Employee Communication: This Is How Communication In The Company Promotes Your Success

Improve Internal Communication With These Tips And Tools

Motivated and well-informed employees are the basis for sustainable entrepreneurial success. With successful internal communication in the company, you ensure that all employees, from managers to assistants, identify with the corporate goals and values. Use the potential of employee communication to actively shape your corporate culture and turn employees into brand ambassadors for your company.

We have summarized what constitutes good and efficient communication in a company, how you can develop a concept for internal communication, and which instruments can be used in internal communication.

What Is Internal Communication? The Types Of Communication In The Company

The types of communication in the company are fundamentally divided into internal communication and external communication: External corporate communication relates to communication with customers and clients, service providers, the media and press, authorities, and government agencies, for example.

Internal communication is aimed at employees and provides internal information about business issues and processes. Internal communication in companies includes formal communication via the established communication channels and tools and informal exchange: employee communication takes place on the intranet and via the company newsletter and in the tea kitchen, and during the lunch break in the canteen.

Good communication in the company involves the employees and creates identity. It ensures that knowledge and important information are passed on without loss and guarantees productivity and thus the company’s long-term success. With a concept for internal communication, you ensure that your employees do not first learn about news from informal sources.

Also, internal communication in the company concerns the information that managers pass on to their employees (top > down) but also includes communication between employees and communication between employees and managers. All of these levels of communication within the company deserve equal attention.

Internal Communication: Tools And Topics

In the specialist literature on employee communication, more than 40 different instruments are mentioned for internal communication. The topics that can play a role in internal communication in the company are as diverse as the instruments: from day-to-day business and organizational content such as shift schedules, instructions on occupational safety and health at work to news about new customers, projects or orders, and information with the potential for conflict about new staff or staff changes, business figures or changes in the company.

Communication In The Company: Oral, Written, Or Digital?

You have a wide range of tools for internal communication at your disposal. Which one you choose depends on the focus of your company, your target group (the employees), the frequency of use, and the content. You can communicate with your employees through an oral, written, or digital medium, partially overlapping the different communication channels.

Oral Instruments: Examples of internal communication are: Discussions, meetings, shift handovers, appraisals, works meetings, telephone calls, informal talks, employee events.

Written internal communication instruments include employee newspaper, bulletin board, written minutes or transcripts of meetings, manuals, and instructions.

Digital internal communication instruments are, for example, newsletter, intranet, company app or employee app, e-mails, videos, video conferences, employee blog, company wiki.

Tried And Tested Internal Communication Tools Or Digital Trends

E-mails and newsletters are still at the top of the popularity scale in employee communication among managers. They are very useful for messages that do not require a reply. Instruments such as a company wiki or the intranet offer employees the opportunity to obtain specific information themselves. The intranet, in particular, is often the central platform for internal communication in large companies. All relevant content of employee communication is offered here in one place.

To promote exchange between employees and active participation, the intranet is increasingly developing into a social intranet with chat and comment functions, for example. Company or employee apps go one step further and ideally combine all necessary internal communication needs.

Other important trends are films and video clips as instruments of internal communication. For a new generation of employees, everyday life without video platforms such as YouTube or TikTok is unimaginable. In corporate communication, moving images can also communicate important content in a way that is appropriate for the target group.

For example, training material can be used to announce news from the management or, in general, to capture the essence of the corporate culture emotionally and sympathetically.

Goals Of Internal Communication In The Company

In general, internal communication goals are to motivate, guide, and inform the employees of a company. Internal communication is lived corporate culture and defines the company’s image as an employer to employees and the outside world.

This positive branding of the company as an interesting employer is becoming increasingly important: the shortage of skilled workers in more and more industries means that many companies bind interesting and sought-after employees to the company, among other things, through successful communication. Salary alone is often no longer sufficient to motivate employees and identify with their work.

Other goals of internal communication are, for example:

A well-functioning operational process and entrepreneurial productivity
Clear clarification of tasks and responsibilities
Ensuring successful work in teams and beyond individual work areas
A clear description of organizational structures and overall contexts
Feedback and appreciation
Employee identification with the company and trust
Employee loyalty and retention
Pleasant working atmosphere and satisfaction
Avoiding rumors and informal sharing of important information

Common Communication Problems In The Company

Internal communication problems in the company are often due to a lack of human resources and know-how. Managers sometimes find it difficult to use newer digital communication channels. When the workload is high and time is short, the operative business is usually in the foreground, and internal communication with the employees is neglected.

If problems subsequently arise in implementing tasks, these are not associated with insufficient employee communication but justified with a lack of specialist knowledge.

Finding a topic can also cause problems in employee communication: employees and managers often deal with different topics. If the same sources are always used for internal communication topics, this causes disinterest among employees in the long run.

One solution can be to involve different company levels in finding a topic and to disseminate non-professional content, for example, in an employee blog. This is more authentic and often more interesting for the employees and poses new challenges, for example, in terms of quality assurance.

Improve Internal Communication With A Concept

If you want to improve internal communication, then the following steps are recommended to develop or revise a strategy and concept for your employee communication:

What do you want to achieve with employee communication within your company goals? Define the goals of your internal communication.

How is internal communication going at the moment? Analyze the starting position.

How is your workforce structured? Divide employees into target groups.

Establish appropriate channels and actions.

Adapt the tools and information to your target groups.

Check the success of your employee communication: regularly evaluate whether you have achieved the defined internal communication goals. If necessary, adapt your concept and strategy.

What Makes A Good Communication In A Company?

In order to achieve good and efficient communication in the company, you should pay attention to consistency: Internal communication should also have a corporate design be coherent and attractive. Corporate wording is also recommended: Check your core statements. Be sure to use a consistent writing style and tone of voice when addressing your employees.

Make sure your audience gets real-time information. It is useless if all information can be found in the company app, but only 60 percent of the workforce uses a company cell phone. Suppose important information can only be found on the bulletin board, but many employees work remotely or are on business trips. In that case, information is lost or arrives too late.

Announce and explain important decisions or changes in the company in advance. Transparency in communication is important to guarantee employee motivation and identification with the company’s goals.

Involve your employees in internal communication. Social media is now firmly anchored in everyday life of many people. Show your employees your appreciation by letting them participate in the communication and making their opinion visible.

Develop a well-thought-out strategy and concept for internal communication. But always remember: Any strategy is only good if it can react flexibly to changes and the concept can be adapted to new developments and needs.

Also Read: Digital Learning As A Solution For Employee Training