Internal Communications Department Structure – A Complete Guide

Internal communication department structure is an important aspect of any company, but it is frequently overlooked. The majority of businesses recognize the significance of external communications. They'll figure out how they'll communicate with clients and stakeholders in great detail. They'll lay out the groundwork for how to communicate with the 'corporate voice,' including guidelines and suggestions. They'll plan out when they'll post on social media, who can contact the press, how many blog articles or videos should be released each month, and so on. There is no room for error.

Internal communications, on the other hand, is a far murkier picture. It is frequently given little thought. Sure, managers and other senior employees will send emails to their employees informing them of important business developments or events. When there's a staff party, they might put up a flyer on the noticeboard. However, they frequently fail to build a comprehensive approach. Why? Because the ramifications of failing to have an external communications plan are obvious. A firm with limited control over external communications may find itself in the following situation:

• Employees inadvertently say the wrong thing to clients or stakeholders, disseminating false or harmful information.
• Customers don't know what to expect from them because of their inconsistent corporate voice.
• They fail to raise brand recognition by posting seldom or sporadically on social media.
• They communicate with the press in an ineffective manner. This could entail selecting the wrong interviews and media, or failing to reply swiftly enough to major industry events that could boost their influence.

The implications of a poor internal communications strategy, on the other hand, are less evident. Is it always about the consequences of doing nothing? Although there are no negative consequences to not eating ice cream, most people would agree that it has certain advantages - it makes people happy. We'll look at why an internal communications strategy can be beneficial to your employees in the next part. It's time to examine internal communications more closely.

What Are the Advantages of Having an Internal Communications Strategy?​

​ An internal communications strategy is simply a strategic plan for achieving company-wide communication success. Employees that are happier, more motivated, engaged, and productive are the outcome of a solid plan. A bad strategy, or no strategy at all, on the other hand, might lead to low morale and productivity.

Here are a few things to consider:

​Employees believe they are missing out on company news and information in 74% of cases. Employees knowing that they are a significant component of your success is a critical part of raising company morale. Employees must believe that the work they do brings value to the company. They feel further disconnected from the company when they miss out on company news and information.

The company's strategy is not fully understood by 72 percent of employees. Employees who don't understand how they fit into the company's goals aren't driven to work harder or put in the extra effort required to produce high-quality work.

Employees are most motivated when management delivers regular updates, according to 85 percent of employees. Regular updates, once again, assist employees in visualizing their involvement in the company's success. It's all about cause and consequence. They are aware of the task they have completed and can see the results of their efforts. They may become disengaged from their task if they do not receive regular updates, and just put in the bare minimum effort.

Employee disengagement costs businesses more than $450 billion per year. This loss is caused by a variety of circumstances, including a decrease in profit, wage dollars, and sales, among others.

It's a well-known reality that disengaged, unmotivated, and low-energy workers don't work as hard as their engaged peers. Many firms are still relying on negative reinforcement to get their staff to work harder and produce more. They establish lofty goals for their staff and punish them if they fail to fulfill them. Employees are micromanaged to the extent where they are mistrusted or constantly stressed. If someone is worried and stressed, you will never get the most out of them. When people feel respected, joyful, and involved, they produce their best work.

A strong feeling of community maintained 54 percent of employees at a company longer than they had planned. Things like happy coworkers, milestone celebrations, and being unified in a common objective all contribute to a stronger sense of community. Employees have a sense of belonging to the company that extends beyond their income.

What Should Your Internal Communications Strategy Look Like?

​A communications strategy is typically presented in the form of a table or document that includes the following elements:

• Key stakeholders: This is where you create a list of partners who should be kept up to date on internal topics. This could include team leaders, managers, or senior-level employees. It could also be project managers or subject matter experts.
• Key communication activities: Blogs, messages, video, newsletters, posters, pictures, and brochures are just a few examples.
• Communication team resources: This is where you list the resources you'll need to achieve your objectives. It would be helpful if you listed each team member's qualifications. You can also list additional resources you can use, such as a 3rd party who creates surveys or graphic design content for you.
• Communication goals: What value does internal communication add to a company? What part do they play in the overall corporate strategy?
• Employee relationships: Relationships in detail, as well as the predicted level of activity. If you have an office in the countryside, for instance, they don't need to receive regular notifications that only relate to the main office, such as information about lunchtime functions they can't attend.
• Employee segments: What kind of people work for you? Employees can be divided into groups based on their team, department, certifications, seniority, and level of engagement, among other factors. You have complete control over the segments you want to watch.
• Communication channels: After you've decided on your staff groups, you'll need to figure out how you'll interact with them. For example, because they want to leave their inbox free for incoming sales questions, the sales staff may prefer to view updates on the company intranet rather than getting them via email.

