Internal communications are the powerhouse behind any successful workplace. Because of this, you need to make sure that you have an effective internal communication plan in place. Considering 60 percent of companies don’t even have a long-term internal communication plan, this often means starting from square one.
Whether or not you are starting from scratch or already have a plan in place, you should always be working to make it more effective. Here are some helpful tips on how you can create a truly effective plan.
Perform an Assessment of Your Existing Plan
It’s impossible to know where you need to go if you don’t know where you’ve been. If you have a communications plan that you are currently using, your first step in improving it should be to thoroughly assess it and it’s effectiveness with your employees.
Not every group of employees is going to be the same, which means that they’ll respond differently to different forms of communication. Your assessment should provide you with insights into which strategies have been working so far and which strategies haven’t. Once you learn these things, you can double-down on what is working.
Set Realistic Goals
Just like any other development strategy, your internal communication plan should be working towards achieving specific goals. Otherwise, there is no way of knowing whether or not the current plan is effective enough. Ensure that your goals meet a certain set of criteria so that you have a way to measure your success.
Many communications professions utilize the acronym SMART when building their internal and external goals. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based. By following this methodology, you can ensure that each of your goals meets the necessary criteria to be successful.
For example, your goals need to be measurable and specific enough that it is easy to know whether or not you have reached the goal. They should also have a specific amount of time allotted for achieving the goal and make sure that it is something that is attainable. An important part of setting these goals is picking great KPIs for internal communication, like click rates.
Segment Your Employees
Finally, treating your employees as one big group with the same wants and needs is the fastest way to create an internal communication plan that misses the mark. Instead, segment your employees based on things like age and department type.
Many forms of internal communications fail to be effective because they don’t address the differing employee demographics and psychographics. Creating detailed segmentations allows you to see how many employees belong in each group, helping to guide the choices you make when developing your internal communication plan.
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By following these tips, you can help create an internal communication plan that is extremely effective. But if you’re looking for help on how to further improve your plan or other areas of your internal communications, then make sure to contact us at backstitch today.
