The Power of Internal Communications

By Niran Adedokun
Good morning to you good people. It is so good to be with you on this cool Monday morning, which, coincidentally, ushers in a new month and the second half of the year. Wow! We are in the seventh month of the year already, things are moving so fast and before we realise it, 2013 would have expire. Time, really, does
fly doesnt it?  Especially when it matters!
               
 This, sure, is an indication that we need to do more toward attaining those targets that we have set for ourselves in our personal lives, in our businesses and in our relationships, the last being what I consider to be central to every other thing that we do. No matter how we want to look at it, our relationships define us. How we relate with God and the man/woman with whom we work or do business is a factor in how far we would go at the end of the year.
It is important to begin to re-order our priorities as we move closer to the end of the year so that when we look back at the end of December, we will be able to beat our chest with some sense of accomplishment. I want to share with you this week one of the issues that I find very key to business success.
In the past couple of days, I have found myself speaking to a few friends who are business owners on the importance of internal communications and the need to keep the line of communication open with their employees. I see that a lot of us take Public Relations as the art of building relations with external publics only, but that is totally wrong. Indeed, I daresay that effective communications with your internal publics is as important as communicating with your external publics. 
You see, communication is the life blood of any relationship. Public relations and communications are partly about creating and sustaining an understanding between you or your organization on one hand and the general public on the other hand. Truth,  however, is that you can only achieve this through a well-planned strategy capable of influencing perception and opinions, and who can influence opinion about you better than that person who is part of your life or daily business activities? Developments within the organisation should be shared with members of staff of that organisation. As a matter of fact, effective internal communication in an organisation is so important that it helps to establish roles and responsibilities for employees and gives them that sense of ownership which ultimately works in your favour.

You wonder how? It’s actually quite simple. When you inform your employees about latest business goals, up-and-coming products or services, changes that you are considering and how it will affect them(ahead of time), employees feel more involved and engaged in the process of daily work. They see themselves as your ambassadors and this can make a whole lot of difference to the smooth running of your business.

When, by commission or omission, you do anything that makes your staff feel alienated however, you will most certainly lose their loyalty over time and it could get as bad as making them to portray you person and business in a negative light. And that in my opinion could be lethal for the reputation of your business. What an employee says about an organisation is almost as believable as what the business owners say, so we really need to be careful about how we handle this very important stakeholder group – our employees.

Are you wondering what to do? You can start by having one on one meeting with your employees once in a while, to, at least, make sure that they understand where the business currently is, where it is headed and their role in getting it there. Staff should be carried along the different phases of the business cycle. This will encourage and motivate your employees so that they feel truly involved and give their best.
Additionally, depending on how big your organisation is, you could consider using memos, reports, SMS broadcast, intranet, (internal mail) or a periodic newsletter, which should update staff members on the developments in your organisation. It is also necessary to inform your employees about the company’s projections and the challenges that the company.

It could also be helpful to devise a daily or weekly email update channel, this makes staff feel like part of the business.

Even the periodic performance appraisal is a form of communication. You could also consider a reward system which acknowledges the outstanding performance of staff, no matter what their status in the organisation may be.

Finally, I think it is important to find a way to make internal channels of communication a two-way affair. That is when it could be said to communication, anyway – a two way street. Without an opportunity to get regular feedback from employees, you would only be dishing out instructions and directives and not communicating, in the real sense of the word.

Without any doubt, effective internal communications strengthens the image of an organisation in the mind of its various publics. It enhances your organisation’s credibility and makes the work place a healthy environment where everyone feels that they have a part to play. Communicating with the outside community would then be much easier.

Have a great July, guys!