Whether you own a small, medium or large company, improving your internal communications will make your business more efficient, more profitable and ultimately stronger than your competitors. Strategic internal communications is simpler than it sounds, and at its most basic, it just means talking to one another. Read on to find out how you can improve communication amongst your staff, to give you that all-important competitive edge.
Why it gives you an edge
How many companies have you worked for that just didn’t communicate effectively? Bad communication holds up development, stunts evolution, and ultimately means your customers or clients have to wait longer for their services to be delivered.
How to improve internal communications
Specific ways to improve your internal communications include having policies and practices updated and available to all staff at all times. They should be held in a central location, both digitally and in hard copy, with staff having full access to this information, in order to reduce questions and queries. Encouraging staff that work in different departments to gain an understanding of one another’s roles can work wonders for internal communications. Helping staff get to know one another can be done through formal or informal means. Also, create a newsletter or weekly roundup, to keep all staff up to date on changes in the business.
Writing an Internal Communications Strategy
In the same way that you need a Marketing Plan and an Environmental Strategy, all good businesses should also have an Internal Communications Strategy. First of all, highlight the areas that need improvement, but also talk about what systems you have in place and what works and what doesn’t. Try to include a couple of case studies of where your business has demonstrated good internal communications and some instances of where it hasn’t. As well as how you are going to implement changes, include ways to measure the outcomes, so that you can ensure the strategy has worked.
Training & hiring
Depending on the size of your business, you might consider sending yourself or certain staff to an Internal Communications Workshop. Alternatively, it could be a good idea to hire an internal communications specialist, either in a contract capacity or as a full time member of staff. Workshops are a great way to learn more and to share what you’ve learnt with staff. Most people come back from this type of workshop raring to go, ready to write up a strategy and get it implemented. Specialists, however, can add enormous value to your business.
As you can see, better internal communications can help your workplace greatly, which in turn will leave you with a competitive edge, as things will run more efficiently and customers will get a better experience. From writing up a plan to implementing easy changes, as well as hiring specialist staff or going on workshops, there is plenty to do to get your new internal communications strategy off the ground today. Click here to know more.
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