Sprucing Up Your Internal Communications

There are tons of internal communications strategies out there that you can utilize when you want to communicate with your employees. However, what businesses and employers need to be aware of is that while some strategies worked in the past, they need to constantly be in touch with what is effective with today’s work force.

What you need to remember is that employees today have enough things in their lives that they deem boring or tedious. Your means or method of communication shouldn’t be one of them. Your internal communications strategies should be interesting at the very least, and should have inspiration and motivation as their ultimate goals.

Here are some communication tips you can utilize in order to have a more dynamic and interactive relationship with your employees:

1. Communicate simply

When you want to communicate with your employees through a corporate message, look at it as if you are writing for an adolescent. No, I’m not saying that your employees are immature or that they lack the mental capabilities of an adult. What is meant by this statement is that much like adolescents, your employees simply don’t have the patience to try to get around to what you are trying to say. Go directly to your point, and instead of being extremely technical with your words, use plain language that is understandable to everyone.

2. Be spontaneous

Be a little bit more dramatic. While your employees may be used to your usual weekly emails or your quarterly newsletters, surprise them by integrating spontaneity to your internal communications strategies. For example, if your team was able to successfully and efficiently solve a business problem, build up the said issue and be vocal about your pride in how they handled it.

3. Be concrete

While buzzwords and technical jargon do certainly sound impressive, they aren’t exactly the best words or statements to use when you’re trying to communicate with your employees. Instead, tell it like it is. If there is an issue within the company that you want solved, go straight to the point and be specific. Give examples as to why you think there is an issue that needs to be solved and give a clear and concrete solution or call to action.

4. Be credible

Before you even communicate with your employees, make sure that your statement will be backed up by facts. Do your research so that you sound credible, and so that your employees will believe you. Remember that it’s easy to give employees tasks, but simply assigning people responsibilities does not equate to productivity. When employees know why they are doing a particular thing, they become more accepting of change, they are more willing to take on more responsibility and they tend to be more productive.

5. Make people feel something

Knowing something is, of course, well and good; however, all those working in marketing and communications know that in order to sell something (a product, an idea, etc), people need to feel something. Emotions sell – meaning, when people do not feel anything, they don’t do anything. Therefore, integrating the idea of tapping into emotions into your internal communications strategies will help you reach your employees in ways you were unable to before. Therefore, write and communicate with them in such a way that will make them react, challenge them, and inspire them.

6. Talk about real stories

When you talk about real stories, you are able to connect to your employees, and you are able to connect them with each other. Interview real people working in the company and let them tell their stories. Let their stories stand for the vision you have for the company and the values that hold up the business.