Internal communication
The essential guide
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What is internal communication?
In simple terms, internal communication is the process of sharing news, information, and other resources, and interactions within the organization. This type of workplace communication happens on different levels. There's information like company policies or news that needs to be shared with all employees; there's communication within a team to get work done; there's reaching out across departments and hierarchies when required. All of this together, in any form, is internal communication.
Why is internal communication important for your business?
Strong communication lays the foundation for a successful business. It keeps everyone informed about the goals, strategies, and values of the organization, aligning employees and getting them invested. Here are some reasons why you need to focus on internal communications:
It improves engagement.
Your employees are engaged when they have a voice to express themselves and they're heard and responded to proactively. Communication unites your employees.
It impacts productivity.
When your employees have a clear picture of the goals and their role in accomplishing them, they can focus better and access the resources they need more easily, improving overall productivity.
It builds transparency and trust.
Hearing directly from the company leadership and management—and allowing your employees to interact with them—strengthens trust and improves employee morale.
It helps an organization develop a healthy culture.
A positive organizational culture is one in which members across all hierarchies are open to hearing ideas and feedback from each other. When organizations open lines of communication from within, they strive towards openness, creativity, and innovation.
It ensures crisis and change management.
During uncertain or challenging times, having a strong network of communications within your organization offers empathy, support, and reassurance to your employees.
It nurtures organizational resilience.
When faced with disruptions, having multi-channel communications, the ability to provide knowledge and guidance, and a constructive way for leaders and employees to talk to each other is crucial to building a resilient organization.
Empower your employees with effective internal communication.
What are the types and channels of internal communications?
Now that we've understood why internal communication is essential, let's take a look at how and where you can communicate.
The types of internal communication
The type is usually based on the people involved. You have company-wide communications, which is a top-down approach, and you have feedback gathering, which is generally a bottom-up approach. Likewise, internal communication can be segmented to the following types.
Vertical communication
This follows a hierarchical structure that can either be top-down or a bottom-up approach. The information passes from members or teams in a linear manner based on their designations. For example, senior management communicates budget-related information to managers, who then pass it on to the leaders on their team, who then pass it on to the members of their team.
Horizontal communication
Also known as lateral communication, this refers to interactions among employees belonging to the same hierarchy. For example, any interaction between the marketing manager, sales manager, and a customer success manager would count as horizontal communications.
Formal communication
The substance or the people involved in formal communication may vary, but it always involves communicating official information by following defined protocols and channels—for example, a quarterly sales or project report.
Informal communication
This refers to communication that's free flowing and doesn't follow official channels, protocols, or any kind of hierarchy. Informal communication, like catching up with teammates during a coffee break, is needed for employees to develop camaraderie and also form strong bonds with coworkers, facilitating a better exchange of ideas and an open culture.
Leadership communication
As the name suggests, this refers to how leaders convey their message to employees and align them towards the organization's goals. It's essential for gaining trust and improving transparency. For example, have the CEO talk about business strategies to employees so they know the direction the company is heading towards.
Peer-to-peer communication
Any employee-to-employee communication counts as peer-to-peer; for example, a team meeting to brainstorm ideas. Like informal communication, peer-to-peer communication also doesn't have any set criteria or protocols to follow. It can happen anytime and by any possible means.
Channels for internal communication
Where does workplace communication happen? While there are multiple modes of communication available, they essentially fall into these categories.
In-person communication
This is meeting the person directly and talking to them. It can be formal or informal, and often refers to communication happening between employees who physically share the workplace. It allows people to strengthen their working relationships with each other.
Virtual meetings
With teams being distributed and most companies hiring across geographies, virtual meetings or online meetings are a very popular channel of communication. This involves using software like Zoom or Skype to make audio or video calls to communicate within the organization.
Email and internal chat
Company email is often a formal channel for communication. In most organizations, emails are used for approvals, to provide reports, or to share documents. An internal chat tool allows employees to reach out to each other directly and message in real time. A chat could be one-on-one or with a group of people.
Internal communication and employee experience (EX) platforms
These platforms are proving to be one of the most effective means of communication that allows multiple modes and types in a single platform. Any EX platform supports multichannel internal communication, allowing organizations to reach out to their employees through built-in internal forums, announcements, surveys, knowledge bases, and collaboration tools.
Developing an effective internal communication strategy
Companies that adapt and stay together have set themselves up for long-term success. Effective communication is integral to this. To do this, organizations need to have an internal communication plan in place. Here are a few things to consider.
Set clear objectives.
What would you like to achieve through an internal communication plan? For example, it could be more transparency or better engagement. You set the internal communication goals based on what your employees and organization require. Take the SMART approach to strategic planning.
Specific: Have outcomes in mind. For example, improve engagement by X%.
Measurable: Have metrics for activities that are part of the plan. For example, if you're running a survey or sharing important information, measure its reach.
Achievable: Set goals, considering the resources and time you can invest.
Relevant: Keep the objectives relevant to your overall organizational goal or vision.
Time-based: While internal communication is a continuous process, you still need to have time-based objectives. For example, improve engagement by X% in 12 months.
Identify and use key communication channels.
Once you set goals, identify how you'll implement them. EX and communication tools like Zoho Connect are known to improve communications and engagement. Moreover, it's essential to implement your strategy on a platform where your entire organization is present.
Define the audience for each message.
