Setting up an effective internal communication plan
12 June 2014
Read by 4997 persons
Essential for the company and its employees, setting up an internal communication plan is a delicate exercise. It is indeed an approach that cannot be improvised and needs to be well-structured. Here are the questions to ask (and their answers) to develop an effective communication plan.
When to communicate?
Effective communication is only valid over time. A company must develop an annual plan whose objective is to relay its strategy, encourage employee buy-in, create a bond and develop a common culture. And this must be reflected in day-to-day communication.
This should not prevent more ad-hoc actions, depending on external circumstances, changes and project launches. These important moments are diverse: company reorganization, changes in the management team, launch of a new strategic product or service, but also mergers or acquisitions of the company and economic redundancies.
How to segment employees for better communication?
Should everything be told to everyone? In any case, things should not be said in the same way. One of the first steps in creating a communication plan is therefore to segment the target audience (by hierarchical level, for example).
There are also other, more refined segmentations, which allow you to adapt your communication to the audience for better efficiency: differentiate employees involved in the project from those who are not, or communicate by homogeneous work group.
What to say?
Once the objective and target audience have been determined, it is a question of asking what precise message you want to convey. Following economic redundancies, for example, you can opt for communication focused on economic rationality, with an official statement such as: "Competition has been fierce and results have been poor in recent months, so we must align our resources with activity."
The form the message takes can be adapted according to the target audience. You will not communicate in the same way on the theme of corporate social responsibility to office employees and to senior managers. The former, often not very aware of the issue, mainly need to be informed. The latter must above all be convinced that the company's policy in this area is the right one.
How to get your message across?
There are three main communication techniques.
Direct communication is the one that allows for the greatest individualization of the message. This may involve face-to-face meetings, personalized emails or group meetings.
Other methods make it easy to reach a larger number of people. This is the case with media communication (intranet, company newspapers, etc.) and so-called "event" communication. The latter can take the form of seminars and conventions, but can also result from the internal reuse of actions specific to institutional communication (sponsorship, patronage, etc.).
Which media to choose?
In recent years, communication media have evolved considerably. While "paper" media (leaflets, posters, company newspapers) are still widely used, electronic media now open up new possibilities for internal communication. The intranet, in particular, has made it possible to give more flexibility and responsiveness to internal newspaper editors and has facilitated interactivity.
Having become financially affordable and technically feasible, video has also gained importance. Integrated into an email or an intranet, it allows for more lively communication. In all cases, the choice of media must take into account the target audience and the message to be conveyed.
For what efficiency?
Measuring the impact of an action, especially when it has required a budget, is essential.
This may involve interviewing the target employees to, firstly, find out if they understood the objective of the campaign and if they appreciated it and, secondly, to assess its impact on their behaviour. For the most strategic campaigns, a quantitative survey (questionnaire) and a qualitative survey (small group meetings) will also help to gather information.
Internal communication within the company is an essential step in its good health. Nevertheless, too much communication kills communication. Indeed, a surplus of information is harmful because the employee will no longer be able to distinguish between useful and obsolete information.
It is therefore necessary to find a balance in your communication strategy.
In a time of crisis, it will be very important to implement a strong communication policy, while in a period of prosperity, restricted communication will be sufficient for the smooth running of the company.
Philippe Montant
Chief Executive Officer of ReKrute
When to communicate?
Effective communication is only valid over time. A company must develop an annual plan whose objective is to relay its strategy, encourage employee buy-in, create a bond and develop a common culture. And this must be reflected in day-to-day communication.
This should not prevent more ad-hoc actions, depending on external circumstances, changes and project launches. These important moments are diverse: company reorganization, changes in the management team, launch of a new strategic product or service, but also mergers or acquisitions of the company and economic redundancies.
How to segment employees for better communication?
Should everything be told to everyone? In any case, things should not be said in the same way. One of the first steps in creating a communication plan is therefore to segment the target audience (by hierarchical level, for example).
There are also other, more refined segmentations, which allow you to adapt your communication to the audience for better efficiency: differentiate employees involved in the project from those who are not, or communicate by homogeneous work group.
What to say?
Once the objective and target audience have been determined, it is a question of asking what precise message you want to convey. Following economic redundancies, for example, you can opt for communication focused on economic rationality, with an official statement such as: "Competition has been fierce and results have been poor in recent months, so we must align our resources with activity."
The form the message takes can be adapted according to the target audience. You will not communicate in the same way on the theme of corporate social responsibility to office employees and to senior managers. The former, often not very aware of the issue, mainly need to be informed. The latter must above all be convinced that the company's policy in this area is the right one.
How to get your message across?
There are three main communication techniques.
Direct communication is the one that allows for the greatest individualization of the message. This may involve face-to-face meetings, personalized emails or group meetings.
Other methods make it easy to reach a larger number of people. This is the case with media communication (intranet, company newspapers, etc.) and so-called "event" communication. The latter can take the form of seminars and conventions, but can also result from the internal reuse of actions specific to institutional communication (sponsorship, patronage, etc.).
Which media to choose?
In recent years, communication media have evolved considerably. While "paper" media (leaflets, posters, company newspapers) are still widely used, electronic media now open up new possibilities for internal communication. The intranet, in particular, has made it possible to give more flexibility and responsiveness to internal newspaper editors and has facilitated interactivity.
Having become financially affordable and technically feasible, video has also gained importance. Integrated into an email or an intranet, it allows for more lively communication. In all cases, the choice of media must take into account the target audience and the message to be conveyed.
For what efficiency?
Measuring the impact of an action, especially when it has required a budget, is essential.
This may involve interviewing the target employees to, firstly, find out if they understood the objective of the campaign and if they appreciated it and, secondly, to assess its impact on their behaviour. For the most strategic campaigns, a quantitative survey (questionnaire) and a qualitative survey (small group meetings) will also help to gather information.
Internal communication within the company is an essential step in its good health. Nevertheless, too much communication kills communication. Indeed, a surplus of information is harmful because the employee will no longer be able to distinguish between useful and obsolete information.
It is therefore necessary to find a balance in your communication strategy.
In a time of crisis, it will be very important to implement a strong communication policy, while in a period of prosperity, restricted communication will be sufficient for the smooth running of the company.
Philippe Montant
Chief Executive Officer of ReKrute
