What is internal communication?

Internal communication is an organization’s messaging to its employees. This messaging is crucial because it helps employees do their job well and keeps them informed.

Examples of internal communications include messages informing employees of the following:

• Policy changes, such as changes to benefits, holidays or bonus pay
• New product or service launches
• Changes to business operations, such as expanding into a new country or changing hours of operation
• News of new hires or employees leaving the company
• Updates on internal projects and initiatives
• Statements regarding company mission, culture, values or financial status

Types of internal communications

Note that internal communications can come in many forms, including:

• Presentations
• Documents
• Email
• Instant messaging
• Meetings (in-person, video or phone)
• Training sessions
• Face-to-face interactions
• Videos
• Blog articles
• Surveys
• Social media
• Memos
• Newsletters
• Calendars

Why does internal communication matter?

Your internal communications serve two primary purposes. The messaging helps employees stay informed to do their job better and to feel connected to the organization.

When a business communicates efficiently, the effects can be overwhelmingly positive. Depending on the information being communicated, efficient internal communications can ensure that employees:

• Understand any changes or updates to a project or company policies.
• Feel like they have all the information needed to make informed decisions.
• Are aligned with any goals or company needs.
• Don’t feel confused or walk away from the message with more questions than answers.
• Feel like the company is being transparent and forthcoming with any updates.

Overall, solid internal communications are a vital way to provide critical information and updates to employees.

6 tips for optimizing your internal communication

As a general rule, your internal communication strategy should identify the best ways to communicate with employees, the best times and what level of detail to provide.

Here are some actionable tips to help optimize your internal communications to be as efficient and effective as possible.

1. Make the content engaging

Every time you send out an internal communication to your employees, you hope they take the time to consume all the information. You can help them do that by infusing your writing with the company’s voice, breaking large paragraphs of text into digestible bullet points and keeping the email as concise as possible.

One way to solve this issue is to keep internal communications engaging. You can do this by:

• Using video
• Using pictures and infographics
• Break down text into short paragraphs or lists

Of course, you’ll need to use your judgment when making content visually appealing. A communication about the fantastic financial results from last year can be a fun video or a colorful infographic, whereas communication about a corporate policy change should be clear and direct.

2. Encourage feedback, questions and suggestions

You should create an environment where employees feel comfortable responding to communications with feedback, questions, concerns and suggestions. After all, if one employee doesn’t understand your messaging, there’s a good chance it isn’t clear for many employees. Hearing directly from your staff allows you to clarify any confusing messaging. It also helps you learn what mistakes were made so you can avoid the same problem with future communications.

Here are some ways you can encourage feedback, questions and suggestions with your internal communication efforts:

• Openly ask for and encourage people to ask questions about any internal communications that go out
• When people ask questions or provide feedback, respond positively so they feel rewarded for this behavior
• Send out anonymous surveys asking for feedback on communications
• Include a rating link at the bottom of communications such as emails for quick feedback
• Collect feedback and respond to it so employees feel their comments are taken seriously

3. Encourage interactive employee communication

Internal employee communication can help your staff to feel connected and in sync. Whenever possible, consider making your communications interactive so employees can participate in the conversation. You can do this by:

• Adding upvoting, likes and comment capabilities to your posts and instant messages
• Allowing for comments and questions during meetings (virtual or in-person)
• Giving out rewards for people who engage with communications the most

4. Have a central communications hub

As your business grows, you’ll need to communicate with your employees more and more often. You might be communicating information through various formats (posting on instant messaging channels, emailing, posting on the company blog, etc.). Employees should have a central hub they can visit whenever they need to find a communications resource again.

Create a central hub and put a copy of all employee communications there. This hub should be searchable and easily accessible to all employees.

5. Do a monthly recap internal newsletter

If you plan to communicate with employees quite often, it could be a good idea to send an internal newsletter every month that recaps all the critical messaging. This reminds people of essential communications, ensures no one misses anything and helps employees who were sick or on vacation to catch up.

Make your monthly internal newsletter enjoyable. Consider adding videos, employee recognition mentions, contests and photos to make the newsletter fun.

6. Communicate even the hard messages

As an employer, it’s important to be transparent. It can be unpleasant to deliver bad or difficult news to your employees, but don’t shy away from this task. Employees may sense when there are problems in the organization and that may lead to workplace gossip and rumors, both of which can be damaging to the company. It’s better to address any issues head-on versus allowing staff to speculate and come to their own conclusions.

If you have to send out communications around difficult topics, such as layoffs, profit losses or negative press, follow these tips:

• Don’t rush the communications out. They should be carefully crafted. But don’t take too long, either. You need to give your employees some answers before they start making assumptions.
• Choose the information you share carefully. Provide enough information so your employees aren’t left worried, but don’t overload them with irrelevant details. Too much data can be overwhelming. Be concise and stick to the facts. Consider following the “who, what, why, where, how” approach. Answer all these questions, which should cover everything you need to say.
• Have a clear way employees can reach out if they have questions or concerns about the communications.

Some don’t’s for employee communications

Finally, here are some quick things to avoid in your internal communications:

• Don’t share negative feedback or criticism of employees in public communications.
• Don’t share private or confidential information.
• Don’t make internal communications extremely long, as that will often result in people not reading the entire thing. Instead, consider breaking up complex messaging into multiple communications across several days.

Your internal communications strategy matters to your business

The perfect internal communications strategy looks different for every organization. As your company grows and changes, your internal communications must adapt to match your current business needs. Whenever communicating with employees, remember to keep your message clear, concise and fun (when appropriate). Putting the right effort into your internal communications will help your business overall, as employees will feel informed and up-to-date.