Internal communications (IC) is the function responsible for effective communication among participants within an organization.
A relatively young profession, IC draws on the theory and practice of related professions, not least journalism, knowledge management, public relations, media relations, marketing and human resources, as well as wider organizational studies, communication theory, social psychology, sociology and political science.
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Large industrial organizations have a long history of promoting pride and a sense of unity among the employees of the company, evidenced in the cultural productions of Victorian-era soap manufacturers as far apart as the UK's Lever Brothers (right) and the Larkin Soap Company of Buffalo, New York.
For much of the 20th century, trade unions represented the mass of employees in questions of organizational legitimacy and changes to working practices, on behalf of employees. Company newsletters competed with Union-run media, and senior leaders had to deal frequently with the demands of this 'stakeholder'.
While this might be seen as a purely antagonistic relationship, organizations to some extent depended on the Union to do the work of cohering a constituency around a manageable set of messages and values. As unions became weakened in the 1970s and 1980s, and the communities in which organizations operated became more mobile, the lack of such a natural constituency became a problem for organizational leaders, who experienced it in terms of a crisis of 'trust' or 'legitimacy'.
Internal communications as a discrete discipline of organizational theory is correspondingly young. Stanford associate professor Alex Heron's Sharing Information with Employees (1943) is an outlier among texts which focus solely on the factors involved. Theorization in academic papers accelerated in the 1970s, but mainstream management texts mostly post-date 1990.
People at work communicate regardless of the intentions of their managers or leaders. The purpose that a formally-appointed IC manager or IC team will serve within a given organization will depend on the business context. In one, the IC function may perform the role of 'internal marketing' (i.e., attempting to win participants over to the management vision of the organization); in another, it might perform a 'logistical' service as channel manager; in a third, it might act principally as strategic adviser.
It is important to distinguish between communications on behalf of the organization and the day to day intercourse within work groups or between managers and subordinates. Minzberg [1] talks about the fact that communications is intrinsic to the work of a manager - it is the very essence of work in many situations. This article is less concerned with the interpersonal communications that take place in most workplaces and which are explored by writers such as Phillip Clampitt.[2]
There are a number of reasons why organisations should be concerned about internal communication.
Importantly, there is commonly a legal requirement for organizations to communicate with their workers. In Europe, for example, the EU has made very specific provision about workers' rights to be informed and consulted.
Effective internal communications is one of the key drivers of employee engagement (see, e.g., the UK government-sponsored Macleod Report [3] for a summary of research) and thought to add significant value to organizations on all metrics from productivity to customer research (needs more detail?).
As noted in Quirke (2008)[4]: "Traditionally, internal communications has focused on the announcement of management conclusions and the packaging of management thinking into messages for mass distribution to the 'troops'". Research indicates a limit to the value of this 'broadcasting' model of IC. Without feedback loops and harnessing the active involvement and mediation skills of frontline supervisors or team leaders, broadcasting tends to be more effective at influencing senior and middle managers than frontline employees - see, e.g., Larkin and Larkin (1994).[5]
As the IC function matures within the organization, then, it may come to play a wider role in facilitating conversations "upwards", "downwards" and "across" the organization, per Stohl (1995).[6] Organizations increasingly see IC as playing a role in external reputation management. Joep Cornelissen in his book Corporate Communications [7] touches on the relationship between reputation and internal conversations. This trend reaches its full potential with the arrival of new 'norms' and customer expectations around social media, for example in the work of Scoble and Israel.[8] Market researchers MORI[9] have likewise highlighted the effects of employee advocacy on an organisation's external reputation.
IC managers try to get senior leaders to think strategically about how management decisions can be perceived internally and externally. The focus of IC is often to ensure that employees can support a decision and understand how it impacts their work.
There are two sides to strategy in internal communications. In the first instance there is the organization's strategy — what it hopes to achieve and how it plans to go about achieving it. That strategy will be supported and, to some extent, delivered through effective internal communications.
In this context internal communication can help on several different levels:
Tell: simply informing people of the direction, non-negotiable Sell: anticipating some form of backlash, requiring some persuasion Consult: seeking specific areas of input to the decision-making process Involve: seeking varying degrees of involvement and co-creation
Secondly, and more importantly, internal communications needs a strategy of its own. It should be positioned more than a simple plan of tactical interventions in support of business activities. The strategy should consider the following:
Market: What does the organization know about its audiences' needs? How should its audiences be segmented? Message: What is it the organization's message is trying to achieve? In what tone should it be conveyed? Media: Which channels work best for the different audience segments? How will it maximize reach and cut-through? Are there clear editorial guidelines for each? Measurement: Are there clearly defined success criteria? What are the leading and lagging measures? As well as informing all of the other three M's, it should be used to demonstrate value and measures of performance (ROI, message penetration, hit rates, quality of feedback, etc.)