You Should Use These Internal Communication Tools

Newsletters

Newsletters are an excellent way to provide information in a simple, easy-to-understand style. They assist employees in catching up on everything they may have missed over the course of the week or month. Here are a few advantages of newsletters:

• They help in the integration of all communication channels. If an employee misses a channel update, the information will still be available in the newsletter.
• Employees know they can count on the newsletter to keep them informed. This relieves them of the burden of constantly checking their emails and other communication channels to ensure they haven't missed anything.
• It reminds employees of the company's excellent work and allows them to share in its success.
• It's an excellent technique to inform employees about changes in the workplace.

Smart Inboxes

​ This applies to both the internal communications staff and the rest of the company. One issue with internal communications that we haven't discussed yet is that employees must be interested in reading the updates. They may stop opening emails if they believe they are being spammed because internal communication emails overflow their inbox and distract them from their task. Information is structured logically in smart inboxes, and employees can always get the most up-to-date information when they need it. Furthermore, with the enormous volume of emails that come in every day, employees without a smart inbox may miss important information because they become lost in the sea of emails.

Employee Feedback Tools

​ Internal communications must be closely examined and enhanced on a regular basis. What steps do you take to improve? By identifying your areas of weakness and making changes to address them. Employee feedback tools may help you determine how engaged and motivated your staff are, as well as how much information is coming through if you ask the proper questions. You can accomplish this by conducting surveys or polls, or by instructing employees on which channels they should utilize to explore a topic in greater depth.

Videos

Videos are still a great type of content marketing for external communications, but the same can be said for internal communications. Because it is a more passive activity, videos often have better engagement rates than written content. You should be employing videos in your internal communications plan if you aren't currently. The idea is to use videos in the appropriate situations. Here are a few good locations to begin:

• How-to tutorials for frequently asked queries or issues among employees. For instance, how to operate the printer, how to collect staff incentives, and so on.
• A video depicting a day in the life of a team or function in the company. This allows employees to understand how other teams perform and how they contribute to the company's success.
• New employee onboarding films.
• Create demonstrations or films for new products and services.

Video Conferencing

Many people are expected to continue working remotely after the epidemic, as the benefits of this strategy have been realized. Video conferencing is an excellent approach to keep distant teams linked and communicate with the rest of the company.

Intranet ​

The intranet serves as your company's internal website, and with the correct intranet, you may accomplish a lot. With blog posts, activity feeds, team pages, discussion forums, and other features, you can make it look like your customer-facing website.

Internal Communication Strategy Design Best Practices

​Assess Where You Are Today

Before you can create an excellent internal communications strategy, you must first examine the effectiveness of communications. What level of worker engagement do you have? Do they think they get enough information about the company? Do they have a stake in the company's success? If you already have a strategy in place, you should try to figure out how well it has worked so far. Is there anything you could do to make things better? Channels you're not using, for example.

How Will You Track Your Success?

You must track important indicators to determine how effective your internal communications plan is. You can track things like how many times a post is shared if you have an internal social network. This might help to determine whether the information is more interesting than others. You should be able to track the number of views videos receive and, depending on the program, whether or not people typically watch the entire video.

There are also staff metrics to consider. Is your content, for example, generating discussion on business forums? In surveys, do employees report higher levels of morale?

Set Realistic Goals

We understand that you need a solid approach and immediate results. Internal communications, on the other hand, do not work that way. It's largely a tool for improving employee morale and company understanding, which takes time. If you want to see results fast, concentrate on the areas where you can have the greatest impact in the shortest amount of time. For example, if you notice that 40% of your communications are now being confused by too much other information (emails, etc.), you can use a smart inbox.