/writing/ Valuing Internal Communications

INTERNAL ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS. We often forget about it.

Don’t.

Invest in establishing clear objectives for internal communications that addresses a core problem.

Invest in establishing clear and consistent channels of communications and products for your staff and close partners.

Invest in continuing to build and refine the policies, products, and channels over time to ensure they remain relevant.

I recently worked on a large project. The staff and our partners didn’t know when important donor deliverables had been submitted and approved.

So, we pitched and implemented a few simple solutions that helped inform the staff on our donor relations / management progress. We created and managed:

– An accessible digital library with all donor approved documents (maps, reports, manuals, guidelines, etc.) which the communications team managed.

– A monthly e-bulletin that updated staff on all additions to the digital library and documents approved and submitted within the month.

– A tracker to document submission and approval dates of contractual deliverables.

Yes, these are simple solutions. They appear almost too simple on paper. But that’s the point.

Organizations often complain that they don’t have the resources or capacity for complex external campaigns. That’s valid, but those same organizations often aren’t genuinely addressing what they can control: the simple things.

It’s hard to believe an organization will be successful externally before it’s established an active culture of internal communications.

Build from within as you incorporate complexity into your organization. It’s well worth the investment.

Thanks for reading.