POSTED BY Molly Dwyer

Apr 11, 2012

Effective Internal Communications Leads to Collaboration

Do you remember how much you learned from an executive’s latest business update or Town Hall? Did you take time to read about the new initiatives kicking off in the company’s quarterly newsletter? Or maybe you rely on the intranet for its engaging articles?

. . . crickets . . .

That’s what I thought. You probably missed the Town Hall because of some other critical meeting, the newsletter is lost in the abyss of your inbox, and turns out those intranet articles are not all that engaging.

Having others adopt what's on your agenda takes skill

Internal communication has proven unsuccessful many times over and thus, makes new project or product launches less effective throughout organizations. Ron Ashkenas, Forbes contributor and an expert in simplifying organizations, talks about the importance of collaboration, “which should be the fastest and most effective way to get results.” If your desired result is to enhance employee awareness and engagement so that your new product or initiative will be more successful and useful for all, than effective communication is the fundamental step before collaboration.

The Formula: Interaction + Opportunity = Collaboration

Here at Fathom, projects are launching from different cannons every day. We do our best to talk about new clients, keep the team in the loop as schedules change and maintain a general awareness about how daily work will be affected. But unless someone on the team is truly impacted, and I mean head-on collision kind of impact, it can be really hard to hear what’s going on over all the other commotion.

A few months ago, Fathom prepared to launch a website for a global leader in healthcare. In just 9 months, Fathom renovated the client’s site by providing an organized design and updating all the core information that was otherwise outdated and inoperable. This launch is the first of many over the next few years and in order for the site to truly be successful, the project team needed the buy-in and feedback from our client’s internal participants, which could only be achieved through a strong communication plan. Like most large organizations, communicating effectively was going to be a challenge due to goals and deadlines, a lack of resources and the mere size of the organization. So why should they listen? What is so exciting about the first phase? And how will they be impacted?

Build Connection with Employee Value Proposition

According to Towers Watson’s Communication ROI Study Report, “when it comes to communication, successful companies pay close attention to articulating their employee value proposition (EVP).” In other words, it is essential to understand what motivates or drives employee performance so that information is relevant for everyone. The drive at Fathom exists within our interesting clients, creative work and social good projects. Our company knows that we perform best off meaningful work and therefore, integrates those topics as part of our business conversations.

For this client, the motivation is to reach business goals effectively and improve sales. It was our job to tell them that the new site, even in its first phase, was going to offer good incentives by positively impacting their role. They could now spend more time in the field to make sales, provide customers with a reliable website and spend less time tracking information. Fathom’s communication plan highlighted the progress to date, the expected next steps and encouraged employees to build a connection with the site to improve their business and ultimately make the site successful for the organization. These key messages were repeated through a variety of channels including executive business meetings, town halls, webinars, newsletters, intranet articles and discussion boards so employees had multiple opportunities to listen and interact in the conversation.

Since executing the communication plan, we received positive feedback on the site’s capabilities and input for ways to improve during the next phase. The constructive feedback proves our communication plan was successful and even paved a path for future collaboration within the organization.

No matter the size, the industry or the dynamic of a company, communicating effectively is tough. But with the appropriate process, the proper execution and a distinct engagement plan, you can ensure your messages get delivered and drive a successful launch.

Communication Strategy & Best Practices

1. Do your research – With this particular project, Fathom conducted internal research through personal interviews to identify the gaps and deliver results that directly correlate to the needs of their distinct audiences. Another option is to conduct surveys, which will allow a company to create a measurable benchmark for ongoing improvement and goal setting.
2. Identify the benefit – Every employee wants to know one thing: what’s in it for me?  Use research to identify a unique employee value proposition that influences the message. Build a theme around the employee benefit that attracts the attention of your audience through each channel of communication.
3. Keep it real – Internal communication is a great opportunity to have a casual conversation with employees. Corporate jargon and meaningless buzzwords have become so overused that employees feel no connection to the message.  Use plain language to tell a powerful story that resonates for all.
4. Keep it brief - Whether you are conducting a town hall or writing an article, the message should be short and to the point. Employees do not have a lot of time and need information to be direct so they can receive it quickly.
5. Listen - Show employees you care by creating an avenue for feedback. Fathom utilized our client’s intranet site to host ongoing discussion boards so employees felt comfortable asking questions and providing input. This helped identify new issues and areas of improvement.

Molly Dwyer brings a background in preparing for Town Halls and other internal communications projects in her previous role at NASDAQ. She interviewed Fathom’s Director of Strategy & Content Marketing, Louisa Desson for this post.

Posted by: Molly Dwyer
Email the author: mollyd@fathom.net