INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS

Internal communications is widely recognized as the most complex and difficult area of corporate communications, particularly during times of challenging changes in the organization.

On the face of it, it is hard to see why this should be so. After all, unlike other communications audiences, employers tend to have a pretty good idea of who their staff are, where they live, and even how much they earn. The problem is that the reverse is also true – employees know far more about the company and its foibles than other stakeholders and have a healthy disdain for anything that smacks of ‘management propaganda'.

The issue isn’t helped by the fact that many corporations regard ‘internal communications’ as being primarily the publication of an in-house newsletter featuring the exciting goings on at the latest staff awayday, possibly backed up by an annual message from the Chairman, and a ‘staff survey’ - often with ill-defined objectives - conducted every two years or so. Not surprisingly, employees are all too often poorly informed, and highly cynical, about the company’s aims, values and future.

Here are some of the issues:

<	Alignment and integration of employees communications with strategic aims and objectives
<	Identification and elimination of internal barriers to good communications
<	Intranet evaluation and overhaul
<	Integration of intranets with brand and internet
<	Internet/intranet development and integration with brand
<	Staff surveying that candidly identifies the issues
<	Development of information centres and knowledge-sharing resources
<	Programme management of merger/acquisition/disposal and other emotive change issues
<	Design, publication and launch of effective employees publications and communications resources
<	Multiple-language support and other accessibility issues
<	Confidential handling of PR issues relating to staff redundancy or possible malpractice

Stuart Notholt, the principal Director of SNC, has over twenty years’ experience delivering internal communications solutions to complex global organizations.

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