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In a context of digital transformation and hybrid work models, internal communication is emerging, more than ever, as a lever for performance. As employees frequently work remotely from one another, digital tools streamline the flow of information, contributing to collective success. But be careful—not all tools are created equal.
Do you want to implement an effective internal communication strategy? In this article, Mozzaik presents the strategies, tools, and best practices to adopt to achieve this goal. Enjoy the read.
Why Has Effective Internal Communication Become Essential?
The importance of internal communication is now well established. The smooth circulation of information between management and employees, as well as between colleagues, is a driver of cohesion, productivity, and talent retention.
The link between communication and engagement is quite clear: bringing organizational values and strategic objectives to life for employees allows them to embrace these values and feel a sense of belonging to the group.
The relationship between communication and performance is also evident: employees work more efficiently when they understand how their company operates and what its objectives are. They make fewer mistakes, experience fewer conflicts, collaborate more smoothly, and develop collective intelligence.
The State of Business Communication Report published in 2024 by Harris Poll and Grammarly highlights the concrete impacts of effective internal communication. According to this study:
- 43% of business leaders associate effective communication with more successful business transactions, 51% with increased customer satisfaction, 45% with a better brand reputation, and 33% with cost reduction.
- At the same time, 58% of employees believe that smooth internal communication improves their job satisfaction and relationships with colleagues, 55% say it boosts their confidence and productivity, and 48% feel it reduces their work-related stress.
Conversely, poorly structured internal communication hinders organizations. When employees are overwhelmed with information or lack the necessary details to perform their jobs, collaborate, or understand company culture, performance is directly impacted. As a consequence, according to Grammarly’s previous report (2022), internal communication issues cost American companies approximately $1.2 trillion annually.
How to Build an Effective Internal Communication Strategy?
Streamlining and optimizing information sharing within your company is a matter of overall performance. To ensure you achieve this important goal, you must implement a structured and effective internal communication strategy. Here’s how:
#1 Analyze the Current State: Internal Communication Audit and Field Feedback
The first step in creating an internal communication plan is to analyze your organization’s current practices to identify strengths and weaknesses. In this perspective:
- Observe usage data for your existing internal communication channels. For instance, examine usage statistics for your company blog, internal newsletter, intranet, or display systems.
- Collect feedback from teams to refine your internal communication audit. A survey and individual or group interviews will help you understand how employees use digital tools (intranet, collaborative communication app, etc.) and physical communication supports (welcome brochure, bulletin board, etc.). You’ll also gain a more comprehensive understanding of employees’ needs, expectations, and complaints (information silos, information overload, etc.).
#2 Define SMART Objectives Aligned with Organizational Goals
Once the assessment is complete, identify the goals you want to achieve through your internal communication plan. These objectives must be SMART, meaning:
- Specific, i.e., precise and understandable by the entire “internal communication” team;
- Measurable using performance indicators to evaluate the effectiveness of your actions at every stage of the implementation;
- Achievable in terms of your technical, human, budgetary, and time resources;
- Relevant, or rather consistent with your organization’s strategic axes (increase productivity, improve customer satisfaction, reduce operational costs, etc.);
- Time-bound, with a defined start and end date.
A SMART objective in corporate internal communication could be: “Increase employee engagement to reach an eNPS score of 10 within 6 months by implementing an internal communication campaign around organizational values.”
#3 Identify Internal Targets and Segment Them
The third step in building a structured and effective internal communication strategy is to identify your internal target audiences and then segment them, i.e., divide them into homogeneous sub-groups in order to tailor your message, communication frequency, and channels accordingly.
Depending on the previously defined objectives, your internal communication strategy may target all employees or only specific categories, such as managers, field staff, or new hires. These internal audiences each have specific characteristics. For instance, head office employees have access to a desktop computer and email, while store employees may only have a smartphone and a shared PC.
To effectively address these various target audiences, you need to get to know them. To do so, use the marketing method known as “personas”: create a profile for each of your typical “internal clients.” Take a sheet of paper and note their role, communication expectations, preferred information channels, and role in information circulation. If you work in the industrial sector, one of your internal personas might look like this:
#4 Define the Messages, Channels, and Communication Schedule
The fourth step in implementing your internal communication strategy is to define the messages to be shared, the communication channels to be used, and the publication frequency for each internal audience to effectively achieve your objectives. To this end:
- Define the key messages you wish to deliver to employees in order to meet your strategic goals. To determine the message content, ask yourself what each audience segment should understand, retain, or do after receiving the information. Also ensure the form of your communication is adapted to each employee category (vocabulary, tone, structure, etc.). In any case, favor short, clear, and concrete messages.
- Choose communication channels suited to each internal target and to the type of message you want to convey. For urgent practical information (e.g., schedule changes) for field teams, opt for SMS or a smartphone-accessible intranet notification. That said, embrace multichannel communication. Diversifying internal communication channels will help balance top-down, bottom-up, and horizontal communication and foster employee engagement. You can, for instance, combine internal newsletters, suggestion boxes, and a community hosted on your enterprise social network.
- Create an editorial calendar. This document will help you plan your internal communication activities. It enables you to space out publications, organize content production, and avoid information overload. Depending on your strategic goals, combine occasional highlights (quarterly results announcement, executive committee address, etc.) with more regular touchpoints (e.g., monthly HR newsletter).
#5 Manage, Evaluate, and Adjust the Internal Communication Strategy
Once your internal communication strategy is launched, regularly evaluate its results. To do so:
- Implement and track relevant performance indicators such as event participation rates, internal newsletter open rates, or digital tool adoption rates.
- Send satisfaction surveys to your different target audiences to understand how they engage with your communication materials and gather ideas to better meet their expectations and needs.
After collecting and analyzing both qualitative and quantitative data, use it to optimize your internal communication strategy and more effectively reach your strategic goals.
RECAP: The 5 Steps to Build an Effective Internal Communication Strategy:
- Conduct an audit of your company’s current internal communication practices using digital tool usage statistics and field feedback;
- Define SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) objectives for your future internal communication strategy, ensuring they align with organizational goals;
- Identify and segment your internal target audiences to determine what message to send to which employee category, how often, and through which communication channel;
- Define the messages, communication channels, and schedule to effectively engage each internal audience and achieve your strategic goals;
- Manage your internal communication strategy, evaluate its results using performance indicators and feedback, and optimize actions based on the collected data.
