Internal Communications: Planning the Plan

Many companies focus on communicating to their external audiences; segmenting markets, researching, developing messages and tactics. This same care and focus should be turned inside to create an internal communications plan. Effective internal communication planning enables small and large organizations to create a process of information distribution as a means of addressing organizational issues. Before internal communications planning can start some basic questions need to be answered.

· What's the state of the company? Ask questions. Do some research. One form of research is to take a survey. How's your company doing? What do your employees think about the company? You're bound to get more/better responses from an internal survey than an external one. Some may be surprised by how much employees care and want to make their workplaces better. You may also uncover some hard truths or perceptions. This information can help lay a foundation for what messages are communicated and how they are communicated.

· What do we want to be when we grow-up? This is where a company can define the culture they want to represent the future of the organization. Most companies have an external mission statement. Why not have an internal mission statement? The statement might focus on customer service, continuous learning, quality, or striving not only to be the largest company in the market with the most sales, but to be the best company with the highest satisfaction ratings.

· Where are we going, and what's the progress? Internal communication objectives should be measurable, and can change over time as goals are accomplished or priorities change. For example, a company's financial situation may be its greatest concern. One objective might be to decrease spending by 10%. How can everyone help decrease spending? This should be communicated through multiple channels, multiple times, backed up by management behavior, and then measured, and then progress reported to staff.

· How can we best communicate our messages to staff? Choose your marketing mix. Internal communication channels or tactics include: supervisor to employee, employee to employee, small meetings, large meetings, personal letter or memo, video, e-mail, bulletin board, special event, and newsletter. Some studies have shown this list to be in order of most effective. However, this can depend on the individual organization. Some companies may use them all, but not effectively. As the saying goes, “content is king.” One of the worst things a company can do is talk a lot, but not really say anything at all.

With an effective internal communications plan in place a company will be able to proactively address staff concerns, build awareness of company goals, and facilitate change initiatives. By answering a few basic questions companies can start communicating more effectively with team members and truly create an organization greater than the sum of its parts.