Getting internal communications right in your trades business
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If your business has more than one person in it, you need to think about your internal communications. Small businesses that are great at communicating with customers or managing supplier relationships might fail to pay enough attention to communications internally with staff or business partners.
Before we look at the elements of a strong internal communications strategy, let's look at some of the causes of problems we've come across over the years. Although some of this is unique, I did also find some powerful notes of the topic here and so should give credit where credit's due!
Common causes of internal communication problems
1. Did you hear what I meant for you to hear?
With today's increasingly diverse workforce, it's easy to believe you've conveyed information to someone, but you aren't aware that they interpreted you differently.
2. I told everyone, or some people, or ...?
Can you remember who you told? Or was it in the flurry of the day? Perhaps you told one person but not the other, or perhaps you felt like you'd communicated to everyone but actually you haven't. Communication, especially of important information, needs to be purposeful.
3. We're too busy to talk to each other!
Our Account Managers often chat to one business partner, and then another business partner a week later, and report that the two partners haven't discussed anything since. This is often a symptom of acute stress and overwork than any intention not to communicate.
4. So what's to talk about?
Occasionally people will focus solely on solving problems and if they're aren't any problems/crises, then there's nothing that needs to be communicated. Not so - sometimes it's also important to communicate the successes, or even just the status of daily, smoothly running operations.
5. If I need your opinion, I'll tell it to you.
When management simply sees no value whatsoever in communicating with subordinates, believing subordinates should shut up and do their jobs, problems can arise.
6. We work in different locations.
You're out on site, your office staff work in the office. Communications via telephone and email will usually be operational but there's little time for discussions about change or improvements.
7. We talk all the time!
You might feel like you're communicating all day every day, but are you communicating the right things? We see this most with our business partners that are also family - you become so good at talking, sometimes you stop being good at talking about the right things.
Building a great internal communications strategy
Here are some of the elements of internal communications strategies that I've employed over the years. Because my business has very few employees, most of these will work for you too. However, if your company has grown significantly and you have more than around 20 employees, I'd recommend you look for advice specifically for a bigger, more mature business.
1. Spend time planning, and encourage people to plan
I've written about how I manage my time, and how I try to spend a good portion of my day in 'plan' mode. Often, the most valuable part of this mode is that I put together notes about things I need to discuss with people, and how urgent they are. I'll also choose my channel of communication here - whether it's email, face to face, one on one, one to many, or an agenda item for a meeting.
2. Have a forum for multi-directional communication
Communication downwards isn't the only form of communication. Give every staff member a forum for discussion by having a regular meeting where anyone can raise agenda items or update people ad hoc. Get everyone in the room or on the phone, and make sure it's well attended.
3. Have an internal mailing list (or multiple lists)
Putting all your staff email addresses onto one mailing list makes communicating to all of them together easier, and you and your staff are more likely to do things that are easy.
4. Be purposeful in choosing what to say
Over-communicating is as dangerous as under-communicating - what you're going for here is not volume-based, it's purpose-based.
5. Get it right first time
Ever seen people roll their eyes when they get the first email, and ignore it? Sending out messages like 'whoops, just forgot to mention this vital piece of info' or 'actually, didn't quite think that one through before I sent it so here's a retraction and a new message' wastes people's time and makes then view all communications as poor communications. Pay attention to your message and think decisions or plans through before communicating them.
6. Designate a 'change' person
It's impossible for me to keep control of everything that goes on in my business. And who wants to be completely in control anyway? By designating that someone in the business has a specific job to communicate changes to the rest of the team ensures that the detail doesn't get missed. It's like having a 3rd umpire in a cricket game - someone who can look a little closer at what's happening and tell the rest of the team.
7. Integrate internal and external communications
Often this talks about telling your team about the marketing activities you're doing, but it also includes communicating different operational procedures or products with your suppliers. So, if you're sending out an email to your customers, send it your staff too. If you've advertised a special, changed your opening hours on your website, negotiated a different deal with a supplier, communicate.
8. Have a change communication checklist
This might not be necessary for all businesses, but we have a checklist for every change that goes through our business. It's a sanity checklist - everywhere information is kept is noted, and we use the list to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. Your team is an item on a checklist like this.
So what works for your business? We'd love to hear your comments.
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