Four ways to make a bigger impact with your internal communication
Many employees say they wish their leader or their company’s communication was more effective. In fact, according to data from Gallup, only 13% of employees strongly agree their company’s leaders communicate effectively.
So how do we fix this problem? One of the key ways to ensure effective communication is through personalisation. Personalisation of internal communication is powerful because it shows you care; it’s more memorable because it’s relevant and delivered in a way that works for your audience; and it enables your message to cut through the noise.
Here are four ways you can personalise your internal communication to make an even bigger impact.
Repackage your communication
Repackaging the same piece of communication for different audience segments is a great way to personalise your comms, especially in times of change. Simply take the same piece of content, and change one or two things to personalise it for each segment.
For example, if you’re introducing a new printing system, you could send an email to the entire business. Or you could make a slight tweak to the subject line to personalise it for each team. Eg, “What the HR team needs to know about our new printing system.
Another small change can be to the salutation, for example, saying “Hello HR Superstars!” instead of “Hello everyone.”
Personalise your digital content
Personalising your digital content through audience segmentation means you make sure people see only what’s relevant to them, through channels like intranets, e-newsletters, and employee apps.
This will make the channel more useful to team members, and encourage them to continue using it. For example, showing content that’s only relevant to leaders to people in those roles, or delivering personalised content by location.
Have leaders take the lead
The third way to personalise your content is one of the most effective, but also requires the most effort - having leaders tailor the content for their teams.
Research consistently shows that leaders are the most-trusted source of information for team members. They have a critical role in communication, but it only works if they communicate in ways that are meaningful and relevant to their teams.
So instead of simply forwarding messages from the C-suite or group-level comms, leaders should take the time to work out why and how it’s relevant to their teams, and put it into their own words so it’s a genuine piece of communication.
Tailor to meet the needs of different personality types
Everyone has difference preferences in how they give and receive information. These preferences are influenced by a number of factors, including learning and thinking styles, language and culture, and contexts and experiences.
Team leaders should have a good idea about how people on their team prefer to communicate, so they can tailor their communication for different individuals.
At a group-wide level, repackaging your communication in at least three different ways (eg, a written article, a video, and an infographic) can help meet as many needs as possible.
Tailoring and personalising your comms will get you much better cut-through, because it’s designed to meet a person’s preferences, but it also shows that you care, because you’ve taken the time to personalise in the first place. And that sense of care grows loyalty, but it also gets your audience’s attention!
Nail your change comms
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