Internal Communications - Ten Top Tips

1. Make the top man your new best friend
As a business discipline, internal communications lacks the maturity and recognition of, say, finance or marketing. But don’t moan about it – do something about it. Start at the top; leadership is everything. Make sure the boss is your strongest ally. They are your most influential communicator of the values of the business, and they define them, not just by the mission statement but, more importantly, by the way they walk the talk. To be effective, the internal communications manager has to get into the chief executive’s diary and get their attention. 

2. Get to grips with technology
Are you trying to reach today’s audience with yesterday’s technology? Nearly 70 percent of UK homes have DVD players. There are now more broadband than dial-up internet subscribers. Magazines and hard copies of documents have their place in the communications armoury, but don’t get left behind. Make sure your kit is up to date and fit for purpose. If it’s difficult to persuade the technology director to make your ‘soft communications stuff’ a priority, find out what your nearest competitors are using and ask your chief executive how happy they are to be lagging behind. 

3. Learn to say no
Beware ‘ego-comms’. Any big business is awash with major projects and initiatives, and these usually have powerful and vociferous sponsors. Directors and senior managers will be noisily competing for employees’ attention, causing confusion in the process by sending out a fog of too much detail. It’s a waste of time and money. Don’t let them. 

4. Be organised and helpful
In order to build a sense of common purpose, the two most useful skills are common sense and courtesy. Ask yourself whether the source material stacks up and rings true. If it doesn’t, challenge it. Let people know in good time, in clear and simple terms, and make it clear what is expected of them. Surprise parties are one thing; an unexpected shed-load of extra work or an announcement of a new structure are quite another. 

5. Be nosy
Get wired up to what’s happening. It sounds simple, but it’s actually staggeringly difficult sometimes to find out what is going on in the business because of misplaced secrecy or a simple failure to join the dots. The corporate communicator therefore needs the skills of a journalist, with a nose and an eye for a story and the creativity and sense of timing to get the most out of it. If the communications team doesn’t know what is going on, they can hardly tell anybody else.
 
6. Welcome criticism
Employees judge your internal communications just as critically as the magazines or films they pay for. What’s more, the company’s most loyal and effective employees are often the most critical about internal communications campaigns, so listen to them. They don’t suspend their critical faculties when they walk into the building in the morning, and as their employer, you shouldn’t want them to. Shoestring productions tell your audience they aren’t valued. It’s far better to do a few things really well.

7. Be prepared with thorough research
The audience you’re trying to reach is just as busy as you – maybe busier. They are bombarded with messages at home and at work, and often can’t see the wood for the trees. If you can back up your judgement with hard data, it cuts much more ice in the budget debate. 

8. Keep it brief and real
Keep a sense of proportion about your in-house magazine; it can turn into a black hole for man hours. It has to be both popular and trusted, or you’re wasting your time. If you employ outside consultants to do it for you, treat them as if they are your own people and expect them to get into the business. If you have an in-house team, make sure they are rooted in the realities of the outside world, not cocooned in your corporate ivory tower. 

9. Repetition, repetition, repetition
If you want to be sure somebody is going to absorb your message, don’t just tell them once. Just because I have written to you, it doesn’t mean you’ve read it. As a rule of thumb, three times via a variety of media is the minimum number for driving the message home. 

10. Get a response
If you can’t stand the heat, what are you doing in the kitchen? In internal communications, your product is fair game for debate, and feedback is your only proof that you’re getting through. Gather it all in, review it critically, and tell your audience what you are doing about it. The biggest sin you can commit is to allow your audience to ignore you.