The strategy will inform the best way to organize effective communications.
Five general modes of IC practice are itemised below, ranked loosely according to their position along a spectrum from tactical to strategic activities.
The American political scientist and communication theorist Harold Lasswell popularised the concept of the communication channel in his 1948 paper The Communication of Ideas. Formal channels typically fall into one of four broad categories:
Informal channels reflect the non-linear dynamics of a social network and can be as influential, if not more so, than official channels, often more likely to stimulate and create discussion and dialogue. The channels may manifest themselves via the rumour-mill, water-cooler conversations, social networking, graffiti, spoof newsletters, etc.
One of the key challenges any internal communicator will face is how to select the right channels - and the right mix of channels - for both the audience and the message. Bill Quirke[10] offers a simple guide; the 'rich' interaction enabled in 'face-to-face' communications is appropriate where risks of misunderstanding or emotional impact are high; the 'lean' interaction offered in written or one-way communications are better suited to the low impact, low emotion distribution of information. See Weick[11] for some theoretical grounds for this basic insight.
The practical considerations are:
The strengths and uses of different techniques are discussed by FitzPatrick in the Public Relations Handbook[12]
A typical large organisation IC function will be concerned to monitor and limit the quantity of information flowing through each internal channel, prioritising according to the relevance of a given message to the audience implicated in that channel, as well as the urgency and impact of the message. Such organisations typically face a risk that channels (such as intranet news, or email) are over-used for inappropriate, low value messages, causing vital audience groups to filter them out.
IC teams will often (but not always) hold responsibility for the administration and development of several of the organisation's communications channels. The range of media available is wide - and growing fast with new electronic media. Initially, IC tends to focus on the existing resources of the organization, typically an intranet, email distributions, and newsletters.
One common element of channel development and administration involves managing supplier relationships - agencies external to the organization typically specialise in one main channel area, such as audiovisual, or print production.
Sending information down the line to local supervisors, expecting them to deliver it without any corruption, interpretation or deviation has long been the main focus of 'cascaded' internal communications (for example, UK guidance from The Industrial Society, now the Work Foundation, focused on giving managers very clear instructions about what to say and how to say it). However, in recent years thinking has evolved and literature now concentrates on empowering managers to facilitate discussion rather than cascade management of messages which will have little authority or impact. This is a particularly strong theme in the writing of TJ and Sandar Larkin.[13] Clampitt (2005) lists three approaches managers use to communicate with their employees.[14]
Employee communication is an important skill for all line managers, irrespective of their seniority. Like any skill it requires training and development. Often, organisations do not invest the appropriate amount of time and effort in developing managers' communications skills. Too often this leads to managers abdicating responsibility for communications to their 'internal communications department' and a lack of confidence in facilitating discussion in their teams. This raises debate around the following issues:
Social media is becoming increasingly discussed in the field of Internal communication. However, there is little documented evidence of where it is being used successfully as part of a planned campaign of employee communications and it is often confused with digital media.
Basic IC services to an organization begin with editorial services - either fine-tuning messages drafted by participants in the organization, or drafting new material on their behalf. IC practitioners might simply correct basic grammar, etc., especially in organisations where many participants may be operating in their second or third language. Or they might re-work it to conform to house style or its branded equivalent, 'tone of voice'. The skillset involved relates closely to media professions such as journalism, copywriting and film or print production. Message design may be iterative, or involve a range of participants in an approvals process.
More advanced IC services might include identification of needs arising, relaying them to the relevant organizational leader, and initiating message production. In this case, more aspects of the message are available for the IC practitioner to refine or make recommendations on; including the best 'source' for the message; the most effective communication channel; the mode of interpellation (i.e., whether this message is intended to inform, to instruct, to negotiate, to consult, or to involve); the appropriate 'production values'; optimal audience segmentation; timing of message delivery; and so on.
