
- Invoicing
- Procurement
- Sales and purchase orders
These are necessary duties, but they shouldn't take up the bulk of your employees' day.
By implementing the best tools, you can equip your workers to boost productivity levels.
Keep Your Workers Engaged
How many companies ban employees from accessing social media while at work?
Social networks are addictive because they act as an outlet from your everyday life. And let's face it, there are times throughout the day when you need to rest your mind and engage with something else.
So why not give your workers this mental break without them becoming distracted by unwork-related tasks?
With internal communications, you can create a new dimension to your work environment. This is possible because it creates an avenue where employees can de-stress by talking to coworkers.
Think of it as a virtual water cooler.
Use it to involve your employees in discussions and debates on industry topics and company updates. Give them meaning to their work experience with your company. They'll be more inclined to participate and enhance workplace satisfaction.
Find IC Solutions that Work for Your Organization
After seeing the many essential benefits internal communication systems offer — what do you do next?
The next plausible step is to select the purposes for your IC system and build a strategy.
You can find excellent solutions and tips for implementing your systems by visiting the Blogin Internal Communications blog. Here, you'll find resources and tips needed to create transparency and connection between teams and departments.
It covers everything we've discussed here and more. You'll also find recommendations for tools to use to put your plan into action.
Start Building Your IC System
Talking is a great place to start when you're conjuring up ideas. But it means nothing if you don't take action.
Now that you see the benefits of using internal communication systems, it's time to figure out how you'll employ them in your organization.
Have a vote with your workers to see how they'd like to see it implemented, so there's a higher adoption rate.
Start your internal blog today - try BlogIn for 14 days for free