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Increasingly Human Resources (HR) or Organizational Development (OD) teams are being asked to drive and deliver internal communications, but what is an internal communications plan and how do you go about writing and applying one? Why have internal communications plans? According to research from Gallup, 69% of employees are either not-engaged or actively disengaged on the job. Further research from the organization estimates that over £185,000 million (£0.19 Billion) is lost annually due to lower productivity from actively disengaged workers alone. It has been shown that the most effective way to increase employee engagement is through clear and effective internal or employee communications. Therefore internal communications is a critical HR strategy for both retention and increased performance.
Where are you now? Before starting to develop any form of strategy for improvement it is important to know ‘where you are now’ or your starting point. The use of organizational diagnostics in the form of an audit is a useful place to start. This audit should be company wide and differentiate divisions and levels – as identifying blockages is important. The audit should help answer a number of important questions including:
An effective approach to developing an internal communication plan starts not with what we need to do, but why we need to do it. A common mistake that is made is that many communications strategies tell what is happening, but not why. This is a fundamental flaw. One of the key principles of effective internal communication is not just to tell people the what, it is critical to tell them why something is happening in the way it is. If your people don’t understand the problem that you are attempting to solve, they won’t feel any ownership of the solution you are proposing, and as a result not be proactive in the solution, undermining your attempts at progress. An effective approach in the development of the communications strategy is to identify:
Remember – Effective internal communication is a means to an end, not an end in itself. For your people to be fully engaged in their work and the organization you need to clearly demonstrate show the link between business problems and internal communication as a possible solution. Internal communication is not an end in itself.
Overview of Internal Communications So what is Internal communications? Communication within any organization is like the human circulation system, it serves as a channel or network that links parts of the organization together Much of the communication that occurs in an organization is informal and uncontrollable (so don’t try!), other communications are structured and intentional and carefully planned. You cannot not communicate – so be careful what you do. Even not actively communicating on a topic says a lot! If you are not actively communicating on a regular basis, your people will – even if they have to make it up. Who needs what? The employees – need to know the direction of the organization, how they can engage and participate (belonging) and need feedback – the progress being made. Examples of employee communications include: Intranet, website, newsletters, memos, notice boards, press, company magazine, blogs, employee forums
Internal Communications Plan – contingency preparedness Most effective organizations that operate structured approaches to internal communications appoint a dedicated communications manager. Because this person has a thorough knowledge and understanding of the company, its people and systems, in times when rapid and clear communication is required they provide the management team with a strategic advantage. Having a dedicated roles means that preparations can be made for disaster or contingency management and the appropriate communications required. During your crisis communication planning stage, the internal communications manager can collect contact information from all employees and other key resources. This contact information should be exhaustive and can include home, mobile, email, instant messaging and other contact methods and maintain the accuracy of this over time. Creating your communications plan to include crisis and contingency plans can help reduce and avoid unnecessary crisis. Part of your plan may include the creation of an emergency notification cascade system. There are commercial systems which can in an emergency send SMS messages to 100’s of mobile phone numbers informing staff of critical factors It is said that there are 12 steps required for an effective internal communications strategy and plan:
Example plan matrix The following table, shows how a company may plan and manage its internal communications.
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