Building Success From The Inside Out: Tips For Improving Internal Communication

A small business owner recently made national news for firing an employee via text message. If that is any indication of the communications taking place in his business on a normal workday, it's amazing he has any employees left to fire. Regardless of the size of your company, It doesn't matter what size of company, internal communications are crucial. Your employees need to know what's going on so they can stay up to date and feel like they are part of your team. 

Internal communications are a key ingredient of business success, yet many business owners and managers focus on keeping vendors and customers in the loop, but fail with their employees. Managers need to communicate with those they manage; departments need to communicate to keep interrelated functions running smoothly; and all employees need to be kept informed about company activities to stay motivated and on board. All of these modes of communication need to be regular and part of a larger communication strategy. 

To improve the internal communications in your company, you need to look at the following areas:

Department Communications
Different departments or areas of your company may need different approaches to communications. Management and supervisors may be informed on certain things that that the rest of the staff isn’t, so they typically need less communication to be brought up to speed. The accounting department may need more specifics than the art department and so on. Take your message and tailor it to make sure that each employee is informed and proper information is conveyed. 

Encourage Participation
Many managers have an open-door policy, encouraging employees to share problems or concerns. If you haven't made that option known to your staff, communicate it immediately. In addition, encourage routine departmental staff meetings that can provide a forum for communications and a place where employees can make their voices heard.

Select a Method
While newsletters are what some companies use for communication, some have become more about picnics and bowling leagues and less about company news. While those things are also important in the scheme of internal communications, you need to find a clear way to communicate company news. If a newsletter has become more social than company-oriented, you might want to refocus the publication or start sharing your news via email to be sure it isn't lost in the shuffle.  

Companywide Meetings
It's important to occasionally hold a company-wide meeting that every employee is able to attend. Whether you have everyone come in early, or open your doors late, it is important to give each department a chance to provide interesting news and updates about the work it is doing. This is also a great way for you to share changes, goals, and future growth plans.  The knowledge that can be shared, and communications goals that can be achieved in just an hour each quarter, can do more for your internal communications than anything. 

Put these tips to work and in just few minutes each week, you can transform your company's internal communications. ​