Effective internal communication is often the key to ensuring that employees have a clear understanding of the direction an organization is taking. When everyone is on-board with the shared objectives of the organization, it’s more likely that employees will show more initiative in bringing organizational goals to fruition.
Some of the benefits of effective internal communication include raising the level of coordination across departments, evolving HR practices, and developing tools to motivate and celebrate employees. Effective internal communication creates the cohesion needed in an organization to achieve and accelerate growth. These four tools can be used for exactly that purpose.
Intranet
An intranet can be a hub for various aspects of communication, including sharing documents, project notes, company social media updates, and more. One of the benefits of an intranet is that since it’s online, members can easily collaborate.
An intranet can host files, such as documents and spreadsheets, making them easily accessible to everyone within the network. There are different types of intranet, each with its own unique benefits. Some of the advantages of intranet variations are that they allow leaders to maximize employee engagement through different platforms and they connect distributed employees.
Mobile Apps
Mobile applications are tools for improving internal communication that can entirely change the employee experience. An app can be a single portal that everyone within the organization uses to stay connected and perform tasks.
Mobile apps offer a seamless way for employees to stay engaged with the organization both at and away from their desks. Information, documents, and updates can be sent and then viewed by employees on their smartphones and tablets, ensuring that communication is sent and received fluidly within the organization. Through updates, mobile apps consistently evolve to meet an organization’s changing and growing needs.
Forums
Forums offer the opportunity for employees to share their opinions and suggestions on how a business can move forward. The accessibility of forums makes them well-suited for gathering employees’ input on a vast array of topics. Taking into account that employees often have a more hands-on role when it comes to areas like sales and customer service, the insights they might have can be valuable to an organization as it moves forward.
Forums require structure to keep conversations from veering from the subject; thus, having one or two moderators is often an effective way of managing this.
Digital Signage
Digital signage is a solution to improving communication with employees who operate in roles that are not desk-based. This applies to factory workers in a warehouse, hospital staff who tend to patients in wards, and other workers who rarely, if at all, sit at a desk.
Digital signage involves prominently displaying screens in heavily trafficked areas, such as common rooms and open spaces. Electronic screens can be powerful means of delivering messages through images, video, and audio formats.
Internal communication tools are crucial for developing employee engagement and getting more input from everyone at the organization. These suggestions can help to foster internal communication and stimulate growth.