Recently, I joined a new company as head of internal communications. One of my first tasks – after spending considerable time meeting various people and observing how they work – was to establish an internal communications framework.
The real value of a framework is to help us prioritize and make decisions. It covers broad themes – purpose, philosophy, tone, style, channels, future – and will serve as a foundation for decisions involving talent, techniques, and technology.
Here (below) are some excerpts from our framework. Perhaps some of it will apply to your organization, too.
The Purpose of Internal Communications
Our purpose is four-fold:
- Enhance team member productivity – that is, similarly to what an internal comms agency does, help people do their work, in pursuit of the company’s mission, and support them in all practical ways.
- Reinforce key corporate messages – to ensure team members are applying scarce time and resources to the highest priorities.
- Unify and give voice to the global workforce – provide opportunities for team members to meet, interact, collaborate, offer feedback, and help each other, without regard for rank, function, location, or tenure.
- Establish a personality and tone – that is informal, friendly, supportive, authoritative, trustworthy, and, above all, respectful.
Our Philosophy
These are the bedrock, non-negotiable attributes of the internal communications function:
- Put people first. Look for the personal angle in all that we communicate. Include interviews and photographs of people, tell human interest stories, honor personal accomplishments, and enable people to support and appreciate each other. Be respectful to all.
- Listen and respond. Establish feedback mechanisms, monitor them, and respond or forward as necessary – in a timely manner.
- Be timely. Operate with speed to provide fresh or real-time information, including news, announcements, and performance metrics. Diminish approval processes and other barriers to timeliness.
- Commit to accuracy. Check and double-check all that we do. When mistakes occur – and they will, because we are human – establish procedures for correcting them swiftly and apologizing as necessary.
- Attract attention. Employ modern design techniques, cover hot-button issues, and maintain relevance to give people a reason to pay attention. Serve as an oasis of fun and refreshment.
- Protect and enhance the company’s image. Align with the Marketing organization to help build the company’s brand from the inside out.
- Expand and simplify access. Deliver communications through multiple channels, with focus on ease of use, joy of use, and convenience. Consider the recipient, and not just the sender.
- Include everyone. Bust silos and artificial barriers that divide us. Seek unity, togetherness, and shared experiences.
Our Tone
Our tone begins with respect. Every interaction we have with our colleagues – by phone, online, or in person – should demonstrate our commitment to serving them, and show genuine appreciation for their suggestions and criticisms, no matter how harsh, unfair, or silly.
Our tone is also open, personal, and informal, to build trust. We will inject fun and whimsy as appropriate.
Our Style
Our style favors communication that is brief, visual, simple and scannable.
Recognizing that our team members have plenty of competition for their time, we respect their short attention spans by using bullets, boldface, imagery, summaries, and short blocks of text that can be scanned and digested quickly.
Our Channels
We acknowledge face-to-face as the best, most personal form of communication. Unfortunately, it’s often impractical to conduct with a far-flung workforce.
Consequently, we favor online communication – intranet, enterprise social networks, streaming audio/video, etc. – as the more practical method for sharing information and uniting us.
Furthermore, we believe that our online communication must be optimized for mobile devices – the best way to reach just about everyone, whether using a company-issued or personal smartphone.
E-mail has a lesser but useful role, if used judiciously as an alert mechanism. We prefer to send only infrequent mass e-mails, instead encouraging team members to subscribe to e-mail alerts around topics that most interest them. Otherwise, we worry that e-mail can be excessive and, ultimately, ignored.
We also pledge to monitor consumer technology for emerging channels that may prove beneficial.
Our Future
Ultimately, the internal communications function should evolve to a state where all team members are both contributors and consumers. In such a state, the role of the internal communications function will transform to do the following:
- Help all team members become better, clearer, more effective communicators;
- Establish and maintain new channels for exchanging information;
- Encourage and recognize those who share responsibly;
- Observe and monitor conversations to gauge understanding; and
- Curate and amplify key messages, highlighting worthwhile contributions.
