Toning the language down to acceptable standards, they say assumption is the mother of all mess ups. We think poor internal communications comes a close second.

2018 offered countless examples of poor internal communications, making organisations underperform. Westminster arguably being the most glaring, with parties struggling to stay on the same page, and cross-party rhetoric reaching historic levels of embarrassment.

Then you have examples such as those marketing campaigns for Z Burger and Kansas City. Both made our Naughty List of the biggest fails from the year. Both could have been avoided had there been better internal communications, allowing staff to share concerns and highlight the need for corrections.

Last year we tries our best to guide people on the best approaches to internal communications. For example by looking at how creative content can help boost staff engagement levels. Yet still, according to recent stats, 77% of organisations are failing in this area.

So what can you do to try and fine tune the process of internal communications? We’ve had a think about the best tools available right now, and come up with the following list.

 

Top tools for internal communications in 2019

Mobile apps

This is the easiest, because technically speaking you can get staff set up on an app for free. Just look at how many teams use WhatsApp for collaborative thinking.

We probably wouldn’t recommend this, though, and instead would say punting for a platform specifically designed for internal communications is a far better option. Some of the most popular are:

*Trello — focussed on keeping track of task progress and viewing previous actioned items

*Slack — Real time internal communications sorted into channels which can be based on teams, tasks, departments or projects

*Campfire — A web based app allowing you to share files, texts and even code to password protected groups which can even include clients and vendors

*eXo Platform — Open source, meaning you can customise and adapt the platform to suit your specific internal communications needs, providing you have the skillset in-house to do this

*Microsoft Lync — Formerly Microsoft Office Communicator, the great thing here is that it integrates with all Microsoft tools

*Skype business — Launched in 2015, it’s like Skype, only much better because it’s integrated with Microsoft Office, meaning you can collaborate on documents, schedule meetings and more all from one place

Digital notices

Many companies overlook how much signposting potential there is in their environment. That signposting potential can be easily adapted to deliver messages about company direction, ethics and goals. The screensavers on every display in the office are a great example of where you might be missing a chance to send ideas home.

Forums

A forum needs leadership, or at least structure. Nevertheless, creating an open space for sharing, feedback and opinions using either the company intranet or chosen app platform is the only way to get an insight into what’s actually happening on the ground.

Surveys

Not everyone wants to make their voice heard in a forum. And not every issue needs a forum. Creating bespoke surveys for staff to complete within an allotted time can give you easy-to-analyse feedback with which to then take business processes forward to the next level.

Gamification

A relatively new concept, the idea is simple, the execution less so. According to a study by TalentLMS, 87% of employees agree that they are more productive if their work is more like a game. As such make it so with tools like online quizzes and immersive contests.

Blogs and newsletters

Blogs are one of the best tools out there for retaining your position on search engine results pages and positioning the company as an expert to clients and potential new business. But they can also be a fantastic tool for internal communications, acting as a newspaper for all that’s happening in the organisation.

The one down side is they rely on staff actively visiting the website. So, why not batch up the most important stories into a newsletter and reach out to them directly?