What is Internal Communication? The Complete Guide

Internal communications are often defined as how an organization communicates across its departments. At its basic level, this is true, but there is so much more to internal communications, and its importance is becoming more and more evident in today’s hyper-digital world. Effective business communication is crucial for sharing information within a company to align business goals with employees. This makes internal communications important for fostering a connected, engaged, and aligned workforce, leading to improved organizational effectiveness.

Internal communications expert Rachel Miller of AllThingsIC defines internal communications as “the way a company interacts with its people and they interact with it.” She goes on to add a tagline to that definition: “I think the purpose of internal communication is not telling people what to do. It is to create shared understanding and meaning. Only when this happens can employees work together towards a company’s goals.”

And so, we come to the crux of it: a good internal communications strategy ensures everyone at an organization is aware of and aligned with the core purpose of an organization. In this way, organizations can rest assured that everyone is pulling in the same direction. Effective internal communication is also essential for conveying the overall business strategy from senior leaders to employees. There’s no confusion about strategy or objectives, all staff members, from board level right down to new hires, know what the company is about.

Definition and Importance of Internal Communication

Internal communication is the process of sharing information within an organization to inform, engage, motivate, and influence employees at all levels. It is a crucial aspect of a company’s success, as it helps to improve employee productivity, job satisfaction, and overall business performance. Effective internal communication can also enhance company culture and reputation, improve decision-making and problem-solving, and increase employee retention and customer satisfaction.

When employees are well-informed and feel connected to the organization, they are more likely to be engaged and motivated. This leads to higher levels of productivity and a more positive work environment. Additionally, effective internal communication helps to align employees with the company’s goals and objectives, ensuring everyone is working towards the same vision. In today’s fast-paced business world, keeping employees informed and engaged is more important than ever, making internal communication a vital component of any successful organization. Measuring the effectiveness of communication strategies is essential for internal communications success, as it allows organizations to use data-driven insights and technology to enhance employee engagement and alignment with company goals.

What Are the Advantages of Internal Communications?

Within that broad definition, there are myriad advantages of internal communications. A strong internal communications strategy will help an organization to:

Connect employees

As globalization continues apace, multicultural workplaces have become the norm, and as younger employees (Millennials and Generation Z) join the workforce we’re also seeing more multi-generational workplaces.

Building relationships and common purpose between all the different groups in an organization can have a positive effect on work culture and can encourage better employee communication and relations.

Gain a better understanding of the workforce

Two-way communications – through enabling comments on newsletter articles, sending out regular surveys, inviting feedback on organizational changes – opens up the door for organizations to get to know employees better which in turn leads to internal communicators who understand what their employees are thinking, which in turn leads to better-informed decision making.

Motivate employees for better employee engagement

A LinkedIn survey revealed that for many employees, having a sense of purpose is a key factor in whether they're happy in their job: 74% of participants said they wanted to feel that what they do in their job matters.

Internal communications can be the tool to give employees that sought-after sense of purpose and make them feel valued: use it to highlight achievements or to be clear about specific tasks or projects they're working on and how these fit into the overall organizational goals.

Keep everyone informed

With the social media boom it can often happen that staff first hear of news or changes in their organization from outside sources. A regular, well-structured internal comms plan means organizations can take control of the messages or news employees hear. This is important in order to maintain staff morale, motivation, and trust.

Develop a multi-channel approach to internal communications strategy

Corporate communications aren’t, or shouldn’t be, solely focused on one single channel. A good strategy uses multiple channels through which to communicate with employees: email, intranet, enterprise social networks, and video, as well as offline channels such as notice boards and “town meetings”. By mixing up the delivery channels organizations can reach more employees including remote workers and front-line staff with no set desks.

But first, you’ll need to understand what’s working now (or not, as the case may be). Organizations could be devoting time and budget to a particular channel that is simply not getting through to employees. Consider identifying employees across the organization in different roles and different circumstances – remote worker, front line worker, manager, Generation Z, new hire, long-term employee – and ask for their feedback on how they consume corporate communications.

Involve employees to maximize authenticity

Internal communications can be an effective tool to establish workplace trust and openness. Acting as an internal communicator, involving employees in your corporate communications by “cultivating and amplifying authentic employee voices” can help organizations gain more mindshare among employees, according to Gartner.

Enlist employees to tell their stories, whether it’s about the culmination of a successful project, a specific achievement, or simply the way in which they overcame specific challenges at work.

