Internal Communications

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Internal communications are vital to all organizations. They are its life blood. We are sociable creatures and we communicate at a level and to a degree unknown in other species. Internal communications are also vital to organizations in the sense that there is growing evidence that the organizations which ��get it right’ reap dividends in corporate energy and enhanced performance. In such organizations, internal communications have equal status with all external communications functions. In the best organizations, internal communications are part of the culture; they have disappeared as a subject to be thought about separately, into the way the organizations work, into the way the leaders lead and others may respond.

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James Farrant worked for many years as producer and director in broadcast television before setting up his own communications and video production consultancy which specializes in training and internal communications. James is the author of Winning Teams, a training package on leadership and teamwork and his recent video work includes writing and directing programs on liberating leadership, coaching and business excellence. He also co-authored TV and Video in Internal Communications. As an experienced facilitator, he works with teams to help them review themselves, resolve problems, raise awareness and strengthen team-working, and is frequently asked to design and run seminars and workshops. He chairs and speaks in an ongoing series of public seminars, Successful Internal Communications. Table of Contents Introduction INTEGRATED INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS Mitchells & Butlers, a company with more than a decade’s worth of change The internal communications structure and approach Internal communications: an essential to employee motivation and satisfaction Employee surveys Communications channels Innovation is a constant Intranets have radically changed internal communications Internal communication is the ‘eyes and ears’, and the conscience of the organization THINKING ABOUT INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS The policy and the principles Why we communicate within organizations and why we should do it better How we communicate within organizations and the best ways of doing it Other characteristics of good internal communications What to communicate Measuring success MAKING A START – POLICIES AND AUDIT Internal communications policies The internal communications challenge at the Natural History Museum Selling to the corporate sector Bringing in external consultants to help with the communications audit Promoting the communications audit Publicizing the results ‘Quick wins’ before a published policy Measuring success Writing down the internal communications policy Involving everybody in the organization Tips CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION Face-to-face communication Conferences Notice-boards E-mail Intranets Publications Annual reports Web-sites Video and audio Employee surveys Tips LEADERSHIP: COMMUNICATING THE VISION dmg world media, a company in a hurry An entrepreneurial strategy Strategy first, vision second Communicating company culture The top team travel and communicate constantly The value of conferences Tips FACE-TO-FACE COMMUNICATION Everybody’s preferred form of communication Skills in everyday face-to-face communication Team briefing The virtues of team briefing How team briefing developed Team briefing is not necessarily plain sailing Team briefing feedback channels Team briefing and virtual teams Establishing team briefing Team briefing means listening Tips ‘AND THEN…’ STORY-TELLING IN INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS The power of the story Communicating a merger as an unfolding story The internal communicator as witness and story teller Telling the story through several media ‘Rich, coherent and engaging’ stories Measuring success Story-telling in ‘steady state’ organisations Tips INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS PARTNERSHIPS Letting people have a say in organizational culture Involving the management team The first ‘temperature check’ Further measurement Identifying different feelings in different employee groups New communications initiatives in response to employee attitudes Responding to what employees say Tips INTRANETS IN INTERNAL COMMUNICATION Bringing multiple intranets together Driven from the center Issues about opting for an Extranet Editorial independence Knowledge management Tips CONCLUSION.