One of the keys to improving employee engagement and creating a great workplace culture is having great internal communications. Knowing what to communicate and how to do it, however, doesn't always come naturally to businesses.
Here are some simple tips to help improve your internal communications, that sound like common sense, but aren’t always common practice.
1. Clear communication
One of the key elements of great communication in any business is clear communication. Keeping the message simple and clear helps you avoid confusion and misinterpretation. This can help to prevent panic and distress, and increase engagement among employees.
2. Active listening
Verbal communication is one of the most common forms of communication within the workplace. Active listening keeps you engaged within the conversation and shows the individuals you are talking to that you are invested in the conversation and reflecting on what they are staying.
There are times in the workplace when advice and feedback is important, however having someone who will simply listen without judgement or comments is also a highly important form of communication within a business environment. You can easily use active listening within the workplace by:
Paying attention
Reflecting on what you hear
Being patient
Asking open-ended questions
Withholding judgement
3. Accessible communication
For communication to be successful, it needs to be shared in an engaging and impactful way. Workplace communication encompasses all forms, not only verbal, and therefore it is important to identify the best mediums to use when communicating with employees. Assessing your current systems and employee behaviours can help you to develop a plan for your internal communications moving forward.
Accessible communication starts with considering your employees. Ask yourself “what do people want to hear? How do they want to hear it? What resonates with them in terms of messaging?”
4. Exercise radical honesty
To truly build trust in your people and in the communication within a business, you should exercise radical honesty. That is showing that you care deeply about your colleagues, and are willing to challenge them directly. Dysfunctional teams and businesses don’t challenge each other, because there isn’t the right level of trust built up to do so, so it always feels like a personal attack. But challenge is healthy when it comes from a good place, and shows that you want more for the recipient and that you want to help them perform at their best.
5. Capture the good stuff
Internal communication is highly important within a business however it is also very delicate and there are lots of factors that can negatively affect communication in the workplace. It’s easy, sometimes to focus on the negative, the things that need improving. But this can often limit the frequency of internal communication as employees will be less inclined to engage with the communications and discuss their thoughts and opinions openly.
Remember to capture the good stuff. Highlighting the great things that are happening, and progress towards goals that is being made, or providing a positive response to ideas, workload, effort and simple day to day tasks will help build a happy and open workplace culture with great internal communication. When negative feedback is warranted, including positive elements will help maintain this open culture and support employee growth and development.
6. Timely communication
Knowing how frequently to share important communications with employees is something businesses often overlook. Frequent messages can often feel ‘spammy’ for employees, however, infrequent communication can often lead to employees feeling undervalued, and ill-informed. Infrequent communications can also be more easily missed as they are not expected.
Choosing the right time to communicate with employees can also greatly impact the level of engagement from employees. For example, employees are considerably less likely to pay attention to internal communications when they’re up against tight client deadlines.
It is highly important to evaluate your employees’ communication needs and preferences to develop a better understanding of the best times and frequency for your internal communications.
7. Consistent communication
Consistency across all internal communication channels is essential for building strong employee engagement.
Staying consistent in your messaging and tone is highly important. Regardless of how or when the communication occurs consistency ensures your employees don’t feel as though they’re receiving conflicting information.
Whether creating an important agency brief, or constructing an internal communications plan, ensuring you are remaining consistent in your tone and message is vital for employee engagement and positive workplace culture.
Find out more about the secrets of creating internal communications that really connect with your internal audience with the host of the Sticky From The Inside Podcast Andy Goram and his guest Katy Kurn on our podcast internal communications that connect.
At Bizjuicer we can assess your current communication systems and employee behaviours to develop an internal communications plan for your business moving forward. Are you looking to improve communication in the workplace through internal communication support?
Contact us for advice and support with your internal business communications and let us help you and your business today.
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