BUILDING AN EFFECTIVE

INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
STRATEGY
July 2020
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WHY INTERNAL COMMUNICATION IS MORE

IMPORTANT THAN EVER

No matter the size or industry type,

all organizations seek tips and
advice on how to best boost
productivity, increase employee
engagement and morale, and
reduce misunderstandings. But is
there one single answer that
influences each of these
outcomes? Yes.

Successful and effective internal

communication moves things
forward on a regular basis and is
one of the biggest things that
affects the bottom line.

If you want to reach and maintain a

healthy workflow and to avoid
unnecessary slowdowns then you
and your employees must establish
an environment where every team
member works well collaboratively.

Otherwise, you fall victim to some

unhealthy statistics.
Internal Communications
Statistics – The Struggles

$450 BILLION
Disengaged employees cost
organizations more than
$450 billion dollars annually.
This loss is experienced in
wage dollars, retraining time,
loss of profit, loss of sales, etc. 57%
57% of all projects fail
because of a
communication
breakdown

57%
57% of employees don’t
receive clear enough
directions
60%
60% of companies don’t
have a long-term strategy
for internal
communications

69%
69% of managers just don’t
feel comfortable
communicating with their
team
PAGE | 04

WHAT IS AN INTERNAL
COMMUNICATIONS APP?
It’s clear that effective and ongoing communication is a must, which
is why many are choosing an internal communication app to
effectively deliver communication.

An internal communications app (also known as an intranet app) is a

platform for you and your employees to talk, share, and
communicate with each other beyond traditional channels like email
and phone calls.

Before internal communication apps, business communications took

place via email or over the phone. As a result, email, which wasn’t
really designed to be the cornerstone of internal communication
started to show its limitations. The average worker receives around
121 work-related emails every single day and the inbox has turned
into a place where internal communications go to be forgotten.

In short, internal communication apps let you simplify and centralize

your business’s internal communications. Instead of the clutter and
inconvenience of email, everything is centralized in one app, on one
platform, for all employees.
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THE MOST COMMON INTERNAL

COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES

1. LITTLE TO NO FEEDBACK
When you have a lack of feedback, you’ll only get low motivation and poor
work attitude from your employees. Whereas positive feedback, any
feedback really, will equal employee engagement and positive, happy
employees.

It’s no secret that feedback shows you how your employees are getting on
with their job and their coworkers and managers. Feedback also highlights
an employee’s weaknesses and strengths, but it’s not enough to just gather
feedback. You have to act on it, otherwise, the data you’ve gathered is
useless.

2. TOO MANY EMAILS

Ping! Yes, that’s an alert to yet another email. Radicati did some research on
how many emails the average person receives on a daily basis and the
results are shocking. By the end of 2019, they estimate that more than 246
billion emails would be sent worldwide.

On top of all that, the most important information sent in an email is lost,
deleted, forgotten, or ignored. And that’s because employees are frustrated
with the number of emails they receive, and hey, it makes perfect sense. No
one wants to spend every morning sifting through an ocean full of emails!
Connecteam’s employee app makes it super easy to keep everyone on the
same page and to simplify internal communication.
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THE MOST COMMON INTERNAL

COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES

3. DIRECT LINE OF COMMUNICATION

You have to relay information, updates, and anything else to your
employees. Don’t be the kind of manager who doesn’t share anything, or
worse, forgets to! And don’t just wait for the higher-ups to do it because
there’s a slim chance that’ll happen.

On the flip side, employees need to be heard and when they are, they’ll
become more invested and engaged. Employees should be able to easily
share suggestions, share their problems, and talk about their day.

4. TOO MANY PHONE CALLS

Phone calls might be the simplest way for managers to reach their
employees and manage their day-to-day business needs, however, too
many work calls disrupt productivity. Research has proven that when you
get an unplanned call, it will take you a full 23 minutes to recover and get to
what you were doing in the first place. As far as internal communication
problems go, too many emails and phone calls top the list of annoyances.

