7 steps to build an internal communication plan
Internal communication plans help you communicate important information, receive feedback and give recognition to your employees. It is a vital part of your culture and requires an intentional, strategic approach. The benefits can be a transparent culture, engaged employees, and a free flow of information that drives the success of your initiatives.
Step 1: Define your audiences
Within your employees, you have a variety of audiences. That audience is usually made up of a matrix based on their career maturity, roles, and communication styles. For example, you might have a career mature individual that likes to receive recognition in private, written notes from their manager, and a new professional who likes more public recognition within the same department. A well-crafted internal communication plan will help you communicate, receive feedback and give recognition to your diverse employees.
Step 2: Identify what you want to communicate
It is vital to have a clear understanding of specifically what you are wanting to communicate within your company. THe goal is to identify the 3 top specific messages within a period of time.
Here is an example of what not to do: “We want to give our employees updates about changes and goals and recognize what they are doing.”
Here are a few good examples:
“Over the next 9 months, we want our employees to understand how [initiative] will impact their role and what is needed from them.”
“We want to increase the satisfaction rate of our employees of our [tool/software] from X to Y by providing training, and communicating value and impact within 6 months.”
“We want to increase employee enrollment in our development opportunities by X% within 6 months by increasing awareness, creating more time during work hours, improving the materials and getting manager buy-in.”
Your internal communication plan will evolve as your company evolves, so the more specific your goals are the easier it will be to have focused messaging and measure effectiveness.
Step 3: Identify your channels
Chances are that there are a lot more ways your company communicates than you think. Instant message systems, email, video updates, Zoom, in person, mail, gifts, etc. Once you do your inventory of all of the ways you can communicate with your employees, you will be able to be more intentional about what messages you send through what channels and frequency.
Step 4: Create your committee
Diversity, equity, and inclusion is an important part of building your committee. Your committee will be the participants that meet regularly to evaluate, refine and execute your internal communications plan. It is important not to limit this to the traditional marketing and executives that this often falls to. Diverse roles, career maturities, backgrounds, and communications styles should be a careful part of the selection of your committee.
Step 5: Measure where you are
Before you start building your plan, it is important to ask your employees what they think. Some good questions to start with are:
What is your favorite part of our culture?
What is one thing you wish you could change about our culture?
What are three things you wish you knew more about what is going on in the company?
How do you like to be recognized?
How do you like to receive updates on company initiatives, goals, and changes?
Be thoughtful about what questions you ask so that they are open-ended, encourage honesty, and can be used year to year as a baseline.
This information will help with a SWOT analysis to identify what areas to focus on when planning the logistics of your internal communication plan.
Step 6: Create your plan
Now that you know who you are talking to, have defined what you are looking to say, where you are going to deliver that message and where you are currently, the planning begins. Start with brainstorming with your teams on effective ways to engage your audiences with your top three messages. Using a variety of learning and communication techniques, like gamification, recognition, gifts, etc. will help create a culture where you celebrate the diversity of your employees so that they feel seen, appreciated and informed.
Step 7: Execute, measure, and adjust
Your committee will be responsible for executing your plan, meeting regularly, holding each other accountable, measuring effectiveness, and adjusting the plan as needed. This plan and the committee will evolve and grow. As you learn what works, what doesn’t, as goals and messages change, so will your internal communications plan.
