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The most recent episode of Chats with Chip featured a conversation about internal communications and measurement with Ryan Williams, a partner with Tekara Effectiveness. Ryan, who has 20 years of experience in this field, illuminated trends, difficulties, and advantages of formulating a regular plan to measure and implement internal communication tactics.
Chip opened the conversation by pointing out that organizations largely neglect to give internal communications and measurement, specifically surveys, the attention they deserve. According to Ryan, organizations should survey both employees on the front lines of the business and senior executives. Surveying the general population of employees tells the organization if their needs are being met, while surveys of senior executives show the effectiveness of their transparency and communication tactics.
Despite the positives of internal communications strategies, Ryan recognizes the difficulties. Surveying employees about sensitive questions can produce unwillingness to provide true responses. Ryan believes that companies can design their own surveys for simple questions, such as lunch options for a meeting, but companies should enlist third party intervention for more sensitive questions, such as the performance of a manager, to ensure confidentiality and honest answers.
The conversation progressed to discuss trends and commonalities among different organizations’ internal communications tactics. Ryan describes these commonalities by stating, “We are looking for more open dialogue. We are looking for more transparency. Having positive conflict. If we’re not actually having open dialogue in the organization and some debate [then] we’re actually not making good decisions collectively.”
Chip and Ryan concluded the conversation by discussing the best strategies for beginning this activity and finding an appropriate timeline. Companies should establish routine communications activities to guarantee open lines of discussion for employees. Additionally, Ryan provides advice on the best ways to implement communications strategies. “We need a lot more formal processes that force us to engage, share, and understand the views of others. Which is different than just having others contribute to our work,” says Ryan.
Check out the full recording to hear more about the specific trends and changes in the field, how to schedule and implement surveys, examples of successful internal engagement, and what every organization wants from their internal communications strategies.
This article originally appeared on Media Bullseye. You can listen or read the transcript there.