5. NEW EMPLOYEES
Onboarding should be easy! We know it can be a time-consuming task, but
it has to be done. Have a clear manual in place with all the rules and
regulations laid out. Be sure to also introduce your new hires to the
company’s social atmosphere so that they’ll feel more at ease. The “big
things” and the “little things” matter when onboarding! Don’t just plop a big
manual in front of them, take them out to lunch, make sure they’re greeted
in a fun and nice manner by other employees, and so on.
PAGE | 07

THE MOST COMMON INTERNAL

COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES

6. LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES
Don’t let a language barrier become an internal communication problem.
Share information and news in many languages, offer easy translation
options, and also encourage intercultural training. All of this will encourage a
team environment and will help to avoid misunderstandings. While it might
sound like a lot of work, it isn’t when you use an employee app. An employee
allows you to change the language to the setting of the mobile device and
switch in between languages if necessary.

7. INTERNAL & EXTERNAL NEWS BROADCAST

Employees should be the main source of all company-related news. Don’t
let them find out something related to the company via Twitter or a new TV
campaign. Share the big and little things with them!Don’t use paper on
bulletin boards to share information! Instead share news easily on an
employee app so that your employees are engaged and feel connected to
the company.

8. IRRELEVANT INFORMATION OVERLOAD

Only communicate relevant information to relevant parties, not everyone
needs to know everything. Using an employee app, like Connecteam, will
help you to create specific user groups based on criteria like the location;
project; team, etc. and you can send content accordingly as a result.
PAGE | 08

THE MOST COMMON INTERNAL

COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES

9. R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
No employee is the same! They all come from different backgrounds and
have different experiences. All should be able to safely express their
experience(s), and should even be encouraged to. As a result, respect for
their fellow employees will rise, the work environment is boosted, and
communication is far more beneficial.

Always remember that treating employees with respect increases

productivity.

10. BUDGET ISSUES

When you want to develop your own internal communications, it can be
highly expensive, resources can be lacking, and it just doesn’t seem worth it.
 HOW TO CHOOSE AN
INTERNAL
COMMUNICATIONS APP
UNDERSTAND WHAT YOUR COMPANY NEEDS

Every business has different needs, and the key to choosing an effective
communications app is understanding your needs and identifying the best
tool to serve them.

UNDERSTAND WHAT YOUR EMPLOYEES WANT

Ask your employees for their opinions on different tools. Employees need to
see how relevant the internal communications app is to their own work and
interests.

FIGURE OUT THE COSTS

Look into the product price, the cost of training, and the cost of usage. Look
beyond the monthly subscription fee. It has to be quick to setup, easy to use,
and require no overhead costs.

CALCULATE THE BENEFITS

Speed, Accuracy, Measurement. Costs don’t come without their rewards. As
you figure out the costs of upgrading your internal communications, it’s also
important to calculate the benefits you’ll get from starting to use it.

ASK YOURSELF: IS IT EASY TO IMPLEMENT?

When apps are complicated or challenging to set up, implementation can take
a lot of time. Is it easy to configure? Does it have an intuitive interface, or is
finding your way around the app a challenge? Does it require lots of training?

IS GOOD, TIMELY SUPPORT AVAILABLE?

Check that good, helpful, timely support is available. Support may not seem
like a major factor when you first start using an application, but if a crisis
occurs, you’ll be glad that there are experts available to help you.

IS IT EASY TO USE?
Your employees will use the app you choose on a daily, or even hourly basis
over the long term. Invest in an unfriendly, confusing app and there’s a real risk
you’ll need to switch platforms in the future due to employee frustration.
PAGE | 10

USING CONNECTEAM’S COMMUNICATION

& ENGAGEMENT FEATURES TO REACH
YOUR ENTIRE TEAM

ALL-IN-ONE COMMUNICATION & ENGAGEMENT APP

Engage your team like never before, reflect your company’s
culture, and solidify your employer branding with Connecteam’s
employee communication and engagement app.

ANNOUNCEMENTS, NEWSLETTERS, AND UPDATES

A modern communication experience for you and your team

Whether you want to communicate with an individual, a group, or the entire

organization, Connecteam makes it easy to distribute visual, rich, and
engaging content and to measure its reach and impact in a click.

With advanced features such as pre-scheduled updates, social engagement

support for likes, comments, etc. and automated follow-up capabilities -
Connecteam has you covered all around.