Who is the communication meant for? While some information may be essential for all employees, some of it may only be relevant to a specific set of people. Understanding who should access each communication and message is important to making your plan a success.
Develop your message and keep a calendar.
Maintain an internal communication calendar that allows you to get an overall picture of what they need to work on. Break down any complex activity into simple manageable parts and designate people to work on them.
Monitor, measure, and improve.
Once any communication has been dispatched to employees, understand how they react, identify any gaps in messaging, and work towards bridging them. Platforms like Zoho Connect provide sentiment analysis and other tools to help understand how members within an organization interact and perceive messages from the company that can be leveraged to improve your internal communication strategy.
Benefits of effective internal communication
The impact of good communication goes a long way in helping you build a successful business. Here are the four critical areas it influences.
Boosting employee engagement and morale
Keeping employees engaged is a challenge for any organization. One way to improve this is through proactive internal communications. Giving them space to share their thoughts on major company news or the ability to ask questions at an all-hands meeting with management are some ways effective internal communications can boost employee engagement.
When everyone in your organization has the bigger picture in mind, it provides them with a sense of direction, and they can contribute ideas towards growing your business. Knowing that their work makes an impact boosts employee morale and improves job satisfaction.
Strengthening company culture and trust
Transparency builds trust. Effective internal communications aim to improve transparency and build organizational trust. When leaders are open to gaining feedback from employees and willing to address their concerns, it paves the way for a positive work environment. Fostering healthy work cultures is the best way to retain your company's top talent.
Open communication empowers employees, lets them know that their voices matter, and also encourages initiatives from them, which will strengthen internal partnerships across hierarchies, leading to a cohesive culture.
Facilitating change management
Change can bring uncertainty. Any company-level change or change in the economy and market conditions is stressful for everyone involved, particularly your employees. They need to know if their work continues to matter and how any changes may impact the organization at large. Constructive change management relies heavily on constructive internal communications. Clearing up any questions your employees have and treating them with empathy during an uncertain period reinstates their trust in the organization, makes them feel valued, and earns their continued support for the company.
Enhances organizational growth
Internal communication ensures that employees understand the ethics, culture, and vision of your organization, helping them to contribute meaningfully. By opening the lines of communication within your company, you promote a culture of learning and growth. Subject-matter experts or experienced professionals within the company can share their knowledge with all employees. Actions like sharing news about your company's wins, big or small, bring all of your employees together, giving them a sense of belonging, purpose, and value. This leads to everyone working together towards organizational growth and success.
Streamline internal communication, boost engagement, productivity, and growth.
Choosing the right internal communication platform
What exactly is an internal communication platform? It's any digital tool or technology an organization uses to talk to employees and helps employees reach out to each other.
Overview of internal communication tools
In the past, most internal communications were conveyed through emails and intranet systems. There were two major issues with this:
- Email inboxes became cluttered, and it was easy to miss important messages.
- The earlier intranets were rigid and mostly supported one-way communication.
This gave rise to multiple tools that could solve internal communication problems. While email is still used, we also have chat, collaboration platforms, knowledge and project management tools, and—the most important of all—employee experience platforms whose primary function revolves around internal communications.
Evaluating and selecting the right platform
What should you look for when evaluating a platform for internal communications?
Consider implementing a more comprehensive internal communications platform that also helps you deliver great employee experiences.
Here are the factors to consider.
Overall business objective
Keep your internal communications strategy and goals in mind. Is it to improve transparency? Is it to improve information access? This will help you decide the functionalities that you need to focus on when evaluating multiple products.
Multi-channel communications
Any type of communication, whether it be text, audio, or video, across any hierarchy should be possible through an internal communications platform. With platforms like Zoho Connect, you have built-in chat, audio-video calling, live broadcasts, and translation to reach any employee in a manner that they're comfortable with.
Employee needs
Understand or identify the gaps in communication that employees face. For example, is it better leadership engagement or is it easier peer-to-peer communication? Having a clear idea of the challenges your employees face will help you find the right platform.
Unified platform
When you consider employee experience platforms and not just communication tools like email or chat, you automatically eliminate the need for multiple tools. Platforms like Connect give you the ability to build your organization's knowledge base, file repositories, and streamline processes, bringing all communication touchpoints to a single space for all of your employees.
Collaborative features
Communication and collaboration go hand-in-hand with each other. Any communication platform should also offer collaborative spaces integrated with productivity tools like calendars or tasks, making it easy for employees to work together and find everything they need.
Customizable
When it's an internal communication platform for your employees, it needs to reflect your organization's brand. Any tool should let you tailor the look and feel of the platform, match your brand's logo, and allow your employees to access the platform from your company's domain using their work email addresses, giving everyone an instant sense of familiarity.
Privacy and security
Data privacy and security is of utmost importance. The platform should be compliant and follow all necessary measures to protect your data and give you full control over your data.
Wrapping up
Internal communications is no doubt an integral part of the work culture and employee experience your organization wants to create. There are numerous benefits and ways to improve it, and chief among them is using the right technology. With digital transformation leading the way, it's important for organizations to invest in the right platform.
With Zoho Connect, you don't just get an internal communications tool, but also a comprehensive employee experience platform that is designed to improve engagement, knowledge-sharing, and cross-functional collaboration, truly bringing your entire organization together and helping you empower employees to give their best.
Unite your organization and start streamlining your internal communications now.
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