We had a great time mingling with the Internal Communications community at the Internal Communications Conference in Manchester last week. Set within the Museum of Science and Industry, we enjoyed a series of inspiring talks by leaders in the Internal Communications industry.
Over the course of the day, listening to both speakers and delegates alike, there seemed to be some universal challenges within the Internal Comms world. So, what were they and how can we address them?
1. A lack of feedback – Many of the speakers explained that receiving no feedback is a main concern in their strategy. Communication within many businesses can be a one-way stream and when employees fail to engage, it demonstrates two key problems:
– firstly, it suggests that employees are not interested, involved and integrated within the business.
– secondly, it inhibits Internal Comms people from improving their practice.
Solution: Use your digital workplace as a tool for feedback. Introduce polling, commenting and liking. By creating one main channel for all communications, you give employees an easy way to give feedback which enables you to hone your internal communications strategy. Highlight the feedback you get and (sometimes) the individuals who have spoken up and made a difference within your organisation.
2.Too many channels – This was emphasised throughout the day. Disparate apps across the organisation lead to employees becoming lost and confused as to where to find certain information and updates. Some people use email, some use WhatsApp, some use Slack. It’s all over the place and nobody knows where anything is.
Solution: Use Office 365 as a hub for your digital workplace. Office gives you access to all the apps you could possibly need and having all your information within a single suite can make life so much easier for communication and collaboration. Admittedly, Office 365 can get confusing but that’s what we’re here for. At ClerksWell, we help organisations make the most of Office 365, so if you need help with your internal strategy, give us a call
3. Lack of onboarding – Every Internal Communications Conference we attend, this always comes up. It’s one of those eternal issues that you can so easily get wrong. When people don’t know how to use the tools you’re giving them, they won’t use them and this can really harm your Internal Communications strategy.
Solution: Develop a sophisticated adoption process. You must ensure that processes are in place so that people know how what the protocol is in your company. If you use Microsoft Teams for projects, your employees need to know that. If you use Slack, they need to know that. For help with adoption and engagement, the digital consultants at ClerksWell know their stuff, so don’t hesitate to get in touch.
So these were our 3 key takeaways from the talks at the Internal Communications Conference. But outside of the talks, we had a great time in the networking areas speaking to delegates one-to-one. As Office 365 consultants, we were obviously very happy to hear lots of babble about Microsoft Teams and how it is revolutionising collaboration within the workplace.
As Teams is such a buzzword at the minute, we’re hosting a webinar on it. Register here and join us on the 13th of February to learn how to use Teams to manage your team.
