Leave the monologue behind

Creating – and upholding! – internal communication streams is hard work, and you will need to engage your employees and co-workers in a dialogue. Effective communication is not talking at people, it’s creating avenues for your audience to respond to and address your messaging on their own terms. This starts with understanding your internal audience: what they want to hear and when they want to hear it, combined with what you have to say.

All digital, all the time

The bigger the company, the bigger the noise, and breaking through that is a matter of making the user feel that what is being communicated is relevant to them, in particular. One big difference between external and internal communications is access to data. Since the users are your employees, you have more access to user data by default – make use of it!

Internal communications channels often struggle to offer avenues for personalisation. Top-down communication might seem like the most sensible approach, but what users want is information that answers their questions or helps solve their problems. What is being communicated internally must, therefore, come from both top, bottom, and all the other levels in-between, and it must be targeted to the users who would benefit the most from it.

Adjust your compass and put your speedy shoes on

In order to turn monologue into dialogue, use the advantages that digital can offer. Automated support chatbots, commenting, sharing, and feedback functionalities – these are just some examples of how you can make your users join in and work on building a dialogue.

Take it a step further and open up your processes. There’s no reason why creating internal communication should be restricted to an exclusive editorial group. If you make it easy to access and fun to be a part of the process, you create opportunities for your employees to shine (and who doesn't like a little buzz about "moi"?). Be brave and trust your employees to be smart, competent, and wise enough to make something great.

Don't forget that if you don't talk about what you are up to, that doesn't mean that others aren’t. Stories can be picked up by media, competitors, influencers, spokespersons or your employees. Be the first – or, at the very least, not the last one – to communicate with your own team. This is where it becomes important to have your how-do-we-communicate foundations in place and on hand.

"and who doesn't like a little buzz about 'moi'?"

No user left behind

Large organisations often have employees working in different environments, different countries, and at different hours of the day. Some might not even sit by a computer or have access to an employer provided smart phone. Make sure that what you communicate is easily accessible by all, from anywhere, and at any time - don't lock and hide your content behind complicated logins or network access procedures.

How to meet user needs:

• Perform user tests to find out what your users want to know.
• Understand the different types of users through impact mapping – clarify their needs and how to meet them.
• Get feedback during the onboarding process; new starters have no prior information to work from and can provide an overview into how streamlined your processes are – a great way to find out what you lack!
• Data is your best friend. Analytics can help you figure out what piece of communication has performed well, what channels are the most attractive, when your users are most active, and more.

Our content services

Be communications ready:

• Have a clear tone of voice and guidelines on how to communicate. These should be based on user needs.
• Your team structure should be adapted to support fast-paced communications. Avoid internal approval procedures and structures that take weeks to get through.
• Build a crew of ambassadors that are ready to have your back.
• Continuously check your data and use it proactively.

How to build a better intranet

Keep tech on your internal map:

• Accessible platforms for all devices and networks – but still secure
• Optimally build for search and personalisation
• Easy to integrate other systems or add-ons
• Scalable when needed

Let us help you with your technology needs