14 min read
Why Change Management Fails Without Communication – And How to Fix It
You could have the best communication strategy for change management, the right tools, and a clear business case, but if your employees don’t...
6 min read
Caroline Duncan
:
Sep 14, 2020 8:04:41 AM
No matter what type of business you have or what industry you’re in, internal communication in an organization is critical to ensure that your company performs well. It helps to build a cohesive team, where everyone understands their role, the company goals, and knows where to find important information.
Unfortunately, around 60% of companies don’t have a long term internal communication strategy, according to a 2018 study by Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
And when organizations fail to communicate effectively with their people it can result in lost productivity, decreased profits, employees who are disengaged, and the inability to retain valuable staff members.
The good news is, there are many ways that your organization can turn its internal communications woes around. Having a strategy, and investing in the right tools to help ensure your employees stay informed is the first step to improving communications within your workplace.
Creating engaging content and using innovative delivery channels is one of the best ways to communicate in the modern workplace, and is easily achievable thanks to digital solutions.
Internal communications software is a way of communicating with employees using digital technology. There are many different types of internal communications software, but generally, they provide a dedicated means of communicating internally within an organization, outside of standard functions such as email or an intranet page.
Some internal communications software enables employees to initiate conversations with their colleagues and managers, generally via a chat function.
Email fatigue is a major problem for internal communication in an organization, meaning many can no longer rely on sending urgent communications via the email system - too many emails get unread or employees view it as “corporate spam”.
Similarly, internal communications software systems that have a chat function can see “chat flooding” where employees contribute lots of irrelevant information, and people tune out and miss anything important.
To avoid these issues, there are internal communications systems that deliberately exclude two-way communication such as chat in order to be invasive and get employees’ attention. These notification systems are designed for management to quickly communicate important information - including urgent notifications about critical situations - and ensure that all employees see the information.
If you are unsure whether your organization needs this type of internal communication software, check out the scenarios below, and answer the questions to determine if this path is right for you.
Size can determine whether the software is right for your company’s internal communications. Consider how many people work in your organization, and how many of them should receive information.
If you have a very small company with only a few employees, it, probably not worthwhile investing in internal communications software. Small teams can usually communicate well face-to-face and other platforms like Teams, Asana, or Slack can be a good way to collaborate and share information.
For other sizes of organizations, internal communications needs will vary:
You can’t find an effective solution if you don’t know what your problems are in the first place. A lot of guesswork can go into this, but if you don’t look to address specific issues you could end up making the wrong choice.
If you recognize that you have any of these specific challenges, you should consider an internal communications software solution, such as DeskAlerts, for your company:
Some of the ways an internal communication software system can overcome these challenges include:
>> Learn more about an incident communication <<
Managing change is difficult, and internal communication in an organization is just one of the many facets that go into a program or project where change is involved.
When things change in the workplace it can be difficult to get everyone on board with change - and this can make achieving success difficult. For change to be successful it’s important that people receive information that is easy to understand, is transparent and open and gives clear guidance on what to do and what people can expect, as well as reasons why the change is necessary.
Many large organizations find that using DeskAlerts has helped them to successfully communicate during a large change project.
One example is our client the Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals in the United Kingdom. They had the challenge of moving everything from three outdated hospital buildings into one state-of-the-art facility. This included safely transferring 600 patients and relocating around 3,500 staff.
The DeskAlerts system was deployed as a cost-effective way of keeping all employees informed throughout the process, with information being able to be sent quickly.
In the lead-up to the move, DeskAlerts was deployed to every PC in the organization. During the move, it was used to notify employees about when certain systems would be offline and moved, as well as any specific issues being caused by the move. This enabled all hospital staff to be kept informed in “real-time”.
Keeping employees safe in an emergency situation is paramount. Unfortunately, many organizations don’t have effective systems in place. Others fall victim to a dangerous mindset where they think they are too small or their needs are too simple for a modern emergency communication system.
Consider:
While DeskAlerts cannot replace the functionality of a classic mass notification system, it can be a perfect addition to your existing systems during an emergency situation to ensure that all possible channels of communication are being used.
But even if you want to start with simple emergency alerting solutions - such as just sending SMS and email messages during critical events like severe weather or IT outages - you’ll want a robust system dedicated to urgent communications that perform well, is fast, and is reliable.
Operating without one can limit productivity and put your people at risk - no matter your company size.
Whether your team is working remotely because of the pandemic, are out in the field, or are in the office, COVID-19 means there are additional workplace health and safety messages you have a responsibility to communicate to ensure your employees are safe.
Different ways to use a system like DeskAlerts to facilitate the COVID internal communication in your organization include:
DeskAlerts is used for company internal communication by many medium to large-sized organizations in different industries all over the globe. We have more than 700 clients who trust our system to keep their employees informed, engaged, and safe.
Our system enables you to quickly reach every employee in your organization, across a range of channels including pop-up notifications, video alerts, scrolling ticker tape, corporate screensavers, corporate wallpapers, surveys, polls, and quizzes, lock screen alerts, SMS, push notifications and more.
It can be used on any Windows or Mac device, as well as Apple and Android phones and tablets.
Contact us today so we can get a good idea of your business’ unique communications needs, and discuss which of our functions can help you to improve your internal communications. We’ll schedule an online demonstration showing you how the software can work for you.
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