In the last twelve months, a huge proportion of knowledge workers—the likes of accountants, lawyers, analysts, consultants, and programmers—have achieved at least a degree of flexibility in where and when they work.
Managing a flexible workforce is challenging in every respect. It’s little wonder internal communication has become business-critical.
Of course, flexible working presents obstacles for communicators as well. On top of everything else—the diversity and inclusion considerations, the generational accommodations—internal comms teams must now also attune to their colleagues being in the office, in the field, or at home, and not necessarily working nine to five.
Done well, employee communications can unite, motivate, and inspire. But without careful planning and execution, your messages will fall on deaf ears.
Overcome the shortcomings of online communication
The human brain is incredible. When one of the five senses is lost, the brain compensates by making the remaining senses more powerful. The blind can develop an acute sense of smell. The deaf can acquire a heightened sense of taste.
Consider this phenomenon when developing your internal communications. Without sight, tone becomes especially important.
When facial expressions and other non-verbal gestures can’t be seen, messages can be misinterpreted and meaning can be questioned.
That’s why we champion writing like a human. It’s why we prefer short sentences. It’s why we dwell on using plain English that is free of buzzwords, jargon, and acronyms.
Help your employees to overcome the shortcomings of online communication. Teach them how to improve the effectiveness of their written communications even when using chat and messaging forums.
Set boundaries with virtual communication guidelines
For geographically dispersed teams, and those who work to different schedules, virtual communication guidelines will clarify the basics, set boundaries, and help you to create an empathetic and respectful culture. Virtual communication guidelines might define your:
- Default time zone
- Expected hours for each mode of communication—video, for example, being optional before or after a certain hour
- Behavioural expectations, such as relating to use of platforms and tools
- Agreed core collaboration hours
- Expected response times for each channel.
Say it again, and again
Are you familiar with the advertising term “effective frequency”? It references the number of times a person must be exposed to an advertising message before it elicits a desired response. Back in the 1930s, the ‘Rule of 7’ was thought to apply: an ad had to be heard or seen seven times by a consumer before it registered in their consciousness.
Today, because of all the ‘noise’, it is thought to take as many as 14 impressions before a message registers.
The requirement for repetition applies to employee communications as well as advertising. It takes multiple touchpoints for a message to be conveyed–particularly if the message is change-related.
Few internal communications should be one time only. If you want your workforce to register and respond, make every communication crystal clear and intentional. And then repeat them in different formats and across a variety of channels.
Add spice to keep things interesting
You’ve probably heard the adage ‘variety is the spice of life’. It holds true for employee communications, too.
Keep your employee communications interesting, optimise your reach, and accommodate different information processing preferences by adopting a mix of formats and channels. How will you know which to use? Well, that will depend upon a number of factors, including:
- Immediacy — How quickly does the message need to be relayed? If it’s urgent, a broadcast SMS will be more efficient than convening a meeting.
- Preservation — Will the communication need to be referenced afterwards? If information needs to be preserved, an asynchronous format will be necessary.
- Sensitivity — How delicate is the message? For example, if you want to guard against the communication being leaked outside the organisation, face-to-face would be preferable to email.
- Required response — Is the communication one-way or two-way? Is a response required?
Fixate on equity and inclusion
Employee engagement is determined by a sense of belonging. When workers are remote or in the field, external factors such as ambient noise, bad audio, and internet speed can hinder communication.
Consequently, many hybrid workplaces are making asynchronous communication the default, if only because it’s more equitable. Communications delivered via email, messaging apps, and project management or collaboration platforms are recorded so anyone who isn’t online or available can catch up in their own time. Think of it like communication on-demand.
When real time or spontaneous communication is preferred or required, be mindful of equity and inclusion. Remove as many of the barriers as you can so that all workers have a similar experience and feel they are being treated equally.
Don’t let your ‘single source of truth’ be a source of suffering
Flexible work arrangements have cast a spotlight on systems. Many companies advocate having a central platform like Asana or Sharepoint to serve as their ‘single source of truth’. While the document management, quality control, and workflow benefits are clear, there are risks as well.
If the platform is not easy to use, workers won’t use it.
These platforms aren’t always readily accessible to field workers.
And, importantly, if the architecture is not intuitive, or the system is not easily searchable, workers won’t be able to locate the information they’re chasing.
Technology should aid and abet, not be the cause of friction. It shouldn’t take 20 minutes to search through 30 channels for a conversation you had with a colleague two weeks ago.