SURVEYS, SUGGESTION BOX, AND LIVE POLLS

Stay in the know and let your team be heard

Make decisions based on organizational surveys and live-polls, launch a

suggestion box to gather your team’s feedback, and introduce your team
with structured channels to query or approach HR and senior management,
allowing your team to be heard and share their thoughts.
PAGE | 11

USING CONNECTEAM’S COMMUNICATION

& ENGAGEMENT FEATURES TO REACH
YOUR ENTIRE TEAM

WORK CHAT IN REAL-TIME

Benefit from a work dedicated Chat

Chat makes internal communication simple. Easily create team chats per
location, project, department, or just start a private conversation. With
advanced management tools built especially for in-organizational use,
Connecteam’s chat takes employee communication to the next level and
preserves the separation between the private and work environment.

Easily attach files, pictures, GIFs, emojis, voice notes, and more to ensure a
conversation flow while on-the-go.

EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Put your team front and center

You know that your team matters, and with Connecteam’s employee
communication app, you can show it: recognize exceptional employees,
share employee ‘spotlights’, and allow team members to nominate peers for
awards. Celebrate with your team by sharing birthday wishes, anniversaries,
personal milestones (marriage, newborns, new houses, etc.) and
organizational achievements.

Allow your team to take part and be a part by engaging with each individual
recognition and appreciation celebration, and improve the sense of
belonging.
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USING CONNECTEAM’S COMMUNICATION

& ENGAGEMENT FEATURES TO REACH
YOUR ENTIRE TEAM

EMPLOYEE DIRECTORY
Always available, simple to use,
and fully searchable

Launch a work directory for

your team with a single click,
allow employees to search for
any work contact via pre-
determined profile attributes
so they can easily make a
phone call, send an email, or
start a private chat
conversation, without the need
to save contacts on their
personal mobile device. With
Connecteam’s Employee
Directory, employees will
always have a fully searchable
up-to-date contact list,
available from anywhere, at
any time.
PAGE | 13

IMPORTANT METRICS TO
EFFECTIVELY MEASURE INTERNAL
COMMUNICATION
Are you measuring internal communications in the workplace to best
determine how effective it is? To understand if it’s making a difference, a
dent, in your business? Unfortunately, studies show that 60% of
companies don’t even have a long-term internal communications
strategy and out of the businesses that do have one, 12% aren’t
measuring internal communications metrics at all.

Why should you be measuring internal communications in the

workplace? Is it even that important? YES! Internal communication is the
cornerstone of your company. How so? Internal communication has a
direct and great impact on employee productivity and engagement,
collaboration efforts, office morale, and alignment across the organization.

If you’re finding that employee engagement is low, morale is suffering,

collaboration is virtually non-existent, the company’s vision isn’t being
executed effectively, and productivity is faltering then it’s time to look
closer at your internal communication strategy. But first, you need to
measure it. After all, how can you ever improve your internal
communication or even make an effective decision regarding it when you
don’t have the data to back up or to understand what’s working and what
needs to be improved quickly.
PAGE | 14

IMPORTANT METRICS TO
EFFECTIVELY MEASURE INTERNAL
COMMUNICATION

DEFINE YOUR BUSINESS GOALS

Here’s the thing, knowing how to measure communication in the
workplace isn’t so straightforward because there is no single list of KPIs for
internal communications that works across the board.

The KPIs for internal communications will differ for each company as no
business has the same goals they want to track. Plus, what you intend to do
with the data also differs.

What are some KPIs for internal communications? Pageviews on your

intranet pages, track open rates in email communications, tracking click
rate in emails, tracking video views in emails and intranet pages, tracking
staff surveys with predefined answers, etc. Set a baseline to better
understand when you know what you’re measuring, then you can effectively
determine the effectiveness of your current efforts.

Once you know what goals you want to achieve, it becomes easier and
clearer to set your KPIs for internal communications.
 PAGE | 15

IMPORTANT METRICS TO
EFFECTIVELY MEASURE INTERNAL
COMMUNICATION

USE THE RIGHT CHANNELS TO DELIVER COMMUNICATIONS

There are various channels for communicating with your employees and it
all greatly depends on business type, where your employees work (in the
field or in the office), the team size, and so on.

