Why is internal communication important for a successful organization?

Internal communication is one of the important cornerstones for any thriving business. But what is internal communication, why is it important, and how can you improve it in your organization? Read on to learn more.

What is internal communication?

Internal communication refers to the tools and processes that aid the effective and free flow of information in the workplace to keep everyone informed of the company's goals, vision, strategy, performance, and policies. Internal communication is a two-way approach, i.e., top management to employees and vice-versa. It also applies to employees interacting at the same level.

Why is internal communication so important?  

Good internal communication ensures clarity for everyone in the organization and helps employees excel. It also helps in nurturing a healthy workplace culture and improves employee engagement.

Here's a list of a few things that good internal communication can do for your organization.  

Nurtures company culture: A study by Harvard Business School found that a good company culture can convince employees to stay with the organization for a longer period. Also, having good internal communication can nurture a healthy workplace culture.

Enhances the employee experience: Internal communication is important to convey such benefits as insurance, savings programs, free food and other perks, sports membership, and travel assistance that are available to employees. Besides this, internal communication improves engagement by developing a sense of trust, loyalty, and belonging among employees. Engaged employees build a much happier workplace.

Improves employee satisfaction: Internal communication ensures that employees are informed of the organization's changing dynamics and goals, thus keeping them aligned with the company's vision. It also helps to improve collaboration among peers and increase job satisfaction, thus contributing to the organization's overall growth.

Boosts individual productivity: Internal communication is important to make employees aware of the role they play in an organization. When employees are well-informed of their roles and responsibilities, they'll work harder and do better quality work. According to a study by Gallup, engaged and satisfied employees are more likely to be productive and better performing when compared to a disengaged workforce.

Supports the company's growth: Good internal communication helps employees voice their ideas and options and stay updated on the company's progress. When employees' thoughts are aligned with the company's shared goals and they can see their efforts bear fruit, they perform better, resulting in the company's overall growth. Engaged employees also play a huge role in promoting the company brand in their community.

How can you improve your internal communication?

With remote and hybrid work being the new norm, many organizations have been struggling to keep their employees together and build a healthy work environment. One of the main reasons behind this struggle is a lack of proper internal communication.

While there are different tools to improve internal communication, in this blog, we'll discuss how an intranet platform can help. But why intranet? Modern intranets efficiently serve as a communication channel, knowledge hub, and employee engagement platform. In most organizations, an intranet is already in use and can be easily accessed by all employees 24/7.  

Here are six tips to level up your internal communication in your organization.

Outline your core values

Before you begin with anything, it's vital to let your employees know what you are trying to achieve, including the company's vision and objectives. This ensures that everyone has a common goal and starts out on the same page. Consolidate the company's vision and goals, share it as a post on the company wall and keep it pinned on top, or share the information as a manual.

Promote open conversations

Providing your employees with the right platform where they can share their thoughts, communicate with each other, and have meaningful conversations goes along a long way in employee engagement. Software with familiar social-media-themed options (feeds, comments, and reactions) can be easier for everyone to adapt to. Encourage employees to have honest discussions and allow for a healthy culture of disagreement without moral policing.

You can help employees have open lines of communication with the CEO, top management, or domain experts using town halls. This helps to bridge the gap between different levels in the organizational chart and brings everyone together.

Create a multichannel approach

When most communication is aggregated to a single channel, your employees can easily get overwhelmed. But with a product like Zoho Connect, you can easily streamline conversations under different categories and create a multichannel approach.

Groups: Organize team spaces by departments, projects, or hobbies/interests and make it easier for your employees to keep track of what they have in common with their colleagues and coworkers.

Network wall: Create a centralized space to share updates on the company's performance, pertinent company announcements, and any other information relevant to all employees.

Channels: Create channels for teams, groups, or others to initiate discussions that require immediate action and collaborate on the go.

Encourage knowledge sharing

A study by LinkedIn shows that an employee spends an average of 19% of their work time looking for internal information. To make information access easier, choose a platform that has a dedicated knowledge-sharing section, like Manuals in Zoho Connect, to share static business processes such as company policies, privacy regulations, social-media guidelines, etc.

Encourage your employees and domain experts to share their knowledge with their colleagues and build a culture of constant learning. For example, the editorial team can create a style guide manual containing all of the basic grammar rules, writing style, and common errors that newly joined writers can refer to when crafting their content.

Nurture a culture of recognition

In a hectic and fast-paced environment, it's almost impossible to speak with everyone to encourage them or recognize their work. Providing your employees with a "kudos section" to motivate them to recognize and reward colleagues’ skills, achievements, and a job well done will boost team morale and improve engagement.

For example, Zoho Connect has a separate kudos module named Gamification, where you can easily show gratitude towards a colleague who helped you in a last-minute project with a thank-you badge.

Facilitate idea sharing

To stay ahead of market competition, it's not necessarily important to be hugely dependent only on your research and development or product development teams. A great product idea or a theme for your next office event can occur to anyone in the organization. But to tap into this collective potential, you need to cultivate a culture of innovation in your company hand-in-hand with internal communication.

Provide employees with an idea-sharing corner where they can easily share ideas, discuss potential, and reach the right people without having to wait for days for answers.

Empower employees with the right information

When you frequently share company performance stats, key achievements, and values to keep your employees informed with the latest information, it makes them feel truly cared for, which in turn improves employee retention. Use tools like forums to broadcast vital information to all employees, or create a dedicated all-hands group to share company news in one place.

Conducting regular AMA sessions using town halls will help your organization have transparent and honest conversations with the management and others in company leadership. This also helps to bridge the communication gap and brings the entire company together.

Remember that your organization's internal communication has a direct impact on employee satisfaction and experience, so it's important for organizations of all sizes to have a good internal communication strategy in place.

While improving internal communication can be a slow process and takes time to achieve, the right platform with all of the necessary tools will help hasten things up. Start with outlining the key objectives and share content that's relevant and useful to everyone in the organization. Remember, happy and engaged employees help build successful businesses.

Get in touch with our product experts to find out how Zoho Connect can help your organization facilitate effective internal communication for employee satisfaction and business growth.