IC practitioners may be seconded to a specific project team, to support the stages of the project that carry a communications or engagement component. Project communicators might produce a schedule of communication objectives and milestones for the project; a map of vital stakeholders (senior individuals or large groups / segments of the overall population); and a message framework to guide project participants towards a single, coherent message about their work. They might also contribute to the project's aggregate risks 'log' on the reputational risks, and work-up contingency plans covering unintended situations.
Organisations are increasingly turning to communications to help implement change.
It is useful to distinguish between change - the act of altering something within an organisation (such as the introduction of a new IT system or the closure of a office) and 'transition' - the process through which an individual passes as part of the process of coping with change. The use of the two terms interchangeably causes some confusion.
Change communication is often focused on logistical matters - making sure that people understand a change and how it will impact on their work and lives.
Transitional communications (for want of a better term) will often draw heavily on HR thinking and practice and may reflect psychological models such as that proposed by grieving, by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross).
Organizational development is a growing competency within HR, and the vital role played by the communications component in change efforts is becoming better theorised (e.g. Larkin and Larkin (1994),[15] Kotter (1996),[16] Schein (2004)[17]) and more widely acknowledged in large organizations. Change writer (John Kotter says: "When the environment constantly changes, the organization must innovate to adapt to or control that environment. When your external environment changes, your internal environment should adjust as well, and internal communication is vital during these times.")
Organizations occasionally face unplanned reputational crises which can destroy brand value or even finish the organization. At such moments, the support of the internal constituency becomes especially valuable, as employees' friends and relatives seek their account of events, and as talented and motivated participants consider whether or not to remain with the organization.
As with Media relations and PR, the role IC plays in a crisis can be decisive for the success or failure of an organization, as it responds to a critical challenge. Organizations with a mature IC function may have contingency planning in place, ready to be tailored to the particulars of the situation. They are also more likely to have 'well flexed', well-rehearsed line management communications capability, etc., making crisis communications more effective. Less mature IC functions may find it difficult to bring senior leaders' attention to the internal audience, when critical stakeholders such as investors or customers appear more likely to desert the organization.
Although unplanned and usually under-resourced, the quality of an IC function's response in a crisis often has a decisive impact in the maturing of an IC function within an organization. Effective responses bring IC up the list of priorities for senior leaders, following the crisis.
In recent years the practice of internal communications has professionalised. There have been a number of reports on the skills and career outlooks of practitioners, including work by UK recruiters Watson Helsby and the VMA Group.
Work by Sue Dewhurst and Liam FitzPatrick [18] and quoted in the Handbook of Internal Communications [19] suggested that there is split in the profession between practitioners concerned with delivery and those with a greater business partnering role.
In common with the Ulrich model for Human resources practice, IC may be delivered via a 'business partnering' relationship, acting as adviser to a given function or unit on IC issues relevant to the delivery of their strategic plans and projects. As a representative of the audiences with a stake in the developments under discussion, this can be both an awkward and a privileged position to occupy, requiring skills of diplomacy and objectivity.
In the most mature IC functions, the IC leader 'brings' the internal constituency to senior leader discussions and decision-making processes, refining the decision to be communicated, as well as how and when to communicate it. S/he may either act as a representative of the internal constituency, or provide senior leaders with processes that make it feasible to consult or directly involve participants in such decisions.
There is not yet a globally recognised internal communication qualification, though various training courses and formal qualifications have been established to create and maintain standards.
The predominantly North American members of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) can apply for recognition as an Accredited Business Communicator. In the US, courses are available at Ithaca College.
In the UK, the bodies representing the profession are fragmented and offer competing qualifications.
The UK's Chartered Institute of Public Relations offers comprehensive training and qualifications in internal communications including accredited Diploma and Certificate. These count towards a professional development programme that can achieve Accredited and Chartered Practitioner status.
The UK's Institute of Internal Communication offers a framework of IoIC training and accreditation in internal communications. In recent years there has been a growth in the range of short skills courses offered by a range of commercial suppliers as well as institutions such as the London College of Communication and Leeds Metropolitan University.
There is a well-established postgraduate diploma / Masters programme in Internal Communications Management at Kingston University
In Europe, courses are available at the University of Lugano and Rotterdam School of Management.
IC may variously be referred to as: employee communications, employee engagement, employee relations, internal marketing, company communications, staff communication. Responsibility for IC may sit within various established functions, including marketing, corporate communications, transformation, HR and the CEO office. Internal communications functions can require several skills, e.g.: writing, marketing, event organisation, web production, facilitation, advertising, stakeholder management, corporate social responsibility, branding and communications training.