Types of Internal Communication

There are various types of internal communication, each serving a unique purpose within an organization:

• Formal top-down communication: This type of communication flows from higher levels of management to lower levels. It is used to inform employees of company policies, procedures, and goals. Examples include company-wide emails, official memos, and executive announcements.
• Formal bottom-up communication: This involves employees at lower levels of the hierarchy communicating their feedback, suggestions, and concerns to higher levels of management. Tools such as employee surveys, suggestion boxes, and feedback forms facilitate this type of communication.
• Formal horizontal communication: This type of communication involves the sharing of information between individuals or departments at the same hierarchical level within the organization. It includes inter-departmental meetings, collaborative projects, and peer-to-peer communication.
• Informal communication: This type of communication is not facilitated or regulated by the organization’s internal communication channels. It includes face-to-face conversations, social media interactions, and instant messaging. Informal communication can help build relationships and foster a sense of community within the workplace.

Understanding these different types of internal communication is essential for developing a comprehensive internal communications strategy that addresses the needs of all employees.

Challenges in Internal Communication

Physical Separation—Communicating in person has many advantages like being able to witness a person’s gestures, body language, and other non-verbal cues. However, with the upsurge in remote working in recent years, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic, it means communicating face-to-face is not always an option. Businesses can prevent this from becoming a communication barrier by using regular conference calls and video meetings to stay connected with remote employees.

Wrong Communication Channels—With so many communication channels available to organizations—and the need for multiple channels to reach different and diverse employee audiences—it creates the danger of not getting the channel selection right, resulting in intended audiences not receiving the communication they were supposed to get. For example, frontline or factory-floor workers might have company email addresses, but in practice, rarely have access to or use their accounts. So they could be missing out on important company communications. The right channels for reaching these cohorts of employees might be digital signage or mobile devices. If a message is being communicated through the right channel, it will greatly increase the overall effect it has. When using any communication channel, it's better that messages are kept clear and concise, just as if they were taking place face-to-face.

Not Understanding Audience Needs—Businesses must engage their audience through their communications, but they have no hope of doing this if they don’t understand their people’s needs. Different people, different functions, departments, and business units have different information needs, so to understand what they are and to be able to deliver relevant content and messaging to these different audiences, organizations need a purpose-built employee comms platform like Poppulo. It not only allows organizations to connect with their entire workforces wherever they are, it enables critical two-way communications and essential feedback so that companies can listen to what their people need rather than deciding it for them. This makes for an engaging, inclusive, and interested workplace culture, fostering a feeling that people belong in the company and have a stake in its success.

Distractions—It’s important to be aware that even the smallest distraction can disturb someone who is attempting to focus on a conversation. Before commencing a meeting, business leaders should take the time to ask all attendees to turn off their electronic devices. If the meeting is happening over video, participants should be encouraged to close down any other tabs on their computers to prevent any unwanted sounds or notifications. Simple steps like this can make a big difference in ensuring clear communication and prevent employees from missing key takeaways.

Building an Effective Internal Communication Strategy

Building an effective internal communication strategy requires a clear understanding of the organization’s goals, objectives, and target audience. It also involves identifying the most effective communication channels and tools to reach employees and developing a plan to measure and evaluate the success of internal communication efforts.

Here are some key steps to building an effective internal communication strategy:

• Defining the organization’s internal communication goals and objectives: Start by identifying what you want to achieve with your internal communication efforts. This could include improving employee engagement, increasing transparency, or enhancing collaboration.
• Identifying the target audience and their communication needs: Understand who your employees are and what they need from internal communication. Consider factors such as job roles, locations, and communication preferences.
• Selecting the most effective communication channels and tools: Choose the channels and tools that will best reach your employees. This could include email, intranet, social media, video, and face-to-face meetings.
• Developing a plan to measure and evaluate the success of internal communication efforts: Establish metrics to track the effectiveness of your internal communication strategy. This could include employee engagement surveys, feedback forms, and analytics on communication tools.
  • Emphasizing internal communications success: Use data-driven insights and technology to measure and enhance internal communications success. This ensures that your efforts align with company goals and effectively engage employees.
• Establishing a system for feedback and continuous improvement: Create a process for regularly collecting and acting on employee feedback. This will help you continuously improve your internal communication strategy and ensure it remains effective.

By following these steps, organizations can develop a robust internal communication strategy that enhances employee engagement, productivity, and job satisfaction.

