Case study: fewer messages, but better informed
If you’re like some of our clients, your organisation has ‘gotten by’ for a long time without dedicated internal comms resources, systems or processes. But with change and growing pains comes the need to level up!
For many of our clients, they’re in the ‘adolescence’ of their years - they’re growing into a more serious, more complex phase but don’t yet have the means to justify bringing on full-time resources who they then have to train, pay super for, and pay payroll tax and leave. They need people to come in and ‘plug the gaps’, and build the foundations for their internal comms functions. Here’s how we’ve done that for one of our biggest NFP clients.
Checking out the challenge
For this client - we’ll call them OrgCo - we were originally brought in to help with a specific piece of change comms. However, it soon became obvious this work was happening in isolation, and before any work had been done to communicate the new organisation-wide strategy. OrgCo never had any internal comms and change resources, and their senior leaders did all their communications themselves - but ad hoc, and in isolation. There were limited communication channels - and of those that existed, they were rudimentary and outdated. There was a lot of noise being distributed in few channels, in a completely uncoordinated way.
Why was this a problem?
With so much noise, messages don’t get heard. Things that are actually really important get lost in the things that aren’t.
There was no sense of how all the work connected to the overarching strategy … which people didn’t know about or understand.
People’s inboxes were flooded with disjointed messages - largely because everyone had access to the All-Company distribution lists! There was no governance of internal comms.
So what did we do?
The short story:
Created an internal comms governance framework
Set up new channels
Created a Communications Community
Built capability
Ensured everything lined up to the organisation-wide strategy
Let’s break that down…
Creating an internal comms governance framework
This was the basis for all internal comms going forward. Using our matrix template, we worked out how each channel - old, new, and proposed - would be managed. This means being clear on the purpose of each channel, the audiences, who’s responsible, what’s in and what’s out, and how often they’re used. Part of the framework included developing a group-wide comms calendar and booking system with clear guidelines and processes.
Setting up new channels
In OrgCo’s case, this included creating a new - but basic - intranet based on SharePoint. There’s still work to do, which will need to be based on in-depth user research. But for now, the aim is building a culture where people start to rely on Sharepoint for information, and less on email. This means posting regular content that is interesting and relevant, and pointing people to the intranet through other channels.
New channels also included locking down the All-Company DL, and creating specific emails that were able to be booked in to a group-wide calendar and sent to all staff. For example, a weekly jobs email is now sent every Wednesday, from a group mailbox rather than individuals’ mailboxes, on a template that lines up with the brand. Previously, the Recruitment team had sent an email whenever jobs or EOIs were open, and no group-wide emails had any consistency in brand or formatting.
Creating a communications community
The community comprises those people in the organisation who have some responsibility for comms - whether internal or externally, and formally or informally. We meet regularly to share updates, content ideas, and brainstorm to help others solve problems. It means we have more access to content we can use, and it helps us support change more effectively.
Building capability
Firstly we focused on leadership capability, and building their confidence in communicating the strategy and what it means for their teams. We facilitated a Strategic Storytelling workshop for leaders as part of the overall strategy launch. Our focus is now on the next layer down, and more general leadership comms skills, as well as building crisis communication capability.
Ensuring everything lines up to the overall strategy
Group-wide internal comms channels still allow for BAU - through specific, targeted channels - but mostly they’re reserved for strategic stories and messages that demonstrate the strategy in action. The strategy is the litmus test for any group-wide comms now - if it’s a ‘nice to know’ or only relevant to a few, the message is directed to other channels.
This work has taken time and sponsorship from senior leaders - luckily, they were all on board with building capability and maturity in internal change and comms, and the feedback we receive from team members has been wonderful: they’re happy to have fewer emails, and yet be better informed!
