A growing number of researches online have indicated that organizations nowadays put premium of improving their strategy of communication to positively impact the bottomline. There are several diverse tools that aim to boost the effectiveness and operational efficiency through focusing on the strategy of their corporate internal and external communications. There are also many ways around the web that enumerates how to develop an effective, strong and compelling communications strategy.
As such, we will not be repeating the basic structure of developing strategy of communication; rather, we will list down a checklist for you to go over your existing strategy.
Is your current communication plan in line with your organization’s business objectives?
Does the strategy correctly describe the current state of the organization? Check if there are programs or backup tools that address threats faced by the planning considering both internal and external factors. Which among the activities are perceived to be most effective? Is there a gap between the desire to improve company performance and desire to meet personal career expectations?
Do the tools of your communications strategy considered measurable employee feedback?
A communication is considered successful only if the message has been delivered and acknowledged. If messages are just thrown in during every updates, it is possible that you are just adding to the information overload of employees. The tendency for employees feeling overwhelmed with the massive data coming in is to shut down incoming data or filter the information. This may result in important information being set aside or not given due importance.
Implement an open-door policy both in the physical premises of your business and in electronic communications that will allow feedback coming in from the bottomline. Utilize internal communications tool that contain features on actionable content, statistics and real time reporting.
Do your communications tools allow information to be updated in a timely fashion?
Information that is sent out-of-date may be irrelevant and costly. Thus, in choosing your internal communications tools, features such as auto synchronization in predefined date and time should be available. To ensure information is received and acknowledged by target users, alert notifications can include recurrence feature where messages can be set to be delivered repetitively until users read it (or in some cases, send a response).
There are many internal communications tools that you can use to send real-time updates. You can use locked screen deliveries that will force employees to acknowledge the message, otherwise they won’t be able to return to their working screens. You can also use scrolling news tickers to send news in a timely manner that is less intrusive and does not interrupt your employees’ work. The desktop tickers can contain news feeds, article updates, headlines as well as links to intranet, websites, blogs and many more.
Does your strategy of communications include mobile support?
A good percent of the population today is connected on mobile devices. Therefore, it is assumed that information can be distributed wherever the user is. When you want to deliver information that is urgent and needs immediate action, your communications strategy should include messaging capabilities that can reach people away from the computers. Mobile messaging is also an ideal solution to prevent rumors when you want to disseminate confidential information that cannot be publicly disclosed yet.
To make this happen, your mobile alert tool should have support on all mobile devices and mobile applications to support smartphones and tablets. You can also include HTTP SMS Gateway support that will allow users to send their text messages to any mobile phone provider using a list of supported SMS Gateway providers.
Does your internal communications include internal social media feedback system?
Nowadays, people are largely connected to social media to the feeling of belongingness they get from being part of a community and from being recognized. Similarly, an effective feedback system in internal social media is another platform for employees to let their own opinions and issues be heard anonymously in discussion groups. The anonymity will guarantee confidence from employees to be honest with communicating their concerns, satisfaction or opinion on a certain company development, campaign, policy or activity. Consider the feedback coming from these portals and take action whenever applicable. This will let employees know that their opinions are just as important as their work deliverables, as a result increasing their engagement and loyalty.
Does your strategy of communication include a review cycle?
In all types of planning, it is important to have a review cycle at the end of each implementation. Once the strategy has been launched, it should be reviewed periodically assessing all outcomes versus plan. It is important to anticipate changes as it is the only way to correct or improve the existing structure. Did the metrics provide useful and digestible information? Were the collected information relevant and from correct users? Was feedback considered during the implementation?
