Authored by Faye Holland, founder and director of PR & Marketing strategy firm cofinitive, Faye has 25+ years' experience working on comms strategies for companies in various sectors from startups to large multinationals.
Faye explains that “Both internal and external communications are important for creating a thriving business, and crucial to the long-term success of your company. Internal comms ensure everyone in the company is on the same page, stays connected and no one is left behind.”
For a startup with a small core team and a long history of working closely together, maybe even in one room, your internal comms may have been somewhat on-the-hoof. And that didn’t matter then - because, when issues arise with a small team, you can call an impromptu meeting at the drop of a hat.
However, as a company grows and new people start joining and the employee base expands – especially in a hybrid world - the need to formalize internal communications becomes all-important, and not just to foster a culture of collaboration or reinforce an open-door policy.
Scaling a company inevitably involves change and you need to have clear and honest communication in place, so everyone understands the direction the company is moving in, and what that change means.
According to Gallup, 74 per cent of employees (that’s three out of every four employees!) said they felt they were missing out on company information and news because internal communications were non-existent or poor. But these challenges can be easily overcome by increasing transparency with internal newsletters, a free flow of feedback and, as is increasingly popular, an employee advocacy platform.
Employee advocacy builds workplace community and team collaboration by providing a central location where all staff have access to company news and information which they can actively comment on, tag, like and share.
This doesn’t just help internal communications; it helps external communications too. Because your employees are great external communicators and ‘brand ambassadors’.
A recent survey by global PR firm Weber Shandwick shows that 98 per cent of employees use at least one social media site for personal use, of which 50 per cent are already posting about the company they work for.
Not only does your employees’ social media content put a face to your business and help to make it more relatable, but also consistent content can reach many audiences online and significantly boost any centralized external communications effort.
Even if you’ve managed to reach the point of scaling without any external comms in place, that doesn’t mean you should complete the onward journey alone. It often takes someone removed from your situation to give a fresh perspective and to help you scale to the next level.
One way to get an outside perspective is by taking advantage of a complimentary 30-minute internal comms consulting session with our Senior Strategic Advisor, Mike Klein. Contact Mike directly to learn more at mike.klein@changingtheterms.com.
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At Sparrow Connected, we’re laser focused on internal communications and continuously evolving our IC platform to scale and meet the changing needs of the internal comms pros - from startups to large enterprises and every stage in between.