Internal Communications

What is it?


Internal communications is everything that is communicated within a company, and how it is communicated. Because of the changing environment, today’s workforce is different than it was in the past. There are longer hours, work from home, and greater workloads, more emphasis on performance and values are different. The way a company communicates within the business can make or break how the employee feels about the company, and this will correlate the amount of performance that is taken and the amount of revenue gained.

First Step in Communication Process


The first step in figuring out how to implement internal communication within your business is to see how the employer feels about the company. You can do this by giving and audit, and by the audits results develop a solution to the communication problems.
Problems know…now what?
Now that you know what the problems are you must figure out how to fix them. This can be done by having a meeting and discussing ideas for implication, simply coming up with a plan and enforcing it. The way you go about figuring what you should do in the communication process differs from a big organization to a smaller organization. The bigger organization will simply come up with a plan and implement it. The smaller organization can communicate with all employees in one-on-one meetings, or in meetings of small groups to get everyone involved which will make them feel stronger about fixing the communication problem.


Ways of Communicating


There are many ways of communicating:
· Up and down
· Face-to-face
· Online
· Employee-Oriented Publications
· Visually
· Internal Branding
· Grapevine


All of these types of communication are good for different situations. It is always best to have up and down communication in any organization. This keeps everyone from the janitor of the company to the C.E.O connected and creates a more peaceful and understanding work place.
Face –to-face communication creates a since of caring. This shows that you are important as an employee and that you are involved with every aspect of the process.
Online communication is the easiest way to communicate with many of your employees. It is an easy way to also communicate an employee-oriented publication. An employee-oriented publication is a way to keep the employees updated on the important happenings throughout the organization/company. They can read articles, stories, and information within the company, about their clients, and even about fun stuff like a Christmas party.


Real Life Experience


I have a few job experiences that involve internal communication. I am the assistant swim coach as I have stated in previous blogs. For our program we send out news letters to recruits, parents, swimmers and people interested at the University. In this news letter we communicate what is happening, what is going to happen and even include some videos of meets/practices we have had. This is a good way to keep everyone informed and with all the same information. Also Coach Villa and I have individual face-to-face meetings with each kid on the team (43) of them each 3 weeks. This makes it easier for them to trust us and know they can come to us and talk about anything and everything.

While working at an internship at an advertising firm (Prodigal Media), we had a lot of internal communication. Every Monday we would have a meeting with every person in the business. The creative director, the AD, the C.E.O, the graphic designers, and the accountant. WE would all go over every project that was active, through around ideas and get on the same page. This was a great idea. We also had breakfast every Monday in these meetings together which also brought the moral up in the company.

Other links:


This link also explains what internal communication is, the process, and the implementation of internal communication. It was a good resource for me to continue understanding the process.
http://performance-appraisals.org/Bacalsappraisalarticles/articles/comstrat.htm

Co-Founder of Gatehouse has a blog all about internal communication within his organization. This blog was a great way to see other examples of internal communication at its best.
http://www.talkingic.typepad.com/