Are you struggling to keep everyone engaged and productive? Engagement is at a low point, especially for 80% of the world’s workforce who are on the frontlines and often excluded from company communication.
Without knowing how to reach everyone, leaders often send repeat information through numerous channels. It’s wasteful, and ineffective. Employees either get too much information, or not enough. Some workers are included, most are not. The balance is off, messaging is unclear, and business outcomes suffer.
But digital transformation in business communication has led to the perfect opportunity to revamp those old, ineffective strategies and replace them with one that will deliver better-than-ever engagement.
What is an Internal Communication Strategy?
An internal communication strategy is a structured plan that organizations develop to facilitate effective communication within their own workforce. It is a proactive approach to managing and disseminating information among employees, ensuring that they are well-informed, engaged, and aligned with the organization’s goals. A robust internal communication strategy is essential for fostering a positive work environment, promoting collaboration, and enhancing overall organizational performance.
Why You Need to Develop an Internal Communication Strategy
Good communication plays a vital role in the success and sustainability of an organization. Why? People are natural communicators. They want to be a part of the conversation and contribute, especially at work. A mobile internal communication strategy creates a two-way system that encourages every single stakeholder to be able to be a part of the conversation which ultimately creates a better employee experience.
In today’s world, where digital transformation has accelerated across industries, the best decision you can make for your internal communication strategy is choosing a mobile solution, a workplace app that reaches every single person in your organization on any device. And in today’s world, where 2.7 billion workers are deskless, and even more are working remotely, there is a rise of mobile in internal communication and companies need to adapt by choosing a tool like Beekeeper that complements this trend.
Optimizing internal communication in frontline industries is especially important. From retail to healthcare, education to manufacturing, there are millions of businesses that employ those 2.7 billion frontline workers. And they’ve long been left out of communication strategies which means companies have missed out on their valuable insights that can help increase revenues and improve their operations.
With a mobile-first internal communication strategy you can:
- Include everyone in your organization
- Enhance transparency and trust
- Strengthen organizational culture and identity
- Boost employee engagement and job satisfaction
- Streamline workflows and centralize information to reduce silos
- Empower employees with access to information they need
- Promote knowledge sharing, collaboration, and innovation
- Align organizational goals and employee actions
- Facilitate effective change management
- Build a stronger employer brand to help attract and retain talent
With perks like these, it’s no wonder that harnessing the power of a mobile solution like Beekeeper is one of the top trends in internal communication!
Source: Beekeeper
Factors That Determine Your Internal Communications Plan
So, how do you begin designing an internal communication strategy? And why change what you’re already doing?
First, it’s important to recognize the connection between communication and business outcomes. Better communication = better outcomes (like higher productivity, happier customers, higher revenues.)
When figuring out best communication strategies and practices, take the following things into consideration:
- Organizational size and structure
- Your communication needs
- Workforce makeup (number of frontline, remote, in-office teams and geographic locations)
- Technological advancements and tools and your stage of digital transformation
- Company culture and leadership style
- Communication goals and objectives (you’re aiming for 100% participation and engagement)
- Regulatory and compliance requirements
Ultimately, you’re looking to create a modern intranet for your team: a dynamic space where information is centralized, communication flows two ways and in real time, and everyone is connected through one portal.
15 Tips for an Effective Internal Communication Strategy
Dismal business outcomes. A disengaged workforce. High turnover.
When companies experience low metrics, it’s often a sign of one thing: a weak communication strategy. Communication is often an afterthought, and companies are only sending messages as needed and through methods that don’t reach the right people.
Mastering team communication makes sure the right people receive the right information at the right time. It empowers people with access to everything they need to be productive in their roles. And that means the most effective internal communication strategy is also digital and mobile
Here are 15 must-know tips as you begin to build your new internal communication strategy.
