Umá De Oliveira
Content & Creativity Specialist at NTT DATA
“Oh, another internal email from my company. I’m going to mark it as read now. Done.”
There are many possible reasons why situations like this are more common than we’d like to admit: from the increase in information overload or reader demands to the fact that internal messages traditionally haven’t been given the necessary attention.
However, if we understand that internal communication is increasingly crucial, and we should give it the care it deserves, making the shift from the deleted folder to a click is possible. Shall we reconsider?
The present of internal communication
In a context where remote work is more prevalent than ever, one of the ways companies have to strengthen the sense of belonging in employees is through thoughtful, close, and enjoyable internal communication. Everything we used to find out through hallways or at the coffee machine now comes to us through internal emails or communications within corporate intranets.
This is why internal communication plays a fundamental role in the efficient operation of any company. In addition to being vital for conveying important information and updates to employees, it also significantly contributes to building a strong corporate culture and fostering engagement and collaboration among team members.
But how can we make these messages stand out in the sea of emails we receive? This is where creativity comes into play. It can be the key to transforming internal communication from unremarkable to interesting and relevant. By adopting creative approaches in how we present information to employees, we can capture their attention, spark their interest, and make them feel more motivated and involved with corporate messages.
Everything before creativity
Before delving into creative strategies, ideas, or tricks for better communication, there are a couple of topics that need addressing and will lay the groundwork for successful communication. These questions (more or less) align with the well-known 5Ws of journalism: what, who, when, how, and why.
Why?
Why do we want to send these messages? It might seem like the most obvious question, but it’s also the most important. There can only be one correct answer: to improve the employee experience.
At the heart of every effective internal communication strategy lies this fundamental purpose. By putting the employee at the center and making them feel involved in all the company updates, we recognize their importance as a key agent in the company’s success, fostering a more positive work environment and boosting productivity and loyalty towards the organization.
What?
As Coco Chanel once said, ‘Before leaving the house, look in the mirror and take one accessory off.’ And in the world of internal communication, it’s the same. To define what to tell we can analyze whether it’s better to remove something to avoid overwhelming our audience and allow the truly important information to stand out.
Who?
Knowing our audience well is key to communicating effectively with them. But here’s the good news – our audience is also our colleagues! It’s great to conduct surveys and analyze data, but we can also put into practice the old trick of going to the desk next door (or the adjacent Teams chat) and asking. Surely, with each conversation, we can gather many insights to refine our messages.
When?
If we seek information or ask marketing professionals about the best days or times to send communications, we’ll find that there’s not much consensus. And there’s a reason for this: each audience is unique and has different open and click rates. It’s best to experiment and replicate the best patterns.
However, when it comes to internal communication, there’s another crucial ‘when’ to consider. And that is ‘when the rest of the messages will be sent.’
Every department has news to share: leadership, human resources, marketing, training, innovation… And the truth is, regardless of how important those messages are, if we receive three in a single day, the importance we attribute to the third one diminishes. A good strategy could be to create a Teams group with a person responsible for each department to ensure smooth flow.
How?
Now, let’s explore some tips for better communication 👇
Creative tips for better communication
Let others speak for you
The meeting is about to end, and suddenly, a colleague says, ‘By the way, have you heard that…’. No matter what comes after that ‘that,’ they’ve already managed to capture the room’s attention.
We can all identify people in our teams who are always more informed about what’s happening in the company. A different strategy for sharing our updates could be to provide these ‘opinion leaders’ with a series of materials, such as Teams messages or LinkedIn posts, in a more personalized and direct way than if we were to broadcast it widely. Let them be the ones to transmit the information to their colleagues.
Let’s remember that always, always, employees should be our main brand ambassadors. Thanks to the influence that these opinion leaders have, that is, our main ambassadors with the rest of the employees, these same employees could become… the ambassadors of the ambassadors.
To tell or not to tell, that is no longer the question
There are some news pieces that exist in an intermediate zone between the ‘tellable’ and the ‘not tellable.’ They are important and interesting for the employee but coincide in time with others of greater relevance, so they are ultimately deprioritized to highlight the others.
But this doesn’t necessarily mean they disappear – it’s a matter of being creative! For example, a fantastic option to share them in a more engaging way is to consolidate them and create a podcast.
It could be a weekly podcast, approximately 8 minutes long, where updates about the company are shared, dedicating a maximum of 1 minute to each piece of news. This could be an enjoyable and unobtrusive format for the employee, as finding time to read all those updates is challenging, but finding 8 minutes to listen to them all together between meetings is much more feasible.
A bit of bodywork and paint
How can we make the content we’ve decided to communicate to our employees more interesting? Just like in any advertising agency: with a good idea, good copy, and good art:
A good idea
In this case, a good idea can be understood as relevant news that puts the employee at the center and makes them feel involved in this update. To reflect on whether it truly is, one way could be to review the 5Ws we mentioned at the beginning of the post.
