Your employees say your internal communications aren’t up to scratch but can’t explain why. Sound familiar?  

There are three key types of communication you need to understand, plan and execute to fully engage your employees and improve morale, performance, and wellbeing.  

Are you hitting them all? 

Read on to find out, as well as to learn how to fix it if not.  

Strategic communication

First up, let’s begin with strategic communications. If your employees aren’t sure why your communication isn’t great, it’s likely there’s a strategy-shaped jigsaw piece missing. 

You can’t expect your employees to tell you what’s lacking if they haven’t experienced a good internal communication strategy in practice - they don’t know what they don’t know. 

So, this is a fantastic opportunity for you to fill in the gaps and demonstrate how successful communications can unite and engage a team. 

Therefore, strategic communication is your WHY. 

• What’s your vision as a business? 

• Do you have a clear narrative to show where you’re heading? 

• Is everyone in the business aware of your targets for the next three to five years? 

• Are overarching messages clear and understood by all? 

• Your employees may understand what they do, but do they know why they’re doing it and how their role fits into the broader picture? 

An internal communication strategy should address this and form a plan for how you’ll work towards and implement your goals. It allows employees to join the dots and work towards shared organisational goals.  

What impact would it have on your business if you were doing a great job of your strategic communication?  

Operational communication

Your operational communication is your HOW. 

• How you all communicate each day to get work done and make progress 

• How your strategy translates into daily actions that serve your customers 

• How you interact with one another about work 

Perhaps, you have an internal communication team working with your executive team on creating that vision and strategy for the business.  

Maybe your employees see and understand this, but there could still be a disconnect, if their daily communications don’t match the vision.   

Line managers may struggle to communicate or be inconsistent in sharing the right information with their teams, which results in confusion, frustration and disengagement.  

Therefore, once your strategy is in place, create a regular drumbeat of communication, sharing what’s happening within and around the organisation, especially if it’s a larger business, so people have the information they need to do their job well. 

Consider: 

• What do your teams need to know today and this week? 

• What’s the progress on their targets? Do any targets need adjusting? 

• Is there a regular huddle to ensure everyone is up-to-date? 

• What does the handover process look like in a shift-based environment? 

• What’s gone well and not so well since the incoming worker was last here? 

All of this must still link back to the strategy, as this keeps your employees focused and motivated during challenges they’ll experience in their day-to-day work. 

Your regular drumbeat also prevents employees from working in silos, as it addresses how you talk to each other about work and identifies where collaboration and support are needed. So, think about how you communicate not only as a team but with other teams, departments or locations, depending on your business type and size. 

Line managers have an essential role to play in your operational communication, not least when it comes to one-to-ones between line managers and team members. In addition, a few minutes of attention each day for everyone on your team is crucial to provide an opportunity to discuss how they’re feeling, identify challenges and make sure support is in place where needed. 

Social communication

Have you ever left a job and said: “What I’m going to miss most are the people”? 

Social communication at work can make or break our experience and - contrary to popular opinion - it isn’t frivolous. 

When we discourage “idle” chatter, we overlook the value in those micro-moments we share, waiting for the kettle to boil or exchanging weekend updates on a Monday morning.  

A brief chat in the microwave queue can make someone from another department infinitely more approachable the next time there’s a thorny issue to discuss - smoothing departmental relations and avoiding unnecessary conflict. 

Social communication is vital to build organisational connections, morale and wellbeing. It shouldn’t be seen as a loss of productivity, it will save you time and money overall by boosting retention and satisfaction. 

Just like families, work-based teams get on better and function more harmoniously when they share mealtimes - think about how connected members of the Armed Forces are when they share accommodation, meals and social events.

Companies with a long history often have social clubs and this idea is still relevant today, though it might come in different forms, like:

• Book clubs

• Lunchtime yoga 

• LGBTQ+ groups

• Gym classes 

• Charitable events 

• Dress down days 

• Walking groups

Creating these opportunities allows individuals to form relationships within their team and across the broader organisation, through shared personal interests.

What could you do as a business leader to facilitate better social communication?

Is your workplace designed to encourage interaction between different teams, departments and individuals? Is there room for improvement?

How to improve your internal communication

If all this insight feels useful but overwhelming, you don’t have to plan and implement everything on your own. 

Enthuse is a team of internal communication specialists that can slot into your organisation and help you improve outcomes in all areas. 

We’ve worked with organisations like Kellogg, Wilko and Quorn, as well as with business-to-business and the public sector, and we’d love to support you to make the changes needed to engage your employees and see the tangible results that brings to your business. 

Ready to find out how? Contact the team on 07812 343310 or hello@enthuse-comms.co.uk