Measuring the Success of Internal Communication

Measuring the success of internal communication is crucial to understanding its impact on the organization and identifying areas for improvement. One of the most important metrics is employee engagement. By conducting surveys, focus groups, or other methods, organizations can gauge how effective their internal communication is in motivating and inspiring employees.

Another key metric is communication satisfaction. Measuring employee satisfaction with internal communication can help organizations identify areas for improvement and ensure that employees feel informed and connected. This can be done through regular feedback forms and satisfaction surveys.

Knowledge sharing is another important metric. Measuring the amount of knowledge shared within an organization can help organizations understand how effective their internal communication is in facilitating collaboration and innovation. This can be tracked through the use of collaboration tools and platforms.

Feedback is also a critical metric. Measuring the amount of feedback received from employees can help organizations understand how effective their internal communication is in encouraging open communication and transparency. This can be done through suggestion boxes, feedback forms, and regular team meetings.

Finally, measuring the return on investment (ROI) of internal communication initiatives can help organizations understand the financial impact of their internal communication efforts. This can be done by tracking the costs associated with internal communication tools and platforms and comparing them to the benefits gained, such as increased productivity and employee engagement.

What are the Best Internal Communication Tools?

Email:

Email gets a bad (and unfair) rap but it’s still the most used tool for communicating with employees. It gets criticized because people can be deluged with communications, but that’s down to poor practice by the people sending the communications: the dreaded one-size-fits-all email to everybody even though what’s in the email might only be relevant for some people, not everybody.

However, companies using Poppulo email, for example, can tailor and personalize their email communications for specific segments of their workforce, ensuring only messages that are relevant to these cohorts are being sent. The result: employees who are motivated to tune in to workplace emails than tune out, because they know what they’re getting is going to be of interest to them.

Digital Signage

One of the biggest mistakes companies can make when they want to engage their employees is to exclude them from internal communications because they are perceived to be hard to reach. They include employees without access to work emails, or, say factory floor workers who for safety reasons cannot use mobile phones to access email, the company intranet or messaging services.

This is where digital signage comes into its own, making instant communication accessible to non-office-based employees—who, after all, make up the majority of workers in the world.

Internal mobile apps

Integrating new technology such as an internal mobile app is an excellent way to reach today’s employees. There is a great deal of research to show that modern workers are considerably more effective at communicating through mobile, which is crucial for fostering effective internal communications. For any employer hoping to enhance employee engagement, this is a great option.

Businesses should work on a way to seamlessly integrate any new apps into their existing internal communications, along with ensuring employees are well-informed about how the new technology will be used and kept up to date throughout the process.

Digital messaging

Focusing on digital messaging is another great method for developing strong communications throughout the workplace. For any business hoping to either improve or incorporate digital messaging, it is useful to introduce:

• A weekly email newsletter
• The use of single emails for must-read messages
• A manager briefing pack
• The use of email as part of a multichannel strategy

Campaign Outcome Surveys

When working to improve communications among employees, it is essential organizations dedicate the time to measure internal communications success by examining how well any tools already introduced are succeeding and how employees are responding to them. A great way to do this is by introducing Campaign Outcome Surveys.

By sending out a survey to random employees, organizations can develop a strong baseline for how the methods they already have in place are succeeding. Whatever new information is gathered in the survey can be used to try and improve communication throughout the business.

By carrying out a second survey, organizations will be able to easily measure if these additions have been a success.

Analytics

Being able to measure the performance of your internal communications is absolutely critical. If you don’t know if they’re landing with the right people and having the desired impact, what’s the point of communicating in the first place? Is the right information getting to the right people at the right time, on their preferred devices? This is crucially important to know and you’ve got to be able to measure it.

Access to accurate metrics enables businesses to analyze the success or otherwise of their communication campaigns. These metrics will provide accurate and insightful information about the organization's digital channels. Traditionally, internal communicators found measurement difficult, due to a combination of factors, including not having access to the right technology.

But Poppulo Analytics has been transformational in this regard, providing internal communications professionals with game-changing data for real business impact.

“Poppulo has changed our lives. The Advanced Analytics have been incredibly useful in helping us shape and refine our communications strategy, understand where to focus resources, and even underpin business cases we make for investment in improving our communications channels. “— Sally Jackson, Senior Manager of Content and Channels, National Grid.

