Communication is an essential aspect of any successful workplace. But communication is not just about exchanging information; effective communication enhances teamwork, fosters innovation, and boosts productivity.
However, despite knowing these things, many organizations struggle to communicate effectively internally and externally. But first, let’s drill down on internal and external communications.
Internal communication can be defined as any peer-to-peer discussions between people in the company. It could be exchanging information about a customer, collaborative talks among teams about ongoing projects, meeting requests, or company-wide information such as a newsletter, announcement, or bulletin.
External communication would be discussions with people outside the organization, such as client emails or phone calls, customer service, investor relations, or talks with vendors, contractors, etc.
Both types of communication are two-way discussions, with one party relaying information to the other. The parties involved determine whether those comms are internal or external.
In today’s blog post, we will dive deeper into internal and external communication, outline their purpose and benefits, and offer strategies to improve and enable them. We will also discuss common challenges to effective communication and offer best practices that managers and HR leaders can use to encourage better communication practices internally and externally.
Clear, effective communication is essential to efficient business operations. Parties must be able to communicate effectively and clearly to be understood; without that benefit, little will be accomplished.
Companies prioritizing best communication practices are more productive and innovative and tend to have a higher satisfaction rating among staff and customers. Happy employees feel valued and tend to stay in their jobs, work harder, and enhance the organization’s value. Satisfied customers are a gift that keeps on giving, as their loyalty builds bottom-line value over time.
So, how can your organization enhance and encourage better communication practices? Let’s find out!
There are many benefits to improving internal communication: enhanced teamwork and cooperation, increased creativity and innovation, improved problem-solving and decision-making, boosted employee engagement and satisfaction, and a more cohesive and productive organization are just a few.
Organizations should promote openness and transparency within teams and throughout the leadership hierarchy to improve internal communication. This can be done by establishing clear goals and roles, fostering cross-departmental interactions, using collaboration tools, celebrating successes, and leading by example.
Additionally, organizations should always encourage feedback and active listening. Doing so makes employees feel valued, and ideas are more likely to be exchanged.
Here are a few internal communication channels typical to most companies:
As you can imagine, all of the above communication methods fall short of their purpose if a two-way approach is not prioritized. However, which methods are to be used for what purposes should also be understood. Employees need to know what’s expected of them before they can respond, which also means they need access to the technology and training required to use each method effectively.
With the above mentioned points in place, continued internal communication success requires:
Let’s now move on to external comms.
External communication refers to how an organization communicates with its outside stakeholders, such as customers, suppliers, and investors.
Effective external communication is essential to building trust and credibility with these stakeholders and will mitigate misunderstandings.
Prioritizing excellence in external communications helps attract and retain customers, enhance the organization’s reputation, increase brand awareness, and gain a competitive edge in the market. If your company is a pleasure to do business with, you won’t have to work hard to gain new customers—or employees.
Organizations should define clear messaging that aligns with their branding to improve external communication. Using various communication channels, such as social media, blogs, and other platforms, to engage with stakeholders helps to build trust and authority.
Additionally, organizations should actively listen to feedback and provide timely and relevant information to enhance their external communications. Doing so shows that you pay attention and genuinely care what the public thinks.
Here are a few examples of external communication channels:
Here are three best practices to ensure an effective external communication strategy:
Although communication is critical to the success of any organization, numerous challenges must be addressed. These challenges include information overload, misinterpretation of messages, lack of clarity and consistency, language and cultural barriers, and ineffective listening skills.
Communication barriers due to cultural and language differences can be mitigated by improving diversity in the workplace. Everyone should know they have support should they feel disconnected or unable to understand their team members. In these circumstances, provide reasonable accommodations for employees, or when challenged by cultural differences in external communication, attempt to resolve the issue by assigning someone with those language skills.
Remote teams are often challenged to communicate effectively unless adequate tools and support are provided. Employee success platforms like Jostle offer a simple, user-friendly interface from which employees can connect to the people and information they need to communicate freely and clearly.
Implementing best communication practices helps establish consistency, making it easier for employees to do their jobs and make meaningful internal and external connections.
Effective communication is essential to the success of any organization. By defining internal and external communication, outlining their benefits and strategies to improve and enable them, understanding the barriers to effective communication, and providing best practices that managers and HR leaders can use to enhance communication in the workplace, companies can improve their communication strategies from the inside out.