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Your internal communication program is good. But you wonder: How can I make it great? Here are 17 suggestions that will yield immediate improvements—to capture employees’ attention, build knowledge and create stronger engagement:
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Start every new project or initiative by setting objectives that describe specific outcomes. That way, you’ll create focus for your efforts. |
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Organize a focus group to ask employees for their ideas about how to improve internal communication. You’ll be amazed by how much you learn. |
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Reduce the use of PowerPoint slides in town halls. Limit presentations to less than half the time; facilitate an interactive session to encourage employee participation. |
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Make every email about one topic. Chunk content by using bullets and subheads so employees can scan the message in a few seconds. Provide links for more detailed information. |
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Create an ongoing forum that brings senior leaders together with a small group of employees for an informal discussion. |
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Use 50% more images and 25% fewer words for every piece of content on your intranet. |
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Reduce the number of separate emails your team sends. Explore what can be eliminated (because it’s not timely or relevant) or combined. |
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Reboot posters. Use roadside billboards as your inspiration to create posters that attract attention and instantly convey a message. |
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Begin every communication by answering this question: “What’s in it for me?” |
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Understand that newsletters aren’t actually “news.” Instead, focus on providing how-to content that helps employees solve a problem or learn helpful information. |
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Stop posting press releases. Boil them down to 25-word summaries or expand them to include unique information that answers employees’ questions about the topic. |
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Give organizational announcements an extreme makeover. Think about how they could be significantly shorter or more visual or more tailored—anything to reduce boredom and increase value. |
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Leverage every senior leader event. Take photos, shoot video, even write short articles to share highlights with employees who didn’t attend. |
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Label content so employees know what category it’s about. Think about external media which uses tags like Sports, Politics, Lifestyle and Culture. |
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Pursue every form of measurement at your disposal. Spot surveys, web metrics, a few questions in an engagement survey—they’re all great data. |
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Use evidence to improve your program and make your case to key stakeholders. Don’t say, “I think we should do this….” Bring data to demonstrate why. |
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Think outside the box. Explore interesting, zany, surprising ideas. They may not be immediately practical but they’re likely to lead to new approaches. |