Learning Lab: Why Your Internal Communications Should Be Up to Speed

Is your internal communications process up to the task? Who hasn’t heard the tale of Enron? Once a business darling with astounding revenue, it was later revealed that the energy company powerhouse of the 1980s and ‘90s had engaged in accounting fraud, bringing it to its knees and eventually forcing the company into bankruptcy. What fewer people know is just how critical the role of communication — poor internal communication — was in its demise. After its failure, research into the organization pinpointed a lack of communicating appropriate moral values and an inability to maintain adequate communication around organizational operations as main causes for failure. Enron is not the only corporate Goliath that has been a victim of this weakness. British Petroleum, known more commonly as BP, is a brand now permanently associated with the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil spill. The Achilles heel behind this disaster was poor communication, specifically a failure to share important information with its employees. Internal communication is often overlooked because leadership cannot always see a clear financial case for it. But as these examples illustrate, companies ignore it at their peril. Effective internal communication becomes more important as time goes on. Even outside of a pandemic that has made it more critical than ever to have corporate channels for sharing information and keeping employees united, the changing business world necessitates a shift toward effective communications strategies. Younger generations join the workforce with expectations of collaboration, transparency and a strong workplace culture. Having effective communication enables all these things, plus it engages employees and keeps them abreast of company news. That leaves just one question — how can an organization succeed in their internal communications efforts? The Good News Did You Know? Productivity increases A McKinsey Global Institute study, The Social Economy: Unlocking the Value and Productivity Through Social Technologies, found that while 70% of organizations use social technologies, these platforms are not being leveraged to their full potential for knowledge sharing and collaboration across enterprises. It estimates that there is $900 billion worth of value yet to be tapped. This correlates to a potential 20% to 25% increase in knowledge worker productivity as a result of better communications and reduced time looking for information. Did You Know? Better performance is achieved Organizations with the best communications strategies were three-and-a-half times more likely to significantly outperform their industry peers, according to a 2014 Willis Towers Watson study. Having diverse approaches across social media and other digital channels was also found to strongly impact community building and lead to company-wide performance increases. The Bad News Did You Know? Underskilled, poor resources and no vision prove fatal Of all North American internal communications practitioners, only 43% were specialists in the area, according to a 2018 Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. report. Even worse, three-fifths of organizations surveyed said they had no long-term strategy or vision for their communication processes. Forty-nine per cent reported they lacked the budget, investment or other resources required to do their job, with only one in 20 being part of a dedicated internal comms or engagement team. Did You Know? The hidden costs are very high A poor communications policy hemorrhages money, according to a Holmes Report. More than $62 million was estimated to be lost annually per company due to employee misunderstandings about company policies or business functions. That means the average worker is costing the organization $26,041 per year because of communications barriers. Did You Know? Lack of employee understanding derails organizations A Gatehouse 2016 study found that while two-thirds (64%) of internal communicators felt that employees had a solid understanding of organizational values and vision, only half (49%) considered their understanding of strategy to be good. More critically, only 38% felt that employees understood the contributions they were making toward strategy, and just 27% thought that employees had a good understanding of why leaders make the decisions they do. Doing What Works Did You Know? People won’t seek out information Employees don’t want to expend a lot of effort to get the information they need. One company that took this to heart, Google, put together an internal communication application for their retail demo brand, You Look Marvellous. It focused on satisfying employees wants and needs before focusing elsewhere. As a result, the app featured interactive channels and thumbnails, as well as live information branded to the employee’s requirements and brand guidelines. It streamlined the process for getting corporate information and allowed employees to easily engage with its content. Did You Know? Good timing is good news The right moment can add heft and impact to an internal communications campaign. British Petroleum obeyed this exact rule during its merger with Amoco and Arco and subsequent rebranding to BP. During this time, it launched a campaign focusing on the company’s new position as an energy company, giving employees from the merger a strong new identity to latch on to. A survey afterwards found that four-fifths of employees were aware of brand values and messages and 90% felt positively about the direction the company was moving in. Make sure to leverage your company’s critical moments. Did You Know? Using email has its benefits, but apps are better Email still seems to be the preferred way of communication for many workers. However, according to social networking survey company Radicati, the average amount of emails received in any given day is 88, which explains how corporate communications can easily be missed. Rather than have your messaging disappear into the void, consider targeting mobile platforms with apps and social channels. According to a Nottingham Trent University study, people use their smartphone five hours a day and check it around 85 times in that same span, making these devices a great way to ensure your notifications are seen. Stagecoach tried this approach, developing a proof-of-concept digital app for their bus drivers. Eighty-nine percent of drivers opened the app an average of six times per day, and the end survey reported that 100% would recommend the app to a co-worker. Did You Know? Remote workers may get lost Remote workers regularly feel left out of company operations, despite the fact that 52% only occasionally worked from home, according to a Harvard Business Review study. That figure is even higher now because of COVID-19, with Gallup reporting 58% of staff are currently working remotely. Despite this large number of workers, they are frequently excluded. Staffbase research found that 85% of non-desk workers felt they didn’t receive enough communication on the job. Don’t make this mistake; loop in all your employees and keep them informed about the company and relevant information.

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Learning Lab: Why Your Internal Communications Should Be Up to Speed

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Alice Chen

Is your internal communications process up to the task?

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COVID-19 Information Hub

Learning Lab: Why Your Internal Communications Should Be Up to Speed

By:

Alice Chen

Is your internal communications process up to the task?

Get your FREE trial now!

Already a subscriber?

User Login

Written By

Alice Chen

Share

Related Posts

Time for a Culture Tune-up

Diversity and the Workplace

What I Think: Coffee Break? More Like Coffee Broken

Get Started

About

Whoa! Don't Go Yet