A lesson in history: why internal communications ended up being vital for companies
Why do companies seem to spend their resources much more on external interactions and PR than on internal affairs? Well, history has shown that organizations tend to spend as much as they need on making a name for themselves both locally and globally. Such trend seems to still linger in today’s businesses, but the question now is: why do business owners disregard, to some extent, the importance of also investing in internal communications within their businesses?
Don Burns has previously addressed the intricacies and the historical development of communications, which serves as the perfect starting point to mention how, after decades of trial and error, companies that realized the magnificence of assessing what is said within their own walls, ended up discovering at least three important and vital aspects of communication from an internal standpoint.
According to what was previously considered as effective in terms of communications within the corporate realm, an external communication strategy used to be no less than vital to succeed, as it was —and seems to be— the only way to develop a name globally. Nonetheless, focusing solely on this aspects leaves the other side of the equation blank: what about communications internally?
Thankfully, and after the emergence of the digital era and the development of different internal communications tools, companies started to pay special attention to this issue, which helped them find that a consistent, coherent internal communications strategy was crucial to align employees and collaborators with the company’s goals, procedures, and corporate culture.
Nevertheless, even after the realization of these facts, the vast majority of companies seem to be reluctant to budget enough and invest on developing their internal comms. And surely the historical misconception of the development of the so-called status quo is to blame.
Sure, not providing customers with what they desire is detrimental to any business; however, not empowering the people who are responsible for delivering these goods, these services and the subsequent support is even worse. Providing collaborators and employees with the right communication tools will enable them to ensure the required levels of customer satisfaction. Thus, and after taking a look at the point where communications within the corporate realm gained further importance, here are three lessons in regard to why developing internal communications is as important as trying to make a name globally:
Adopting a whole new internal communications culture will result in customer satisfaction. Every member of the team needs to be aware of how to proceed when it comes to addressing a prospect and, more importantly, to direct them through the sales funnel.
In this sense, collaborators also need to be aware of how to proceed when it comes to facing different unfortunate events such as negative PR or pejorative reviews. Clearly, outlining and, moreover, successfully communicating these strategies ensures the team avoids being caught off guard during these events.
And last but not least, it is always good to be prepared for the usage of social media tools: these can lead to highly valuable prospects or the entire opposite.
Collaborator satisfaction
Given the pace at which today’s juncture is unfolding makes the process of keeping employees motivated and engaged a daunting challenge. Thus, depending on how well companies and businesses, in general, are able to communicate their vision, goals, internal purposes and corporate culture, the degree to which a team stays engaged will vary. As depicted, internal communications, when carried out properly, allow employees to stay happy, committed, engaged and, above all, in sync with what the company or the business wishes to accomplish.
The above can also be broken into different aspects: when companies are able to convey what is expected of their collaborators, the likelihood of them reaching the goals is much higher. Besides, feedback will flow in a more transparent, honest way, thusly improving the way managers and employees work together. In this line, the range of options for growth is positively affected for not only there will be an improved and friendlier collaborative working environment, but also a culture of listening to each other.
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Considering what has been said above, it is clear that capitalizing on the positive effects of developing internal communications results in an increase of the overall efficiency within businesses. The most valuable lesson here is: happy employees secure happy customers. The snowball effect depends on creating and establishing the proper environment both internally and externally, which, in turn, ensures satisfied clients, higher levels of brand awareness, client retention and, last but not least, revenue. Building a successful business under today’s circumstances requires a thorough analysis of how companies have addressed their communications strategies. It is now understandable that solely focusing on the external part leaves the other side, perhaps as important as the outer field, unbalanced.