Everyone talks about how important communication is—your bosses at work, sports coaches, educators, and even family counselors.

The ability to communicate complex thoughts is a major characteristic that differentiates humans from the rest of the animals. Communicating well is the key to success in many situations, especially when it comes to internal communication in an organization.

According to Gallup, 74% of employees feel that they’re missing out on company information and news and other research suggests that only four in ten employees can confidently describe to others what their employer does.

Let’s understand what internal communication is.

What is internal communication?

Internal communication is the process of passing information within an organization. This includes information shared from top to bottom and bottom to top.

The five main sources of internal communication are:

• Management communication
• Team communication
• Direct communication, such as face-to-face meetings with individuals
• Peer communication
• Resources

The channels used for internal communication are:

• Verbal
• Electronic
• Paper

In smaller organizations, holding a company meeting and sharing information with everyone might be the easiest way to communicate. However, as your organization grows, creating a structured plan to ensure that information is delivered to everyone and that everyone has access to it is not enough; you also have to ensure they are fully aware of it.

The strategy that will work for your business depends on the type of business and the general structure of your organization. Generally, a combination of all three channels is likely to work the best.

10 reasons why internal communication is important 

1.  Making sure everyone is in the know

Information is vital to ensure employees are able to do their jobs. Information has to be passed on to employees in a clear and structured manner.

While the information that needs to be shared includes work updates, process updates, changes in HR policies, new initiatives to engage employees, and upcoming events, it is also important to keep employees updated on how the business is doing.

A transparent organization is also likely to build more trust among its workforce, and ultimately, its customer base.

2.  Builds an organizational culture

How you communicate with your employees and how your employees receive that communication is a strong indicator of the culture in your organization. Whether it is delivering process updates or a motivational message from the leader, how that message is delivered is vital to creating the right culture in your organization.

Finding better ways to communicate helps build organizational culture. This is a continuous process, and efforts must be made for this at all times.

3.  Improves employee experience

Good internal communication is one of the major contributors to ensuring that employee experience is positive.

Only offering great employee benefits isn’t enough. Employees need to know about them and understand how to access them.

4.  Gives you stronger teams

Teamwork is important to any business. The foundation of good teamwork is clear and concise communication. Teams that communicate well between themselves will be more productive.

A team that knows what each individual is working on and how each person is contributing to the bigger picture is one of the best ways to ensure your team remains strong.

Apart from internal communication, if the company’s goals are communicated clearly, everyone in the team will know what the goals are and be able to work toward them.

5.  Keeps workforce engaged

Employee experience is a big factor in retaining employees and making them feel engaged. Actively engaged employees feel more valued. This leads to them working harder, being more productive, and delivering better quality.

6.  Drives focused action

Focused action is possible only when everyone is on board. The best way to get the entire team on board is to ensure that everyone is in the know. Sending out team objectives that are clear and concise is one part of internal communication. Another part is knowing exactly what each team member is going to do and how they are going to contribute.

7.  Employees know what to do when things go wrong

While organizations shouldn’t focus on what could go wrong, it does help have a plan in place. Even if you don’t have a specific plan ready, if your employees are fully aware of everything the organization does and how it does it, they will be able to resolve issues proactively.

This could be something as straightforward as what an HR manager has to do when someone violates a company rule to something more complex, such as what happens when an employee does something illegally by mistake.

8.  Makes change easy to adopt

Change is rarely ever easy. Making sure that employees know about changes well in advance is a great way to make sure they are able to adopt that change.

Establishing clear internal communication protocols ensures that updates are seamlessly followed and everyone is always on the same page. When this becomes a norm, even major changes are easier for employees to accept and adhere to.

Clear communication also ensures that conflict is at its minimum. If everyone knows what the company wants, there isn’t much room for misinterpretation or personal opinions about company objectives.

9.  Creates a feedback culture

Communication is not a one-way street, and the same is also true for internal communication. It is important to note employee feedback by creating a culture where they do not hesitate to communicate openly.

This allows a complete loop of information to be created. The management communicates their needs, and employees adhere to them. When they see something that can be improved, they let the management know through the proper channels.

10. Promotes your brand

Seamless internal communication improves everything within the organization. If done right, the results are visible in terms of how people outside the company see you.

This could mean potential employees as well as customers.

Conclusion

With technology, internal communication has become much easier. Information can be shared immediately and effectively. There are easy methods to ensure employees receive relevant information. Great HRM suites incorporate various tools for internal communication, such as internal messenger services and internal social media platforms.

Good internal communication is the key to a healthy business, inspiring employees, and happy customers.