Having a crisis plan in place

By having an effective internal communications strategy and a crisis communication plan in place, organizations can be sure they are prepared to deal with any issues that arise and can act quickly to prevent the problem from spreading further. If a problem should arise, it is important organizations are prepared to not waste time in reaching out to their staff.

If employees feel they are not being updated sufficiently and regularly about what is happening it can lead to uncertainty and unease that will have a damaging impact on their levels of productivity and the standard of their work. Both of which can lead to further issues for businesses.

What is the Difference Between Internal Communication and External Communication?

Unlike internal communication, which revolves around the exchange of information among employers, workers, and team members within an organization, external communication is centered on the exchange of information and messages between an organization and other organizations, groups, or individuals.

These two types of communication are essential to a businesses success and when used together they result in:

• Better strategic alignment
• The alignment of brand image from the inside and out
• Unified internal and external messaging
• Increased understanding of audiences
• Everyone is on the same page
• The building of trust among employees and customers
• Helping employees become brand ambassadors
• Everyone is up to date with company news and industry news
• The creation for more engaging content
• Handling rapid corporate changes more effectively
• Building a strong community around the brand

The Role of Leadership in Internal Communication

Leadership plays a critical role in internal communication, as they set the tone and direction for the organization’s communication efforts. Effective leaders communicate clearly and transparently, and encourage open and honest communication throughout the organization.

Some key responsibilities of leaders in internal communication include:

• Communicating the organization’s vision, mission, and goals: Leaders should regularly share the company’s vision, mission, and goals with employees to ensure everyone is aligned and working towards the same objectives.
• Providing regular updates and feedback to employees: Leaders should keep employees informed about important developments and provide regular feedback on their performance. This helps to build trust and keep employees engaged.
• Encouraging open and honest communication throughout the organization: Leaders should create an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their ideas, concerns, and feedback. This can be achieved through regular team meetings, open-door policies, and anonymous feedback channels.
• Modeling the behavior they expect from employees: Leaders should lead by example and demonstrate the communication behaviors they expect from their employees. This includes being transparent, approachable, and responsive.
• Providing resources and support for internal communication efforts: Leaders should ensure that employees have access to the tools and resources they need to communicate effectively. This could include training programs, communication platforms, and dedicated internal communications teams.

By understanding the importance of internal communication and building an effective internal communication strategy, organizations can improve employee engagement, productivity, and job satisfaction, and ultimately drive business success.

Internal Communication and Employee Experience

Internal communication plays a critical role in shaping the employee experience. One of the key ways it does this is by impacting employee engagement. Effective internal communication provides employees with the information they need to do their jobs effectively and feel connected to the organization. This can lead to higher levels of engagement and job satisfaction.

Internal communication also impacts recognition and feedback. Providing employees with regular feedback and recognition for their contributions can help to boost morale and motivation. This can be done through performance reviews, team meetings, and internal communication platforms.

Career development is another area where internal communication plays a crucial role. By providing employees with information about training and development opportunities and career paths within the organization, internal communication can help employees to grow and advance in their careers.

Internal communication also impacts employee well-being. Providing employees with information about employee benefits, wellness programs, and other resources to support their physical and mental health can help to create a healthier and more supportive work environment.

Finally, internal communication can impact an employee’s sense of belonging. By providing employees with information about company culture, values, and mission, and encouraging employees to participate in company events and activities, internal communication can help to create a sense of community and belonging within the organization. This can lead to higher levels of employee satisfaction and retention.

Internal Communication Trends and Future Outlook

Internal communication is constantly evolving, and organizations must stay up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies to remain competitive. One of the current trends is digitalization. The use of digital channels, such as intranets, social media, and mobile apps, is becoming increasingly popular for facilitating internal communication. These channels offer a convenient and efficient way to share information and keep employees informed.

Another trend is personalization. The use of data and analytics to personalize internal communication ensures that employees receive relevant and timely information. This can help to increase engagement and make employees feel valued and understood.

Video communication is also on the rise. The use of video for internal communication, such as video conferencing, video messaging, and video sharing, can help to create a more engaging and interactive experience for employees. This is especially important for remote workers who may feel isolated from the rest of the team.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is another emerging trend. The use of AI to facilitate internal communication, such as chatbots, virtual assistants, and predictive analytics, can help to streamline communication processes and provide employees with quick and accurate information.

Finally, there is a growing focus on the employee experience. Organizations are increasingly recognizing the importance of creating a positive employee experience through internal communication. This includes providing regular feedback and recognition, offering opportunities for career development, and supporting employee well-being.