As seen on Forbes

By Kathleen Lucente

Imagine working at a company where once a quarter you have a town hall meeting. The CEO walks on stage and provides revenue updates, outlines new sales targets, answers a few questions from employees and highlights the quarter’s major achievements. Later that day, you have a one-on-one meeting with your manager or each of your team members, and later in the week, you participate in a teamwide regroup.

In the remote work environment many of us find ourselves in today, these kinds of touch points with colleagues and company leadership may have all but disappeared. Many employees are isolated at home, bereft of the internal news and updates that keep a workforce informed and engaged. The CEO now does sparse video updates. Their tone feels different and a little wobbly. Your manager isn’t a fan of frequent virtual check-ins. The best you can hope for is a weekly phone call and the occasional teamwide email outlining updates to the work-from-home policy but little else. Assuredness and engagement among employees are replaced by uncertainty and frustration.

This is the reality facing many employees right now. It’s a combination of symptoms arising from companies’ lack of formalized internal communications programs at a time when they need them the most. Uncertainty and frustration can breed discontent and in turn place new, unrelenting pressure on senior leadership to deliver consistent communications to employees.

Guilt and worry should not be the domain of senior leaders, yet many now face the realization that internal communications are a crucial business function even in the best of times. The lack of investment in such programs is clearest during a crisis, especially a prolonged one like the COVID-19 pandemic.

The complaints employees often raise when there’s a lack of communication from the company and its leadership — or a subpar internal communications program in general — usually fall into a few different buckets:

• “We only hear from the CEO when there’s a problem.”

• “The message feels self-serving or overprocessed.”

• “I get most of my information from hallway encounters or last-second meetings.”

• “Information is delivered strictly on a need-to-know basis.”

• “The most valuable information is buried or hidden.”

Mitigating these concerns — and ideally eliminating them altogether — should be at the top of every CEO’s list of to-dos, whether you’re in a crisis or not. Simple processes like establishing a schedule and communications channel lay the groundwork for delivering effective, accurate and consistent communications to employees. Clarity and engagement are the resulting ROI. When you view employees as internal customers — and treat them that way — you’ll begin to see how they achieve the company goals you’ve outlined and empower them to become walking, talking marketers who can help you fulfill your mission and vision.

A well-established internal communications plan should encourage engagement and discussions with executives and other stakeholders about effective strategies that serve broader business objectives. To get it right, here are four steps you can take upfront:

A proper internal communications audit is essential to assess the present state of your communications practices. If you don’t feel comfortable doing this on your own, you might benefit from hiring a consultant to get fresh eyes on your data and processes.

Here are some questions to consider: Do you have HR thinking they’re in charge of internal communications, or is an executive assistant sending out notes and handling town halls and the messaging coming from senior leadership? How frequently do you issue communications? What are you using the program for? Are you celebrating client successes internally? Or is that only being done by the sales team in a vacuum? What happens when you launch a new product or get in the news? Do you have an internal newsletter?

A combination of a quantitative survey and small-group interviews with department representatives can be an effective means of gathering insights from employees so you can take action. It also provides a benchmark of employee sentiment toward management and internal company communications so you can identify what works and what needs to be improved. After you’ve gathered feedback and implemented changes, issue a second survey the following quarter. Internal communications should never be left on autopilot, which means that frequent feedback loops and improvements need to be delivered and refined on an ongoing basis.

Define the purpose behind a yearlong internal communications strategy. Ensure that you can align it with the company’s business goals. When you benchmark employee sentiment, you can use the go-forward plan to demonstrate stronger employee engagement, engender brand loyalty and lower employee turnover.

Internal communications naturally fit within the marketing and communications department, as these team members are usually the most confident in conveying company voice, brand and overall image. They also work across groups and can make sure they are collaborating with the stakeholders from each department so they can contribute updates and approve content. One note about approvals: Employee communications can die on the vine if the approval process is muddy. Establishing a clear process is essential for success.

Lastly, find your voice — keep it simple and authentic to the brand. An executive team that can’t communicate effectively is a red flag to employees. It’s time to look at your values and practice what you preach. Communications goals need to be shared from the top down, and new methods of communication need to be embraced at every level. The more authentic and conversational a company’s communications are, the more employees are likely to feel like they belong.