Poor communication, internal or external, can cost a business its reputation, customers, employees and profits. Approximately 60 percent of internal communications professionals do not assess their internal communications.
Yet a business’s approach to internal communications affects its employees’ productivity, its workplace culture, and even its key marketing strategy. Encouraging and enabling effective communication within a business fosters teamwork and collaboration – two key components in achieving a successful end-to-end customer experience from their initial inquiries to after-sales service.
As evidence mounts to support the need for businesses to invest more time and resourcing into their internal communications, here are just a handful of reasons why your business should be doing so, starting today.
Good Internal Communications Fosters A Culture Of Connectivity And Better Employee Productivity
Connected companies perform better in business. They are more productive and profitable. Good internal communication also means better employee engagement levels, which is linked to employee wellness, productivity, and employee turnover in a business. A clear internal communications strategy ensures your employees are getting the news and insights they need to know.
At the same time, it balances information overload, which can counteract the benefits of good internal communication. However, in order for any communication system to be effective, leaders must know how it is being used within the company. For example for a business using Yammer, applying Yammer analytics to measure engagement and user metrics will pinpoint inactive users and show engagement reports on how your company announcements are being received.
It Helps The Business Retain The Best Talent
Employee engagement and satisfaction determine employee turnover. An unhappy employee who does not feel included, or does not connect with the company’s goals, will be more likely to seek employment with another company. For your business, this is a time-consuming consequence of poor internal communications.
Remember that internal communications not only center around the dissemination of information to middle managers and employees, but also include a two-way feedback mechanism between employees and management. Being able to confidently and confidentially voice their concerns to the business (and have them be answered) lets employees know the business is listening – something most employees want. Listening is also vital to employee engagement.
In Dale Cargenie’s ‘How To Win Friends And Influence People,’ he says that 80 percent of employees who are dissatisfied with their employers also happen to be disengaged from their employers.
A Clear Internal Communications Strategy Can Strengthen Your Sales Cycle
While good internal communications are important for all departments in your business, Microsoft Teams Phone can especially help to strengthen your sales department. A business’s sales team is responsible for more than its revenue generation: it influences customer loyalty, brand image, and long-term relationships.
So, in many indirect ways, your sales department is also playing a large role in your marketing and customer service efforts.
Filtering down effective internal communications to your sales team means they spend less time on admin and more time on those key tasks: customer satisfaction and revenue generation. A past report by McKinsey found that the average employee spends 20 percent of their week looking for information, which means less time focusing on achieving their KPIs and goals.
Good internal communications impact your company culture, your employee wellness, and your bottom line. With such expansive influence on your business, there's no doubt that investing in your business communications is the right thing to do.
