Internal Communications: What Your Team Needs Right Now

In the best of times, employees report “better communications” as their top suggestion for improvement on nearly every leader’s 360° survey. It has become a trope…and the scourge of every leader.

These, my friends, are not ordinary times.

Isolated and flooded by conflicting external communications, employees are struggling to maintain calm, much less productivity.

It is our responsibility as leaders to:

• Be transparent
• Make quick and clear decisions
• Set the tone

People tend to fill in the gaps with their own story, so the better we are able to establish internal communications, the more employees can respond appropriately.

Change is scary. Whether you are enduring rapid moves to remote workplaces, potential restructuring or layoffs, or mergers and acquisitions, there will always be fear of change. Here’s what’s working for the companies we support:

• Multi-channel communications: Important news should be communicated in more than one way. Try email and a video ‘town hall’, for example.
• Integrated platforms: Introduce a collaboration tool as part of the platform your employees are already familiar with. HubSpot’s Service Hub, for those using HubSpot CRM, makes a great resource center for videos and company updates. HubSpot’s integrated  video service platform, Vidyard, just introduced secure video specifically for internal communications. Microsoft Teams, for those on Microsoft 365, provides a good meeting space for those working in the Microsoft 365 environment. Start with the platforms you’ve got in the interest of speed.
• Increase the frequency: Circumstances change fast—you can’t wait for complete information, and it’s okay to admit what we don’t know yet. Nimble companies are making quick, clear decisions with the information available today and have channels like SMS, email, and intranet/extranet to communicate with stakeholders on all levels. These companies also have a policy on what info they will be sharing, how and when they will keep people up to date.
• Set the rhythm: Daily huddle, weekly virtual coffee chat or happy hour—create the structure they crave. For our team, morning huddle via video offers familiar faces and a clear work plan that sets the tone for the day.

Harvard Business Review’s management tip of the day is often helpful for setting the tone for leadership messaging. Need to set strategy for internal communications or setting key messages? Get a communications platform in place or just need help executing on videos, social and email? Set up a consult.

About Launch Team, Inc.

We are a multi-dimensional, highly focused marketing firm that has helped companies in technical and engineering-driven industries succeed. We've been doing this for over 30 years, increasing and improving our offerings along the way. Our team's backgrounds include optics, chemistry, biology paired with a core business and marketing focus. This allows our team a unique understanding of your business, the decision makers you work with, and the engineers who will evaluate your solution.