Does Your Business Have an Internal Communications Strategy?

As a business grows, internal communication becomes even more important.

The most effective communication tools for your business will depend on the number of employees to which information must be disseminated.

Here are some internal communication tips and methods. Apply the ones that fit your business and make adjustments as your business grows.

Meetings and Conference Calls
While this may seem like the simplest method for getting information out quickly, it does have some flaws.

Unless you can bring every single employee into the meeting, then you still have to make sure that, after the meeting, the other employees are made aware of the information that was covered.

Also, you will need to provide written materials covering the information as not everyone will retain everything that is said in a meeting.

Similar to a meeting, conference calls allow employees at different locations to join together at once. The same problems that exist with meetings exist with conference calls.

Meetings and conference calls are a good starting point for delivering information, and they can also be a good follow-up tool once information has been made available.

They can provide a venue for employees to ask questions and gain clarification, but meetings and conference calls should not be the sole method of your internal communications strategy.

Memos
Good old memos. Someone has probably conducted a study about what percentage of internal memos are actually read.

It’s likely that number is not 100%. Memos work well for quick notes about non-vital information, but for more serious matters, it’s not the best choice.

Emails
Delete. Delete. Delete. Oops! I didn’t mean to delete that one!

Everyone has accidentally deleted or overlooked an important email. It’s hard not to when one considers the sheer volume of emails most people receive daily.

Also, no matter how many mandates you put out about the frequency with which employees must check their email, there is bound to be at least one employee who fails to do so.

Still, when information must get out quickly, email is a good way to get the news to many, if not all, of your employees.

Newsletters
Newsletters provide a method of internal communication where all of the “big” company news can be put in one place.

Of course, the newsletter is not the place to advertise about changes in policies or to announce that there will not be any raises next year.

For lighter news, however, it is a good tool to keep in your communication toolkit.

Paycheck Inserts
Perhaps less effective than in the days before direct deposit (you remember…when the pay envelope contained an actual check instead of just a stub), pay check inserts are still a fairly good way to make sure that a good number of employees will see a piece of communication.

You’ll notice that it seems that none of the communication methods sound very good. That is because, on their own, none of them are going to be as effective as you’d probably like.

The best internal communications strategy is one that is multi-tiered and includes some or all of the methods listed above.

By providing the information in multiple ways, you are more likely to reach every employee that needs the information.