1. Leverage AI for Personalization
Artificial Intelligence is everywhere. And communication is a great way to leverage the power of AI. It uses your data to deliver insights that help you make better decisions for your business. To really level up your communication strategy, find a tool powered by AI, like Beekeeper, which uses AI for leveraging sentiment analysis for better communication. It can go through every employee communication touchpoint (surveys, emails, performance reviews) and give leaders frontline intelligence and insight into workforce attitudes so they can adjust strategies to change the trend in a positive direction.
Source: Beekeeper
2. Digital Suggestion Box
Remember the days of the traditional suggestion box which would collect dust while no one ever read those paper notes employees would drop in there? Well there’s a better, modern way for employees to contribute ideas. With a workplace app, employees can easily submit their thoughts through a digital suggestion box. And these suggestions get read! Digital feedback channels allow you to respond to your workforce and let them know what actions you’re taking. And that’s the critical factor: listening to your employees and letting them know you hear them. When employees feel heard it drives higher performance and delivers greater engagement.
3. Use Video Announcements
In this age of Instagram and TikTok, people are more engaged with visual content. In fact, one study revealed that 67% of workers better understand and complete tasks when they receive visual (video or images) communication. When coming up with intranet content ideas for employee engagement, create video messages to make announcements and add them to your streams. Global construction company Holcim creates warm-up videos for employees over the Beekeeper app at the start of the day, and they’re a huge hit! It creates community, builds connections, and engages workers both on the app and on the job from the moment they arrive each morning.
4. Employee Content Creators
When developing internal communication strategy and plans, it must go hand in hand with creating an internal content strategy. In other words, how do you plan on engaging your workforce to get them on the app and keep them coming back?
One way is to turn your workers into content creators. Use interactive polls and quizzes posted and share the results! But take it one step further. Have an employee blog, share pictures, and have an employees-only content stream.
If you’re hiring more Gen Z workers, you’ve already got a workforce fluent in online content creation. Use it to your advantage!
Source: Beekeeper
5. Recognition Wall
Of all the internal communication ideas, there is one that is a MUST for any strategy—employee recognition. It is a crucial aspect of fostering a positive work environment, enhancing employee morale, and promoting productivity. Recognizing and appreciating employees for their contributions leads to greater job satisfaction, and employees who receive positive recognition are 20 times more likely to be engaged.
Who doesn’t love a little praise? But also saying “Happy Birthday” or “Congratulations on your new baby” can go far in making workers feel happy and like a part of the team. Create a dedicated stream dedicated just for honoring employees, where colleagues can also chime in with their well wishes.
6. Internal Communication Influencers
Find the most active users on your workplace app. Then, have them be your “internal communication ambassadors.” Ask them to create content, like a weekly podcast or blog, to engage with other workers on the app (and a little extra incentive to do so doesn’t hurt.)
The app should become a workplace hub, but the content can be fun, too. And there’s nothing like peer-to-peer engagement strategies to attract users and boost that adoption rate! So find your champions and have them lead the charge to get everyone else excited to connect.
7. Inline Translations
The frontline workforce is incredibly diverse. From hospitality to agriculture, construction to healthcare, frontline workers are representative of different cultures and speak many different languages. Tools like Beekeeper offer inline translation, allowing any and all content to be translated into every user’s preferred language (Beekeeper has over 100 languages available thanks to Google Cloud Translation.) Removing language barriers creates a more equitable and inclusive workplace. And when people can understand communication they become more engaged at work.
Source: Beekeeper
8. Include Training in Communication Strategies
What do employees want today? They really want opportunities to learn and grow. (Hint: that will also make them stick around longer.) And 84% prefer to use their mobile device for upskilling. What does the future look like for your industry and where are the skills gaps in your current workforce?
Focus on those areas and empower your employees by providing them with the skills they’ll need for a digital future that will benefit both them and your company. For example, in manufacturing, workers will need to become familiar with automation and AI so start preparing your workers to grow into new roles.
