how to write an internal communications plan and strategy

How to write an internal communications plan and strategy

Internal communications Plan

Increasingly Human Resources (HR) or Organizational Development (OD) teams are being asked to drive and deliver internal communications, but what is an internal communications plan and how do you go about writing and applying one?

Why have internal communications plans?

According to research from Gallup, 69% of employees are either not-engaged or actively disengaged on the job. Further research from the organization estimates that over £185,000 million (£0.19 Billion) is lost annually due to lower productivity from actively disengaged workers alone. It has been shown that the most effective way to increase employee engagement is through clear and effective internal or employee communications. Therefore internal communications is a critical HR strategy for both retention and increased performance.

Where are you now?

Before starting to develop any form of strategy for improvement it is important to know ‘where you are now’ or your starting point. The use of organizational diagnostics in the form of an audit is a useful place to start. This audit should be company wide and differentiate divisions and levels – as identifying blockages is important. The audit should help answer a number of important questions including:

• Are employees receiving accurate information?
• How are employees receiving regular information?
• Are messages consistent across the company?
• Do employees understand both the goals and the results of communications?

Approach

An effective approach to developing an internal communication plan starts not with what we need to do, but why we need to do it.

A common mistake that is made is that many communications strategies tell what is happening, but not why. This is a fundamental flaw.

One of the key principles of effective internal communication is not just to tell people the what, it is critical to tell them why something is happening in the way it is. If your people don’t understand the problem that you are attempting to solve, they won’t feel any ownership of the solution you are proposing, and as a result not be proactive in the solution, undermining your attempts at progress.

An effective approach in the development of the communications strategy is to identify:

• What are the goals, ambitions and it strategic aspirations for the future?
• What do the people in the organization need to think, feel and do in order to make those goals a reality?
• Where are employees now, and what needs to change in their current perceptions, attitudes, or access to basic information?
• What’s the role of the internal communication function in helping close the gap of what we want for the future, and what we’ve got today?
• What are the roles and responsibilities of leaders, managers, employees and communication professionals?
• What are the communication activities we’re going to need – and who will be responsible for what?
• What’s the resource levels we need?

Remember –

Effective internal communication is a means to an end, not an end in itself. For your people to be fully engaged in their work and the organization you need to clearly demonstrate show the link between business problems and internal communication as a possible solution. Internal communication is not an end in itself.

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Overview of Internal Communications

So what is Internal communications? Communication within any organization is like the human circulation system, it serves as a channel or network that links parts of the organization together

Much of the communication that occurs in an organization is informal and uncontrollable (so don’t try!), other communications are structured and intentional and carefully planned. You cannot not communicate – so be careful what you do. Even not actively communicating on a topic says a lot! If you are not actively communicating on a regular basis, your people will – even if they have to make it up.

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Who needs what?

The employees – need to know the direction of the organization, how they can engage and participate (belonging) and need feedback – the progress being made.

Examples of employee communications include:

Intranet, website, newsletters, memos, notice boards, press, company magazine, blogs, employee forums

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Internal Communications Plan – contingency preparedness

Most effective organizations that operate structured approaches to internal communications appoint a dedicated communications manager.  Because this person has a thorough knowledge and understanding of the company, its people and systems, in times when rapid and clear communication is required they provide the management team with a strategic advantage.

Having a dedicated roles means that preparations can be made for disaster or contingency management and the appropriate communications required. During your crisis communication planning stage, the internal communications manager can collect contact information from all employees and other key resources. This contact information should be exhaustive and can include home, mobile, email, instant messaging and other contact methods and maintain the accuracy of this over time.

Creating your communications plan to include crisis and contingency plans can help reduce and avoid unnecessary crisis.  Part of your plan may include the creation of an emergency notification cascade system. There are commercial systems which can in an emergency send SMS messages to 100’s of mobile phone numbers informing staff of critical factors

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It is said that there are 12 steps required for an effective internal communications strategy and plan:

1. Employee focused communications must be led from the top
2. Consistency in message is vital
3. Charismatic yet natural and planned communications are more effective.
4. Communication via the line manager is preferred and more effective
5. Employee communications are not optional extras, they are part of business as usual and should be planned and budgeted for as such
6. There must be integration between internal and external communications
7. Timing is critical
8. The tone of any communication is important if we want people to engage effectively
9. Keep all communication focused on the WIIFM  the ‘what’s in it for me?’ factor
10. Communication is a two-way process
11. A single key theme or a couple of key themes is a means of giving coherence to a range of diverse employee communications initiatives
12. Set your standards and stick to them

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Example plan matrix

The following table, shows how a company may plan and manage its internal communications.

Strategy	Purpose	Intended result	Communications team role	Frequency
Intranet
Home page	Business metrics/ dashboard	To keep employees up to date on progress	Update data that is not automated	Daily
Departmental page	Departmental dashboard. Contracts/ budgets	To keep employees up to date on local progress	None	Daily
Project page	Project KPI dashboard. Contracts/ budgets	To keep team members up to date on project	None	Daily
E-mail
Information bulletins Director messages Other organizational information	Inform, engage	Employees understand our purpose, progress, and how they connect	Consult, develop, publish	Weekly and as necessary
Activity reports	Inform	Employees understand what the rest of the organization is doing	Collect and publish	monthly
Meetings
Coffee with director	Inform, clarify, exchange		Attend, notes if required	Twice a month
Brown Bag lunches/ info sessions	Inform, clarify, exchange		Plan, announce	Varies
Leadership team employee meeting (open to all)	Model open organization, inform		Take notes	Weekly
All-manager meetings	Inform, clarify		Note taking	Monthly
All-employee meetings	Inform, clarify		Planning, logistics	Twice a year
Staff meetings	Inform, clarify
Team meetings	Daily work
Corridor conversations	Various
Cafe based conversations	Understanding
Website pages
Monthly news e-zine	Connect people to colleagues, to organization and to to job	Employees connected and informed	Develop, publish	Monthly
Director staff meeting notes	Connect people to organization and to document organizational  history	Employees connected and informed	Develop, publish	Weekly
Organization calendar	Provide visibility over organization activities		Maintain	As required
Meeting actions	Provide organizational accountability	Employees connected and informed	Develop, publish	Weekly
Decision log	Document organizational decisions	Organization has record of decisions	Develop, publish	As required
Field-guide to organization	Connections to organization	Employees understand how organization fits together	Develop, publish	As required
Organization support, infrastructure development
Develop communications plans for other parts of the organization	Consulting	Single organizational message; communications activities are coordinated	Develop, coordinate, publish	As required
Organizational distribution lists	Infrastructure development	Lists are current	Maintain all staff lists	As required
Organizational performance reporting	Employees connected to work	Performance is visible	To be determined	Monthly.
Information management	Single source	Information under configuration control	To be determined	As required
“Branding” and organizational identity	Common look & feel	Consistent use of  name and logo on signage, websites, etc.	Coordinate and support	As required

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Action Plan template

Activity	Responsibility	Timeline	Resources Needed	Indicators of Success	Date Completed

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RapidBI is an organizational effectiveness consultancy based in the UK but working internationally.
© RapidBI & Mike Morrison 2011 - this article/ page is free to copy and use on the condition that an active link back and reference is made to this site and page. Thank you for your understanding and co-operation.

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