The rapid advancement of technology brought a lot of changes. One of them is a more dispersed and mobile workforce. Because of this, effective communication in the workplace is more important than ever. Taking care of internal communications and ensuring its effectiveness is one of the key HR functions. We share some of the best practices for internal communication that’ll be helpful for you!

 

HR’s Best Practices for Internal Communication

#1: Have a strategy

An old adage goes like this, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” The key to ensuring the effectiveness of your internal communications is to have a strategy for it. Before you start implementing, think about the goals that you want to achieve with your strategy. Better if you could align those goals with your business goals.

An article by Alison Davis gives you 11 ways to build an effective internal communication plan. Make sure to consider involving the key stakeholders to your internal communication plan, develop clear strategies and a tangible timeline, and know-how you’ll measure your progress and demonstrate your success.

 

#2: Involve management

The support and involvement of management for your internal communications strategy is essential. Their backing gives you the authority and credibility to implement your strategy. Therefore, employees will be more open to participating.

On the other hand, your internal communications plan may be impacted negatively if employees feel that there’s a lack of commitment or recognition from the management. It’s also highly possible that if management doesn’t support your strategy, it won’t see the light at all. So make sure that you get the management on board.

 

#3: Include it in your onboarding

It’s a good practice to include your internal communication practices during onboarding. New hires usually get overloaded with all the information that they need to know about your organization. It’s crucial to introduce to them as soon as possible your internal communication systems or platforms, where they can get if not all, then most of the information they need as well as know-how to contact different people in your organization.

Because they’re new, they may be more comfortable chatting or communicating online than talking to their seatmate when they need or want to know something. Your internal communication systems become useful to your new hires in this case.

 

#4: Don’t use too many platforms

In internal communications, less is more. Don’t confuse your employees with the platforms they need to use. If you have too many tools, your employees won’t know what they need to use.

Internal communication systems easily add up, without you noticing it. For example, you have email, video call, and internal messaging systems. Your employees also sometimes use other platforms to share information aside from what you endorse. Think also about the collaboration software or project management systems that you use. If you think about it, that’s already quite a number!

Try to have a “master” tool that will be your number one and that everyone will use. That way, it won’t be a hassle for you and your employees to find information.

 

And, best practices for internal communication #5: Gather feedback

Always gather feedback. Times are changing. What worked for the past may not work for the present. It’s always good to know how the members in your organization are faring when they use the tools. Some feedback will be obvious, while some you need to specifically ask. But to truly have effective communication, you need to do it.

 

Poor communication is one of the most common organizational problems. Use some of the practices we mentioned above to make sure that your internal communication is effective!