The growth and development of technology, social networks and the constant creation of applications and management tools have transformed and facilitated internal communication in companies in recent years.
In our last posts, we have shared how to measure internal communication and even how to deal with a change in the image of an organisation. On this occasion, we want to focus on the techniques, tools and technologies that facilitate the management of an internal communication plan.
We know how important it is to have the right flow of information and feedback at all levels of the organisation. Having a good internal communication plan is essential for managing the company’s values, its reputation, the quality of experiences and good relations between employees.
As we have mentioned on other occasions, one of the most important values of a company is the professionals who form part of it. For this reason, it is essential that directors or managers can allocate efforts and budgets for information technology and collaborative tools to improve the efficiency of internal communication and processes.
Prioritise internal communication
Our director, Carlos Molina, shares his experience in this field. He states that, in an internal communication project, the structure of the work and the decision to apply some tools or others must respond to at least one of these four axes:
- Attracting talent: how communication draws attention to the company’s value proposition.
- Promoting talent: how we apply communication techniques to promote people in the company, make their achievements visible and recognise their role.
- Retaining talent: how we create an attractive environment to value the organisation’s offer over that of other entities.
- Interacting with talent: how we engage internal profiles in communication, both to improve communication between teams and to connect with external audiences with a credible voice.
And then what?
It is no secret that today, and even more so after the advent of the coronavirus and the consolidation of teleworking, companies have a wide range of technological solutions, software, apps, etc. They are designed to improve the working dynamics and day-to-day life of employees.
Based on this reality and the axes mentioned above, there are some tools and techniques that Carlos proposes to put into play:
Brand perception analysis.
Through anonymous surveys and qualitative interviews, we need to find out whether what people perceive the organisation to be matches what they would like it to be and what it conveys externally. Points of divergence are opportunities for improvement.
Brand ambassador programmes.
They allow the identification of experts and micro-experts. This transforms the hierarchical dialogue of companies into close, cross-cutting relationships with stakeholders.
Employee advocacy programmes.
In this case, they rely on the principle that every member of the organisation is someone digitally connected to an environment (friends, family, colleagues). It has the capacity to multiply the spread of corporate messages to that environment, at least as long as it is identified with them. And comfortable with the formats.
Collaborative environments.
Technology is important because internal communication requires agile platforms for file sharing, group work and internal dialogue. Digital storage space is also needed. Platforms such as OneDrive, Slack, Trello, Teams and even Discord simplify task sharing and tracking. They also encourage conversation when face-to-face attendance is not possible.
Videoconferencing systems.
Little else needs to be said. What would we do now if we didn’t have tools to connect live with other people within the company? In addition, Teams has incorporated the presentation modes that mmHmm launched in 2020 and now enables more practical and fun experiences for meetings and presentations.
These are not the only solutions. There are many other tools you can use, such as internal magazines to communicate activities, achievements, recognition and projects. Among the most common resources are also blogs, newsletters and social media. But if you want to go further you can have specialised tools for each area of the company, such as environments for data warehousing, customer management, project organisation and even cost management.
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