Regardless of the size of an organisation, internal communications within it plays an integral role in aligning its members with its vision. Effectively communicating with employees internally can enhance the productivity of the workforce and direct them towards the right goals. It can be an important asset to understand needs of employees and sense impulses that can result in better, more preferred workplaces. Overall a robust internal communications strategy and setup in place is a healthy indicator of an organisations’ employee centricity and preparedness for expansion.
These strategies and setups have gotten increasingly complex over the years. Businesses become more dynamic, expanding across geographies and adding new business verticals, often by way of mergers and acquisitions. More heterogeneous audiences are added to organisations that necessitate amendment of the manner in which internal communications is done.
From printed periodicals to emails to 360 degree internal communications networks, the tools for internal communications have tried to match the pace of its evolution. Somewhere down the line these tools have enabled two way communications. Regardless of barriers of distance, language and time, leaderships of organisations are relatively more accessible to their employees, and vice versa.
Essar Group headquartered in Mumbai created their internal TV network in 2011 – EView. This network facilitated communications of the organisation’s vision and mission periodically from various members of the leadership, streamed across all major offices of ESSAR Group and its affiliate companies. RPG Group enables two way communications with the chairman of the group, through monthly town halls, where members join in from across the globe through video conferencing. Several organisations also have their own, indigenous communications networks to facilitate such communication. For these organisations, a few decades ago, just the idea of an internal magazine was considered innovative and sufficient. But most companies now embrace the importance of evolving their internal communications strategies.
The strategy and its execution can only be done justifiably well with a dedicated vertical. Internal communicators must also maintain consistent interactions with allied business verticals and be cognisant of significant developments within the organisation. They must take proactive efforts to sense behavioural and cultural changes within the organisation.
Efforts must also be made to stay consistently updated with latest tools and tactics of internal communications being experimented with and adopted worldwide. A good analogy to understand this is to view your organisation as an isolated industry in itself with a variety of linked heterogeneous stakeholders and audiences, of which you are the brand custodian.
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