When was the last time you had an internal communications plan?
For a lot of companies, the answer would be never. The truth is that an internal communications plan can make a big difference in employee loyalty, turnover rate, and employee engagement.
The best internal communications plans have certain elements that ensure that the plan is aligned with the company culture.
Read on to find out what they are and how you can craft your own internal communications plan.
What’s Working and What’s Not?
The first step you’ll need to take is to assess what is working with your internal communications strategy. Does information stay within silos or does it flow throughout the organization?
This is your opportunity to look into what the key communications challenges are within your organization and how you can plan to address them.
Revisit Your Company’s Mission, Vision, and Values
There’s a difference between knowing your mission, vision, and values and living them every day. This is the time to remind yourself of what the essence of your company is about.
You can find the gaps within the organization and see where you can live those values through your internal communications plan.
Create Objectives & Set KPIs
It’s essential for internal communications plans to have objectives and ways to measure success. Your objectives can be based on the list of challenges that you have within your organization. You can pick the top two or three issues and use them as your objectives.
When you set your objectives, make sure that they’re written in a way that can be measured. You’ll need to be able to identify ways that your plan will be considered a success.
Review Audiences
Who are your key audiences? You’ll want to review who you need to communicate within your internal communications plans.
For example, if your remote teams aren’t getting the information they need to perform, you’ll need to identify them as one audience. Another audience could be your executive team if the information isn’t trickling down to management and workers.
Craft Key Messages for Each Audience
Are your messages targeted for different audiences or are you taking a one-size-fits-all approach? You have to recognize that people in different departments have different needs and will respond to messages differently.
Your messages should address the needs and challenges for each audience. You’ll also want to identify the distribution channels and when they should be sent out.
Review and Analyze Results
About 12% don’t measure the result of their internal communications at all. You have to measure your plan to discover where things can be refined.
You can talk to employees in different departments to find out what’s working and what’s not. You can also take the time to create a survey.
Internal Communications Plans Have an Impact
The secret to having an internal communications plan is to start with your company’s mission and vision. Allow those things to be the guide as you craft internal communications plans for your organization.
Then you can make sure that you’re addressing the communications challenges within your organization.
Would you like to learn more about tools that can help you bridge the internal communications gap? Learn more about Gravitate here.
