Many businesses focus on external communication systems and neglect their internal system. This can lead to internal chaos and unnecessary workarounds. Instead of letting communication systems develop by trial and error, use our technique for finding the right internal communication system for your business:
Step 1: Observe
Your company already has some kind of internal communication in existence. The first step to improving your system or implementing a new one is to observe how internal communication works (and doesn’t work) within your company as it stands. Perhaps employees call each other, email each other or use instant messaging.
An example of a system that works well for some, but not for all is: email between team members may work great, but when an order comes from an executive it gets ignored or isn’t responded to promptly because there is not system to keep important instructions on a timetable.
Step 2: Decide
It is important to decide how to fix the issues you have discovered in your existing system. The system you have in place may need some slight tweaking or it may need to be completely replaced.
In the above example, you could rapidly fix the existing email-based communication system by changing how executives give their orders. Perhaps executives could both send a copy of the order to the appropriate people as well as put it on a calendaring system that automatically counts down the days until the project must be completed. In this way, everyone necessary would be reminded of the order and they could work out what tasks need to be done daily in order to complete the project.
However, if you have a completely chaotic system, it may need to be overhauled. There have been situations where people verbally gave directives and started projects, but with very little written down or with only some of the goals in writing, objectives did not get reached and projects were left half-done. This type of system needs to be completely changed so that orderly progress can be made.
Step 3: Implement
Many executives decide upon the right internal communication system, tell their employees to implement it and then begin to work on a different project. Unfortunately, if internal communication is broken, the system needs to be monitored during implementation and for a short time afterward to make sure it a) is implemented correctly, b) fixes the original issues, and c) doesn’t cause new problems. So, as an executive, be sure to keep an eye on your new system and make sure it really works for you and your team.
Internal communication is an important part of keeping an organization going. Here at Business Success Consulting Group, we always take the internal communication structure of every client into account as we work with executives and staff during organizational consulting. If your internal system isn’t working correctly, contact us today for a free evaluation. We are here to help.
