No-nonsense Ways to Improve Your Internal Communications
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Internal communication is one of the cornerstones of a successful business. If your employees and departments can’t communicate, it could result in chaos. Everyone needs to be able to stay in touch with each other on various projects. You should be able to communicate matters that affect everyone. Many businesses find that their internal communications aren’t up to scratch. They can get wires crossed, or employees feel that they’re not as informed as they should be. People might feel that they can’t communicate as openly or effectively as they need to. Fortunately, there are many ways to improve internal comms. Everyone will be able to feel more connected to the rest of the company.
Make Communication Policies Clear
If you want to improve your company’s internal communications, start by having clear policies. Everyone should know who to speak to, how and when if they have an issue that needs addressing. They should know when to send an email, when to call a meeting, or when to instant message someone. You should be clear about the goals and objectives of your company. Clearly communicate how your internal communication policies help to meet them. Make sure you have essential information that’s easily accessible. Employees should be able to learn protocol and refer to it when they need to.
File and Data Storage
Part of communicating internally is being able to work on the same projects together. Sharing files and data is essential in all areas. If you work in an office, most days you will find that you need to show someone a document. Or you will need to edit something that you’re working on with someone else. Having smart ways to share and collaborate on documents and other data is essential. Setting up a virtual data room ensures that everyone can access vital information. It’s the ideal place to keep your communication policy documents. It’s also useful for a variety of other things, from conferences to mergers. Cloud storage services that allow you to collaborate on projects are also essential. It avoids the need for emailing files back and forth. You won’t be creating different versions of the same file. Instead, you can all work on the same document in one place.
Keep Everyone in the Loop
Ensuring that everyone stays up to date on what’s happening in the company is essential. As well as updating your staff on company developments, you should try to keep the dialogue open. You might decide to inform everyone of important issues in a few different ways. It could be by sending out a newsletter or arranging to have company-wide meetings. You should make sure that everyone knows they have the opportunity to engage and have some input too. This can seem easier in a face-to-face meeting. However, you can also open communication online. You could have surveys or somewhere for people to log suggestions and questions.
Encourage Socializing
It’s difficult for everyone to communicate with each other at work if they feel awkward. Sometimes, it can be hard to communicate if everyone only ever talks as workmates. Opportunities to socialize and discuss non-work matters help people to understand each other. They can learn to interpret each other’s communication styles better. They have the chance to connect on a more human level. You can help to encourage this both at work and outside of work. Allow for time to socialize during working hours on breaks or just when people bump into each other. There’s no need to treat your workplace like a school. Unless everyone spends more time chatting than working, trust them to manage their own time. Organizing events outside of working hours will also promote socializing. Employees will get to know each other better in a more relaxed setting.
Use Apps to Make Communication More Organized
Communication with various groups of people on a number of projects can get confusing. It can help a lot to seek out apps that make everything easier. You can choose apps that make it more simple to streamline conversations and groups. You can also use project management tools. They help to keep everyone up to date on the progress of individual people’s work and projects. For example, many companies use apps like Slack. It allows you to organize communication into different “channels”. Everyone can subscribe to relevant channels and information can stay in appropriate areas. You can also look into simple apps like Trello to make to-do lists and assign tasks to different people.
Publish a Newsletter
A newsletter will help people to stay up to date with happenings in the company. However, the key is not to send it out too often. If you’re constantly sending out emails to employees, they might eventually tune them out. They could come to see them as spam and start ignoring them. This could lead to people missing vital information. If you want to ensure your newsletter is read, try to limit it to once a month or once a fortnight. If it’s a rare occurrence, there’s a higher chance of everyone reading it and taking in the information. Inviting responses can also help people to engage. It gives you an idea of how many people have read the email too.
Use Video for Internal Comms
Video is growing as a medium for a variety of business purposes. It is increasingly used for external marketing and content. However, it can also be useful for internal communications. It provides a convenient and engaging way to reach out to employees. Reading long newsletters or documents won’t appeal to many. That mean they could be left unread. If you want to convey important information, video can be much more engaging. It’s ideal for communicating important changes and updates, as well as providing training. You could use it provide a better connection with the company’s CEO. They could give a video presentation instead of writing an email.
Internal Social Networking
Social networking is vital for keeping in touch with customers. But it can also be useful for internal communications. You might choose to set up groups, pages and profiles on a network such as Facebook. However, it’s also possible to use a platform designed for internal communications. You can even create your own. Apps like Slack can serve as a kind of social media network. But there are other options that are better suited to the purpose. For example, there’s Yammer or Zyncro, which both provide tools for internal communication. These tools can help to keep communication in one place. It can also provide somewhere for casual communication, as well as business talk.
Make Communication Mobile
Mobile devices are big business. Your employees may be using them more than desktop computers. Smartphones and tablets could get more use than even laptops. So it’s important to take this into account. Mobile forms of communication are accessible from trains, business trips, and even at home. Making sure that the apps you use are available on mobile is important. One of the issues to consider is the platform it’s available on. If there is only an Android app but most of your employees have iPhones, it’s not much use. Mobile communication helps to keep lines open at all times. So no one has to be at their desk to stay up to date with what’s happening.
Your internal communications need to be up to scratch if you want your business to run efficiently. If no one can communicate effectively, it will be extremely difficult for your company to be as productive as possible.
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