The Science of Marketing

A recent post by John Jantsch discusses the importance of keeping employees "in the light" by providing the tools and information they need to do their jobs well.  I couldn’t agree more, but when it comes to launching and managing a formal internal communications program, many companies fail to do it well.  I believe it is because the process of informing employees is fragmented, with the CEO, human resources, various department heads and marketing all sharing the role from time to time.  In its current state, internal communications is owned by many and none at the same time, and that is a recipe for failure.

While poor internal communications won’t necessarily lead to employee payback, it can lower morale, hinder decision making and lead to general inefficiencies, particularly in the dynamic environment of high tech. To ensure that the company is operating as efficiently as possible and the employees have the information they need to make the right decisions, a formalized internal communications strategy is a must in high tech.  That means deciding on an owner, setting goals and checking accountability.

No matter who ends up owning it, there are three main goals in developing an internal communications program.

• Keep the employee based informed
• Provide the information and tools employees need to do their jobs
• Cultivate the exchange of ideas and best practices

Addressing each of these goals in an internal communications program requires an understanding of the information requirements, usage guidelines and tools needed to be sure that the right employees can access the right information at the right time.

Keep the employee based informed
Employees need to feel connected and understand where a company is going. This is best accomplished with immediate and steady communications of major accomplishments, personnel changes and general employee relations information regarding policies and benefits. Informational communications must be both timely and credible. Therefore, it is important that this information comes from a reliable source, such as a member of the leadership team, and is delivered in regular intervals and immediately following important events. In evaluating the right tool for the job, consider options that allow information to be pushed to employees, and don’t underestimate the simple but effective approach of a regular company meeting.

Provide the information and tools employees need to do their jobs
A company operates much more efficiently when employees have easy access to the tools they need. Functional information; including sales tools, software, process information and forms; must be easy to find, up to date, version controlled and secure. However, before investing thousands of dollars in a fancy new software package, consider the information and tool requirements across your company, document a process and owner for the creation and management of materials, and identify the employees that will need access to each item. The best of tools can be easily undermined by a poor process.

Cultivate and capture the exchange of ideas and best practices
Often the most powerful ideas – from new features and market opportunities to resolving bugs – come from within the corporate walls. For inter- and intra-departmental exchanges, which can add tremendous value to a company, employees must be compelled to both learn and share, information must be topical and easy to find and collaboration must be captured and accessible to others. Some tools, especially blogs and wikis, can provide compelling platforms for the exchange and preservation of ideas. But for employees to truly leave the water cooler behind, any new tool must be easy, compelling and even fun to use.

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