The way we talk to ourselves affects our behaviour and the image we convey to others, as does the way we talk to others. internal communication,the messages conveyed internally and the tone in which they are made are reflected in all external actions.
While internal communication is the process of sharing information to members of an organisation in order to create an organisational culture and be aligned with the company’s objectives, it should not be a one-way stream. Effective internal communication ensures that employees receive information, but also that they are involved in what is happening in their working environment. Keeping teams informed keeps them united, engaged and above all aware of what’s new in the company they have chosen to be a part of.
How to improve internal communication
In the modern world, it is clear that these messages are not delivered aloud in a corridor in an office. Thanks to the wonders of technology, we now have many tools that make it easier to carry out an internal communication plan.
Among the most common are digital business communities, newsletters, blogs, internal chats, etc. In fact, according to a study by The McKinsey Global Institute, companies that use digital tools to improve communication obtain between 20 and 25% more productivity in their work teams. 1
“Companies that use digital tools to improve their communication achieve 20-25% productivity improvements in their work teams”.
The importance of a good internal communication plan is a fact and should be a requirement for every company, so much so that another research by McKinsey2 has identified that organisations that are agile and successful consistently display five distinctive traits:
- Having a network of teams in a people-centred culture
- Teams operate in rapid cycles of learning and decision-making.
- Tasks are made easier by technology
- All have a common purpose that enables the collective creation of value for all parties involved.
Reading this, you might think that it is all very easy, because of course, theory is one thing, but practice is quite another. Therefore, we have collected some examples that can help you to see in a more down-to-earth way, how different communication challenges can be managed. After learning about these good practices, take advantage of our post and discover everything you need to know to measure internal communication in a company.
3 good examples of internal communication
Monzo
The UK digital bank specialising in mobile banking. Its goal was to keep its employees and new recruits excited about building a new banking experience.
According to the case study, the company surveyed its employees to find out their wishes and their commitment to work and the environment. Thanks to the feedback they got, they were able to analyse the needs and wants of their workers and now offer resources and solutions for everyone such as free lunches, remote working, free subscriptions to Headspace. On the other hand, they have separated the roles of managers and leaders and opened up a healthy dialogue on mental health.
MHS Homes
Another case is that of the English real estate company MHS Homes, whose objective was to familiarise employees with a new intranet platform. Thanks to the data they had access to, they created posters with information about some of the workers so that the rest of the colleagues could guess who they were.
To do this, they organised a competition in which employees had to guess who the silhouettes belonged to by searching the intranet. To participate, employees also had to update their profiles, which increased the number of registrations and the quality of employee data. As a result, the company reached 85% of active users on the intranet.
Autodesk
The third case is Autodesk, a company dedicated to 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, infrastructure, construction, media and entertainment industries. Their challenge, first and foremost, was to measure whether their internal communication was effective. But, they found that employees spent a lot of time communicating outside their assigned teams: general communications, other teams or even other departments.
In response to this, they created groups internally for the employees’ job functions, but also for their personal interests and to foster communication. Guy Martin, former Director of Open Source at Autodesk commented “We are no longer in a world where you specialise in one thing forever. To have a long and prosperous career you need to learn, grow and interact with a wide variety of people”.
We hope that these examples will help you to create the internal communication plan that best suits your project and the organisation’s employees. We will read each other at the next opportunity.
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