Once you nail all the above then you can choose the best channel to deliver
employee communications:

Face to face meeting is a MUST at least once a month in order to make a

personal connection, to improve engagement, and to gain feedback.
Team meetings can be held in-house or in a special location like an
outdoor picnic. This helps build comradery among your team members
and allows for better collaboration.
Video calling allows you to have a desktop-based conversation so that
you share a presentation and tell a story. Businesses often use Zoom.
Employee communication app is the best solution for businesses as it
offers the perfect solution for deskless employees but also your in-office
staff.
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IMPORTANT METRICS TO
EFFECTIVELY MEASURE INTERNAL
COMMUNICATION

USE THE RIGHT CHANNELS TO DELIVER COMMUNICATIONS

Running a SWOT analysis of your internal communication strategy can be
an effective tool for businesses that want to strengthen their
communication. When you understand what challenges you’re up against
and what resources you have at your disposal to tackle them then you can
create an effective strategy to communicate better.

Use the SWOT method to hammer down what your communication

strengths and weaknesses are, what opportunities are available to make
communication better, and what threats are you facing to communicate
better?

Strengths: your company’s internal, positive attributes that are within your
control to adapt

Weaknesses: negative factors that take away from your strengths and you
must improve on to be successful

Opportunities: external factors in the work environment that can contribute

to your success

Threats: external factors that you cannot control so you need contingency
plans in place
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IMPORTANT METRICS TO
EFFECTIVELY MEASURE INTERNAL
COMMUNICATION

CRAFT THE MESSAGE BEFORE YOU SEND IT OUT

When you outline exactly what you want to say and what you want to gain
as a reaction from your audience, you won’t miss any details and can best
align the message as time passes.

Focus on the what, why, where, when, how, and who. If you can’t answer this
simply then you need to rethink the goal.

For example, a goal to “increase employee engagement in the workplace” is

NOT specific whatsoever.Instead, set the goal to be far more specific so it’s
easier to measure. For example, change it to “increase employee
engagement within the Atlanta branch by 18% by the end of Q2 to
effectively launch the new X product in Q3.”

SMART GOALS MUST BE INCLUDED

Be sure to create a message that is SMART. What’s that you ask? SMART
stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based.

Specific: determine what you are looking to accomplish and ensure

everyone will understand the message
Measurable: set milestones and targets to effectively track progress
Attainable: keep goals manageable and realistic
Relevant: create goals that develop your team and connect to your
company goals
Time-based: follow a specific timeline to best remain on track
PAGE | 18

IMPORTANT METRICS TO
EFFECTIVELY MEASURE INTERNAL
COMMUNICATION

OUTLINE THE MESSAGE

Sue Dewhurst and Liam Fitzpatrick highlight tips for communicators in
their book on how to best outline your message:

Inputs: what resources will you develop and implement for your internal
communication?
Outputs: is the content informative and engaging? Did you achieve the
results you planned? If not, why?
Satisfaction: are your employees happy with your internal communication?
Was the message understood? Was the information received in a timely
fashion? Did you allow your employees to share their feedback?
Out-takes: what takeaways did your employees gain?
Outcomes: did your internal communication impact an employee’s
behavior? Is everyone working toward a common goal?

LOOK AT YOUR TURNOVER RATES

When you have employees who are happy and satisfied in their job role,
they’ll stay with the company for a longer period of time. However, unhappy
and disgruntled employees will quickly start looking for new work.

Track your turnover rate to best understand how effective your internal
communication is. When your team is more connected and aligned with
what’s going on at the company then they feel trusted and appreciated.

However, when that trust doesn’t exist at all, productivity tanks and turnover
rises. As far as KPIs for internal communications go, this is an easy one to
track but it can be hard to directly tie to internal communication.
PAGE | 19

WHY CONNECTEAM IS THE

BEST COMMUNICATION TOOL

From the very beginning, our goal was to create a one stop shop for all
the communication tools a company needs – we know it’s more than
just adding features, it’s providing the full-package that makes
communication effective (and fun!)

