Internal communications takes the driver seat

Authored by Charu Raizada, Vice President Corporate Communications, MarketsandMarkets™

Last month Google’s CEO made headlines with the all-hands-on-deck initiative, to not just crowdsource ideas for faster product development and better productivity, but to give every employee a voice. This is not just a great example of employee motivation and morale boosting, but also drives the point around having conversations, as opposed to cascading communications.

An organisation where every single employee’s opinion matters, sets the culture. These values need to be established by the leaders and communicated internally through actions, gradually shaping employee behaviours and perceptions.  It does start from the ‘Top’. Time and again we have seen that leaders who are reticent in setting the pace for internal culture, their organisations tend to suffer from misalignment. Transparency and open conversations on goals at the start helps to shape the atmosphere. Accountability calls for periodic check-ins of values, consistently reviewing and reinforcing them through internal communications and the hiring process.

The organisations purpose cannot be restricted to business goals alone. It needs to be brought alive in internal communications, while thrusting value for all employees. Researches confirm that employees who believe in and live the organisation purpose tend to have a higher stickiness quotient. By simply marrying the organisational purpose with the employees day to day job could make for an impactful solution.

As per recruitment agency Michael Page, The Great Resignation is most likely to continue in 2022 in India as 86 per cent of employees are considering to resign in the next six months. Reality check for leaders – if they wish to bring down attrition levels, they need to move beyond the surface level and pay serious attention to their internal communications strategy.

Most leaders tend to follow an outcome led approach and should consider moving to a conversation based approach when it comes to employee communication. Employees are looking for internal communications that is tailored to their personal needs, preferences and interests, very similar to how they bond outside of workplace. This is also the prime reason why most internal communication campaigns fail.

As internal communications takes the driver seat, it’s time to hit ‘Refresh’. Let us respectfully lay the good old newsletter to rest and connect employees together on platforms like slack, discord or Teams channels where they are already spending time, for a more transparent and timely communications, while encouraging exchange of ideas and insights. Handpick employee ambassadors who are internal advocates and are able to bring everyone together and share company news.

Only way to curb the attrition animal is to make every employee feel valued, while showing them a clear growth path. High performers have little patience and tend to move on faster if they feel blocked from moving into appropriate roles or undervalued. Refresh the rewards programme to recognise employee behaviours that support the organisations business goals. Leadership time investment in employees has become a crucial component to the future and an effective way for regular check-ins. This could be a powerful retention and performance management tool to gather real time feedback, which is far more effective and reassuring than annual performance reviews, allowing time to course correct from both sides.

Clearly, internal communications needs to move beyond the quintessential Town hall and use contemporary techniques and technology to help employees internalise messages. We need platforms which are more engaging and prompts employees to ask relevant questions, while imbibing the key messages. Shift to evoking the imagination with use of powerful pictures, drive the core messages using gamification. The metaverse opens up far more interactive opportunities for internal communications, as it is poised to give visualisation, brainstorming, sharing complex ideas, collaborating, a whole new meaning. This shift in approach works particularly well when it comes to managing workforce in remote locations, across national and international networks.

In short, it’s time to humanise the brand not just externally, but internally as well. Employees are the most credible audience to talk about the company. They are our potential influencers in a company and as sponsors of the organization's culture, need as much attention as the organisation customers.

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and Adgully.com does not necessarily subscribe to it.