The Best Practices for Effective Internal Communication

It is the responsibility of leaders and managers to ensure that their employees do not only feel contented in their roles and responsibilities, but also feel valued in the company they work for. This means that management has to have a specific communicative skill set. They have to learn how to effectively communicate with their workforce through the employment of employee communications best practices in the workplace.

Here are some of the best practices companies should be opting for to ensure that they promote good and effective communication at work:

1. Be active listeners

One of the most notable employee communications best practices is being an active listener. Remember that communication isn’t one-way. It isn’t only about talking. A large part of it is listening actively to the other party you are interacting with. Listening actively shows that you respect the person you are communicating with, and that you value what he or she has to say.

Through active listening, not only will leaders and managers be able to understand and see the other person’s point of view, they will be more capable of giving the other a thoughtful and empathetic response.

2. Be relatable

Each and every successful leader knows that it takes effort to get to know his or her employee as individuals. In order to do this, managers have to put in work to get to know their staff members. They can do this by walking around and getting into informal chats with their workers. They should show interest in who their employees are. The more leaders are able to do this, the more relatable they become.

3. Give responses in a timely manner

Do your utmost to respond to people in a timely manner – whether it be a client, a colleague, a prospect or a staff member. Regardless of who it is, make sure to reply to messages and calls as soon as you can – especially if the message or call is urgent and important. Not only will this make other people feel valued and respected, it will make your staff members look at you with more respect and appreciation.

4. Emphasize your most important points through repetition

Never lose your sights on the points you want your employees to remember. Do this through repetition. You can inculcate in them your key objectives and values by either communicating it constantly through chats, meetings, desktop wallpapers, digital signage and other forms of communication and employee communications best practices. However, be wary about going overboard with it that your message becomes more of an annoyance than a welcomed reminder.

5. Customize your communication style

One of the most important employee communications best practices is having the capability to customize your communication style depending on the employee you are communicating with.

Remember that each and every employee has different learning styles, so it is extremely important for you to be able to communicate in different styles as well. While some would rather work on their own, other people might need to be assisted in every step of the way while learning a new work process.

6. Utilize analogies

The utilization of analogies is not only an important and effective communication strategy, it is also easy to do. Analogies do two very important things – they help each staff member be on the same page, and they help resolve conflicts in the workplace. Analogies help people focus on the same picture and on the same end goal. For example, one employee’s image of “small” is more likely different from another staff member’s interpretation of the said work. One may think of “small” as in as small as an ant, while another may think of small as as small as a baby. Clarify the image you want employees to have by using the proper analogy.