Communication within the company is the work of everyone

A well-thought-out internal communication strategy is the basis for high team productivity.

Imagine a typical meeting of the whole team: someone takes notes and asks questions, someone is late and sits, looking at the phone. If at the same time you yourself are a manager, you will certainly find it unpleasant to see smartphone screens illuminating the faces of employees. But if you are a simple worker, and the reported information is not related to your daily duties, it is easier to ignore. The situation described is just one example of how communication within a company can be disrupted.

Internal communication is any work-related communication that takes place within an organization: from general announcements to conversations between colleagues. If you see internal corporate strategy, rather than the responsibility of a particular person or department, in internal communication, it will help the organization eliminate some structural problems and create a culture of trust, transparency and cohesion.
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James Harter and Amy Adkins of the Gallup Institute wrote in an article for the Harvard Business Review : “Often, communication forms the basis of healthy relationships, including those between the employee and the manager. [Constant communication] - in person, by phone or electronically - is associated with a higher level of involvement. ” And the higher the involvement, the better the profits. The Institute recently found that companies with high employee engagement on dividends per share outpace competitors by 147%.

And the good news here is that absolutely everyone can play a role in shaping a culture of open communication at work.

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Image by - Wenting Lee

A good internal communication strategy begins with leadership.

The personnel department and management personnel can communicate daily with employees, but the latter expect a two-way flow of information with management. Company-wide meetings and newsletters are convenient when you need to make announcements, but if this is the main way of contacting employees, they may feel alienated .

Everyone wants to be appreciated, so when it comes to internal communication, the most important thing is accessibility , publicity and transparency . It should be borne in mind a few considerations.

Big ads should be made first by you

It is unlikely that you would like employees to learn about major events (for example, a merger or a change in leadership) for the first time from an external source (social networks, news sites, etc.). If, prior to major changes, a warning plan is developed, this will help maintain employee confidence and improve their response. The Slack Future of Work study found that employees appreciate transparency: 80% of employees want to know more about how leaders of an organization make decisions.

Personalization of mailings

A beautifully designed letter is great, but it is equally important to think about the content: the messages should be short and easy to read, with a minimum of acronyms and jargon. Sitting down to write the text of the announcement, try to make it a little more personal. Ask yourself these questions:

• What makes you optimistic at the moment?
  
• How can you thank the staff for the excellent work?
  
• Refer to your experience: did you have in your personal or professional life something that can be associated with this moment in the life of the company?
  

Be sure to always tell when and how employees can ask questions and continue the conversation.

Improve knowledge management system

Is it easy for teams to find the information they need to work? Perhaps documents and meeting notes are lost in email folders that are already starting to resemble matryoshka? If searching for and sharing information in an organization becomes a problem, it may be worth evaluating the effectiveness of the knowledge management system used.

Managers must be constantly open to communication.

If you are a leader, then you have a clear idea of ​​the team’s work processes, and you are ready to protect them. In addition, you have the opportunity to improve internal communication: for this you need to stimulate feedback and act in accordance with it.

The best-selling author, Jacob Morgan, in The Employee Experience Advantage, says so: “There are still places in the world where employees are not offered to give feedback, express ideas and not encourage them to share their opinions. Often in such organizations, when someone still speaks, he falls under the pressure of bureaucracy and office intrigues. ”

If you remain open to communication with employees, it will help everyone to feel respected and will awaken their desire to contribute to the long-term success of the organization. How it is done - below.

One-on-one regular meetings

How to encourage each employee to give honest feedback? Find out which approaches work, which do not, and if there are any avoidable obstacles. Remember that regular meetings are especially important for building the confidence of introverts who can best be thought of outside of group work.

Plan your meetings strategically

Indeed, many do not like team meetings ; however, a personal conversation is the best way to make a decision. Therefore, before you schedule a meeting, make and publish its agenda (this will help you keep to the schedule), and also give participants the information necessary for the preliminary preparation. And after the meeting, send a letter with a list of actions and notes made during the discussion.

Ideas should be easy

Pixar co-founder Ed Katmul told us about a curious trend that he noticed as the company grew: employees were beginning to be afraid of giving ideas . Katmul suspected that the cause of the fear was a high level set by the studio, as well as a growing hierarchical structure.

He managed to eliminate the influence of the hierarchy on the Pixar brainstorming - and the team members again began to calmly voice their own thoughts, whatever their position. By giving everyone the opportunity to freely share ideas, you increase psychological security , show that you value the vision of team members - and perhaps some of the proposals will eventually “shoot.”

Give due to a job well done.

Get into the habit of not skimping on positive feedback . Recognizing someone’s merit in a common document or on the joint work site, you will show an employee that they are especially appreciated: thanks to this “documenting”, teams understand each other’s work better, and senior management learns about successes.

Everyone can participate in the formation of a culture of transparent exchange of information.

You, as an employee, represent a company - it seems to be a responsible and difficult task, and not without purpose. This is what Rita Linyuan Meng , associate professor of public relations at the University of Florida, says: “Employees' attitudes to their place of work and their public statements often cause more trust and form the basis of how external stakeholders see the company. Therefore, we believe that a stable positive reputation of the organization is built from within. ”

When everything is fine with you, everything is fine with the company. Below are a few ways to help build a culture of transparency and information sharing.

Honestly talk about pleasant and unpleasant

Do you feel support or do you think that nobody needs you? What projects do you like to work on? You have the right to have an honest conversation with the supervisor about the work. Alison Green of Slate , the author of the book Managing to Change the World , recommends creating a communication system acceptable for both with the manager: “Once such a system is established, take responsibility for it to work: for example, if the boss cancels meeting, you need to take the initiative and pick a different date. ”

Strive for clarity and consistency in daily work.

Internal communication is the exchange of information at all levels, even in relation to the daily affairs that are discussed with colleagues in the department. Here are some tips to help the team move in the right direction:

• Document solutions and processes on shared resources, such as a collaboration site or a folder that everyone can easily access.
  
• If you like to make checklists and develop other materials for project management, share the fruits of your passion with colleagues: feel free to create and publish documents that will help coordinate teamwork and inform its members in a timely manner.
  
• Just finished the project? Think about what went well and what did not, and ask colleagues to give honest feedback - it helps to improve.
  
• Allocate time for projects that require undivided attention. If they have specific deadlines, schedule a separate working time on your calendar and tell your teammates about it.
  

Share your experience

What unique skills and vision can you offer to colleagues? Do not be shy: if you discover skills or knowledge that may be useful to others, try to share them - in an internal blog, newsletter, at lunch presentations or at a collaboration site. By sharing knowledge, you not only support your professional development, but also strengthen your team and improve your work environment - for many, it is important to be part of a team or community , and sharing information helps to overcome divisions of units and increase cohesion.

Communication within the company is the work of everyone

It is generally accepted that the personnel department or communications department is responsible for internal communication, but the contribution of each is important here. Ultimately, building a culture of trust, transparency and respect in the workplace boils down to how employees share information and communicate with each other.

About the translator

The article is translated in Alconost.

Alconost is engaged in the localization of games , applications and websites in 70 languages. Language translators, linguistic testing, cloud platform with API, continuous localization, 24/7 project managers, any string resource formats.

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