A good copy
Crafting captivating texts is almost a science. Therefore, it’s always ideal to have a good copywriter on the team (internal or external), as they can give a twist to all messages.
Two necessary principles for writing good copy, especially in internal communication, are:
• In a professional setting, we often tend to be very formal in our messages, but this type of writing can come across as cold or distant. A middle-ground tone, halfway between formal and informal, will be perceived as more approachable, making it easier to captivate the reader.
• Not only is rhythm important in music, but also in writing. A good text should have highs and lows: moments that are more technical combined with others that are more narrative or small inflections that prevent the text from being flat. If, after reading a long text, the reader wants more, it has been a success.
A good art
Popular culture advises us not to judge a book by its cover, but sometimes it’s difficult, isn’t it? Because, even far from falling into the typical ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ we do recognize that when a good image accompanies a good text, everything looks much better.
Images provide additional information about what we are reading, create a sense of ‘rest’ that allows the reader to resume reading with more enthusiasm, and, moreover, people tend to process and retain information better when presented in a visually appealing manner.
But what images to choose? There’s no written law about this, but some recommendations could be:
• If people are involved, avoid the typical overacted scenes from stock photos. The more natural and authentic the photo appears, the closer it feels.
• Graphics and infographics are very useful for summarizing information, but use them in moderation. These contents can have the opposite effect of the ‘rest’ I mentioned earlier, as they provide a lot of information in a brief space. If the highlight of that graphic can be summarized in a sentence, perhaps it’s better not to include it.
Example of an overacted image that should be avoided.
A good combination of everything
What happens if we combine a good idea with good text and many good images? Well, among other things, it can result in a good article, a good campaign… or a good video.
Whenever it’s done with sufficient quality, both in production and script, creating videos can be a magnificent option to get closer to employees. It can be especially interesting to ‘humanize’ certain areas or profiles of the company that, due to their rank or role, tend to seem more distant.
For example, having a C-level person informally share some of the most important updates can have a double benefit: it increases the perceived importance of the news and, at the same time, creates a greater sense of closeness to the person delivering it.
Other options could include delving deeper into a department, introducing the people who work in it and the functions the area performs within the company’s ecosystem. Or, for instance, we could create a series of weekly capsules where we give space to interns or junior employees who have recently joined to tell us about the updates. This way they could be made known and there would be new voices to listen to, at the same time as we show a commitment to making emerging talent visible and promoting it.
AI is your friend, but not your best friend
Opening ChatGPT, giving it a theme, and letting it work its magic sounds incredible, but let’s never forget what it is: a very useful tool, but just a tool after all.
I propose a test! Write a short paragraph on any topic you like and ask ChatGPT to suggest title options. I’d almost bet that a good portion of those options will follow this structure: a couple of words, a colon, and an explanation. Checking this theory with this very article, ChatPGT proposes the title “Innovation and Collaboration: Reinventing Internal Communication in the Era of Remote Work.
For now, only the ‘trained eyes’ easily identify these repetitive structures. But over time, the majority of the population (and consequently, employees) will catch on. Tweaking, iterating, and giving a ‘manual’ touch to our texts will infuse them with a more human, creative, and approachable tone.
This principle extends to all artificial intelligence tools, not just text-based ones, but also image generation tools like Midjourney or DALL·E. It’s fine to use them and harness their full potential, but always remember to iterate to give them our personal touch.
Interacting is the name of the game
In addition to being creative in information presentation, it’s also crucial to encourage active employee participation in internal communication through their feedback. This can be achieved by creating spaces for opinions and idea exchange.
Employee active involvement in internal communication not only enhances the effectiveness of corporate messages but also strengthens the sense of belonging and connection with the company. When they feel heard and valued, they are more willing to engage with the organization’s goals and values, contributing to a more positive and productive work environment.
Syntphony Employee Intranet allows the option to comment and like.
Therefore, providing employees with a space to express themselves and share their opinions is key in the workplace. A very interesting proposal would be to enable the option to like or comment on various communications, in addition to providing a specific place for their feedback and recommendations, visible and easy to access.
Moreover, as we already saw in this article, having analytics in intranets proves to be very useful. They provide data on user activity, which is essential for constantly improving their experience, and allow us to measure the impact, guiding the continuous evolution of the intranet, always aiming to offer the best version at each moment. By providing a digital environment that facilitates communication, collaboration, and access to relevant information, analytics form the foundation for continuous improvement and personalization, allowing us to elevate the employee experience.
In conclusion, effective internal communication is essential for the success of any company in today’s business environment. By adopting a creative and employee-centered approach, companies can overcome content fatigue and build a strong and engaged corporate culture that drives long-term success.
A final tip to wrap up
All of us who send these messages also work in our respective companies, and therefore, we too receive these messages!
Sometimes it’s just a matter of putting on the receiver’s jacket, not just the sender’s, and reflecting on whether everything we are sharing would genuinely interest us if we were on the receiving end. Only when the answer is a definite yes can we open Syntphony Employee Intranet and share that incredible news for everyone to see.
