What Are Examples of Internal Business Communication?
Before diving into examples, let’s define what internal communication is. Internal communication is a business practice that refers to the flow of information between employers and employees. While some businesses have formal processes and tools to effectively communicate with their internal stakeholders, other companies may have a hodgepodge approach with no real rhyme or reason to how they interact (and vice versa). In this brief guide to internal business communication, we’ll take a look at examples of how companies reach their employees, like internal text communication, and explore how you can make sure your company is communicating effectively.
What Is the Importance of Internal Communication?
It’s almost impossible to overstate the importance of internal communication—if you’ve tried to get your friends together for a gathering, you know why communication is important. But let’s be honest, simply having communication isn’t the same as having good communication. If you were responsible for organizing the party and you hired a skywriter to put the party details in the clouds one afternoon, would anyone show up? You might get lucky, but odds are that most of your friends wouldn’t happen to be outside at the right time to see your invitation.
A few benefits that effective and efficient internal communication gives your company are:
Provides Alignment
Good communication keeps everyone on the same page. With the right communication tools and practices, you can make sure that the right message reaches the right people. And, as we know from internal communications best practices, it should go both ways—you should be able to reach your employees and vice versa.
Increases Employee Engagement and Productivity
A study by ExpertMarket found that when employees are offered better communication technology and skills, productivity can increase by up to 30%.
Improves Employee Experience
Is there anything more frustrating as an employee than to not be in the loop or to have unclear instructions? Internal communication tools help eliminate these pain points and enable your employees to do their job to the best of their ability.
What Are Examples of Internal Communication?
There are many tools available that you can use for internal communication. While considering these options, it’s important to think about which one is the right fit for your company.
Most businesses rely heavily on email for internal communications. It makes sense too—you can easily set up mass email lists, attach files, and have a permanent record of what was said. Some of the downsides of email are that some employees may not check their email regularly, have an email account for your company, or be able to access email if they are out in the field.
Messaging Apps
Apps like Slack, WhatsApp, and Microsoft Teams are often used by teams to stay in touch. You can create channels or groups, and easily share information with your employees and view their messages as well. Unfortunately, these apps require accounts and can only be accessed using WiFi or cellular data, which can quickly drain data plans.
SMS Text Messaging
Text messages are easy to send and receive, don’t require an app to use, and have an open rate of 95% within just three minutes after being received. Text messages can have issues, especially if you aren’t using the right tool to send them. Sharing your personal phone number with employees can be inappropriate, as well as the potential for unwanted group texts. However, with tools like Yourco, you can easily avoid those downsides.
What Is an Example of an Internal Communication Need?
Different employees have different communication needs, and companies with great internal communications understand this well. Imagine for a moment that you run a construction company. In your business, you have your office staff, the desk employees, and you have workers in the field, the non-desk employees. For the people in the office, internal communication is fairly easy. After all, they’re usually in front of a computer and have easy access to email and internet tools like Microsoft Teams.
However, your non-desk employees have different circumstances. They are out in the field, building structures and working with their hands. When they are on a construction site, there aren’t any computers available. They need a way to communicate that:
- Doesn’t require a computer or apps
- Doesn’t eat up their cell data
- Can reach them immediately in case of emergencies or project updates
Here at Yourco, we know how to meet this communication need for non-desk employees—through texting. In fact, we built the first product specifically for two-way communication between managers and their non-desk employees. With Yourco, managers can easily text employees from a dedicated company number and they can respond. It’s all held in a permanent record, with no apps to download for anyone.
Yourco: Effective and Efficient Internal Communication
Ready to reach your non-desk employees and meet their internal communication needs? With Yourco, you are. We do what email and group chat apps can’t—create an effective and efficient flow of information between administrators and non-desk employees. If you have non-desk employees who don’t have access to email (or don’t check it regularly) and who are resistant to downloading apps, Yourco is the solution for you. Contact us to set up a demo, or try it out for free today to see how we can help you create great internal communication.
