Internal communicators are uniquely positioned to have a bird’s eye view of all aspects of the business, including what employees need and how they feel about work. This allows you to tailor strategic communications in ways that resonate with your audience.
For effective communication, internal comms and business strategy should be symbiotic: when IC supports the business strategy and the business strategy informs internal communications, IC practitioners have an opportunity to maximize their impact – and respondents to the State of the Sector 2024 report would agree. They told us that engaging the workforce in purpose, strategy and values was their number one priority this year.
Why you should create strategic alignment?
Aligning your output with organizational objectives contributes to overall business success, which benefits all – in fact, 70% of respondents to the 2023/24 survey are accountable for an employee awareness strategy as a key success indicator. It also gives you and your IC team a clear purpose, so be sure to prioritize strategic alignment over pursuing activities that may not contribute to business objectives.
When we consider that the broader business strategy is designed to support growth, and internal communications serves the people of the organization, finding cohesion between the two makes sense. This sentiment is supported by the research by Achievers who cited alignment with an organization’s values as the number one predictor of employee engagement.1
Just as strategy can inform communications, so can audience insight inform the way you communicate strategic messages. Research carried out by Trade Press Services tells us that effective internal communications motivates 85% of employees to become more engaged in the workplace – which means more engagement with strategy, too.2
The Impact of strategic communication
Internal communicators are uniquely positioned to have a bird’s eye view of all aspects of the business, including what employees need and how they feel about work. This allows you to tailor strategic communications in ways that resonate with your audience. With the right metrics in place, you can collate and correlate data that demonstrates the impact of strategic communication in driving engagement and performance – which gives you influence when engaging in strategic discussions and decision-making processes with leadership.
But it does not stop there. Internal communicators can further strengthen impact by building partnerships across the business. Close collaboration with other functions – from HR and IT to finance and operations – allows you to align your work with their goals and objectives, too. Together you can drive cohesive and integrated communications strategies supporting the organization’s overall direction of travel.
Find out how we can support you in maximizing your impact as a strategic communicator. Get in touch today.
You can also download the State of the Sector 2024 report.
Source
1 2020 Culture Report, Achievers Workforce Institute, 14 September 2020. Gated Report.
2 Knilans, Gerri. Using Internal Communications to Enhance Business Growth, Trade Press Services, 12 June 2018.