Bottom up communication so your employees can reach you

when they need.
Top to bottom communication so you can share announcements,
updates and everything in-between with all your employees no matter
where they are.
Targeted communication so you can easily send the right information
to only the relevant people in a click.
Structured data communication so receiving data straight from the
field, like reports or ticketing, is easy.
Measurable communication so you can tell what’s working and what’s
not, and you know who received your message and who didn’t.
All media types for communication includes sharing of photos, files,
images, GIFs, voice notes, location and more.

We took it a step further and added features like a knowledge base

and workflow so you can decrease the amount of irrelevant
information being sent to all your employees. Our goal was to create an
affordable product for all business sizes so you can adopt it to the way
you work and your specific needs.
 PAGE | 20

AN ALL-IN-ONE
COMMUNICATION APP

When it comes to communication

and engagement, common use
cases often leverage a combination
of multiple capabilities to best
address the organizational needs.
Below are some of the key tools and
concrete examples of how they are
being used in the organizational
context:

News, Updates, and

Announcements
Wellness and benefits
In-App chat
Surveys and polls
Suggestion box
Direct channels to HR / Senior
leadership
Employee Directory
Employee Referrals
Events announcement and
registration
FAQ
PAGE | 21

AN ALL-IN-ONE
COMMUNICATION APP

WELLNESS AND BENEFITS

Many companies invest a lot of resources into facilitating robust wellness
and benefits programs for their teams. Often, HR professionals leverage
Connecteam to raise awareness of the current programs, benefits, and
more.

This may include:

Providing background about the existing programs and plans

In-app links serving as an easy gateway to your wellness program login
page.
Registration forms and RSVPs for upcoming plans and related
eventsAnnouncement of new benefits/wellness plans
Uploading of the employee wellness/ benefits book making it accessible
for the teams in a click.

DIRECT CHANNEL TO HR / EXECUTIVES

Companies with an ‘Open Door’ policy or companies looking to let
employees a channel to address HR and senior managers, often create a
direct channel box, allowing the employee to submit a query/thought which
goes as a pdf summary directly to the email of the designated person
whether that is the CEO of the company or an HR professional.
PAGE | 22

AN ALL-IN-ONE
COMMUNICATION APP

IN-APP CHAT
In today’s world, chat is a common and important means of communication.
In most organizations, employees end up using their private chat for work-
related issues, such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger .

Why Connecteam is different: Work-life separation, Self-maintaining groups,

Profanity control, Data storage

Best practices of utilizing the in-app chat include:

One on one chats: allowing team members to easily and quickly

communicate with each other.
Team Channels: one side communication from group admins to the
channel members. Mostly relevant for very big groups when only a few
individuals can send updates to the rest of the team
Team groups: team groups are the most common groups used on chat.
Whether it is for managers and their teams, for a specific facility or a
cross-company group, team groups are very popular.
Peer groups: many teams create groups that cross the organization to
allow the pier to pier communication. Some common examples include
“senior management”, “HR”, “Finance”, “Production team”, “Store X” and
many others.
Subject groups: whether it is to share safety updates, debating
preparations for the upcoming party, or for car-sharing arrangements,
teams like to create groups that are related to their projects, events, etc.
PAGE | 23

AN ALL-IN-ONE
COMMUNICATION APP

EVENTS ANNOUNCEMENT AND REGISTRATION

When it comes to events, with your employee app, you can notify people
about upcoming events, and let them pre-subscribe so you’ll know who’s
expected to attend.

EMPLOYEE REFERRALS
Recruiting employees is always a big investment for the company. Your
employee app is a very powerful tool when it comes to getting referrals for
potential candidates from your already existing workforce.

Sharing information on the referral incentive program

Publishing an ‘Employee Recommendation’ form that employees can
feel recommending on family and friends
Posting links/info about open positions spreading the word across the
organization.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

The use of FAQ is nothing new, but the ability to make it available for your
teams in a click is a powerful tool. That way much of the frustration and
ongoing communication can be addressed quickly and efficiently. Many
times companies choose to create an FAQ section in the App, to address
questions around vacation and sick leave, protocols, wellness and benefits,
and much more.
PAGE | 24

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