9. Internal Comms Must be Mobile
There’s no way around this part of an internal communication strategy in today’s world: any communication in any business must be mobile-first. That means the tool is an app-based solution and allows workers to access workplace communication and information on their preferred device, whether that’s a desktop, laptop, smartphone, or tablet. It’s another way to create equitable workplace communication and includes frontline workers who do not have a desk, computer, or company email to receive messages. They make up close to 60% of the United States workforce alone. (Frontline workers have long received messages through ineffective communication methods like notes tacked to bulletin boards.) With a mobile-first tool, companies can reach every single employee at the same exact time for a more effective communication strategy.
10. Build a Communications Team
If you’re going to create an internal communication strategy, you need to have a dedicated communications team to manage content and be the point people for funneling all messaging through. They’ll determine which channels to use for published content (for example, new safety SOPs are put in the document library while an announcement about a new team member goes in the main company stream.) The communications team can be members of the human resources department, marketing, or both. They’ll manage the content calendars, find those internal ambassadors, and track the analytics to make sure they reach their target engagement numbers.
11. Keep the Communication Coming
Your internal communication strategy should include a content calendar. Every day you should be publishing new information on your company app, whether it’s celebrating an employee on the recognition stream, information about open enrollment, or newsletters. New content will keep employees coming back to see what’s new each day.
Pro tip: employee newsletters for your internal communication are always a surefire way to get people active on the app!
And remember: feed different content channels! Not all messaging is meant for your entire workforce. For example, if a hotel guest writes about their stellar accommodations, share that great guest feedback with your housekeeping team through the department’s stream.
12. Analyze, Assess, and Improve
Part of any great business strategy is continuous improvement. You don’t just “set it and forget it.” A great communication strategy needs to be tracked and adjusted regularly. With a tool like Beekeeper, you can use the powerful analytics dashboard to see where engagement is strongest on the app and where it’s weakest. Find those weak areas and adjust the content or delivery method (remember: try using visuals!) You want to hit your stride and achieve maximum engagement with each employee touchpoint.
13. Constant Feedback Loop
Any communication strategy must be a two-way street. Try to stick with the old top-down approach and you’ll quickly see engagement and retention numbers hover at dangerously low numbers. (And it costs 16-20% of each worker’s annual salary to find and hire a replacement.) Employees want to work for people who value what they think and what they have to say. And your frontline teams have so much insight from their vantage point that it’s a waste to not hear their perspective. They often work with customers and know what sells, what makes money, and where improvements can be made. A mobile platform establishes those essential channels for internal communication where every employee is also an active contributor for the greater good.
14. Ensure Secure Transmissions
A lot of companies simply use consumer communication tools, like WhatsApp, for group communication. So many people already use those apps in their daily lives that it’s just easy to use for company information. But workplace communication tools must have superior data security measures. The last thing you want is a security breach. A platform like Beekeeper is designed with enterprise security features locked in, like:
- Best-in-class 256-bit TLS encryption
- Advanced firewall protection
- ISO 27001 certified data centers, and
- Perform regular external security audits
- GDPR compliant
You don’t want a solid communication strategy ruined by choosing the wrong tool.
15. Centralize all Communication and Information in One Place
Remember this: simple is better! With a strong internal communication strategy, you don’t want to be managing multiple apps and tools to deliver information. Find one robust platform that will be the portal for everything.
Centralize workplace documents, messaging, media into one solution with Beekeeper, which can even integrate with your other legacy tools (ADP, calendar programs, etc.) so employees can easily access all information with a single sign-on. Streamlining all company information in one hub will deliver higher engagement numbers. And it will reduce information overload when workers get messaging from numerous sources on too many apps. Employees will rely on one tool to get the information they need, but they’ll stick around for all of the other content, too.
Source: Beekeeper
Develop Your Internal Communication Strategy with Beekeeper
Measuring success in internal communications is simple. An effective internal communication strategy will deliver greater employee engagement. With Beekeeper as your starting point, you can design a multi-channel, enterprise-wide approach that connects each and every person in your organization. In an age where workers are rarely in the same place at the same time, you’ll create a space that offers them connection. And you’ll increase efficiency simply by delivering the same message to everyone at the same time. Real-time access to information empowers employees, makes them feel valued, and keeps them around longer. In the end, that’s what you want most from your business strategies.
