What is 'Internal Communication'?

If you’re going to have all the influence you want with your business leaders, they will have to have justifiable confidence in everything you’re doing.  And for that to happen, as a minimum, all your working practices have to be fit for purpose.  That means your language standards, briefing process, campaign planning procedures, feedback systems, message calendar, and all the other nuts and bolts things you regularly do. 

And for anyone to know those practices are fit for purpose, you need a purpose for Internal Communication in which they can be justifiably confident.  That in turn means the definition of Internal Communication itself needs to be valid and stable.  (How can anyone have justifiable confidence in the purpose of something whose very definition is all wobbly?)  So that definition has to be holistic enough to encompass everything that can legitimately be considered Internal Communication, but also precise enough that it doesn’t include any old nonsense.

Our definition of IC

For this reason, we define IC as all communicating that goes on inside an organisation, which directly or indirectly enables that organisation to fulfil its reason for existing.

There are two key distinctions here. 

1. By keeping it focused on the organisation’s raison d’etre, we’re excluding social chit chat.  So if someone arrives at work on a Monday morning, and one of their colleagues asks them “How did your daughter’s piano recital go at the weekend”” or “Is you dad’s shoulder getting better?” those enquiries don’t count as Internal Communication.  Yes, it’s communicating going on between colleagues, but the subject matter isn’t relevant to the organisation’s reason for existing.  So it’s appropriate to exclude it.
2. By including communications which indirectly enable the organisation to fulfil its reason for existing we’re including all those communications which don’t directly affect core business activities, but do support the relationship between employees and employer.  That could be anything from how to claim expenses, or follow health and safety procedures, to the protocols for reporting a broken piece of equipment, and so on.  These, then, are appropriate to class as Internal Communication activities.

Tidying up

But there is a third type of communication activity which may have a foot in both these camps.  This would include those informal ‘water cooler’ conversations, which can often be a source of so many valuable insights and innovations.  Surely they count.  And we would give a qualified yes to that. 

If the subject matter will directly or indirectly enable the organisation to fulfil its reason for existing, then of course they are legitimate IC activities.  Importantly, though, they can’t realistically be subject to any kind of governance. 

You can’t police such conversations, and concern yourself about whether or not they’re fit for purpose.  People don’t complete a formal briefing process before engaging in these chats; they’re unlikely to follow corporate language standards, or be subject to a formal follow-up and feedback process. 

But defining IC in the terms we’re recommending makes it more likely these conversations - and all other internal communication activities - can be as valuable as possible.  How come?

Stability

The first thing to recognise is that defining Internal Communication as being…

…‘all communicating that goes on inside an organisation which directly or indirectly enables that organisation to fulfil its reason for existing’…

…means this definition can remain stable.  It won’t be subject to the whims and caprices of people who may or may not choose to use the Internal Communication team.  And that stability is vital if IC is to have a stable purpose, which in turn is a necessary precursor to fit for that purpose practices in which your leaders can have justifiable confidence.

Opening a door to far greater influence

Importantly, though, this definition means Internal Communication includes meetings and meeting minutes.  It includes policies & procedures, project plans, budget reports and so much more. 

And that in turn means Internal Communication is providing much of the raw material with which employees are thinking about their work.  Not all of that raw material, obviously.  Much of it can come from people’s professional training, but their day-to-day priorities, and many organisation-specific “how to’s” are arriving through Internal Communication.

This means Internal Communication is influencing the quality and efficiency of every other business activity – without exception. 

Inevitably, then, the better you can make Internal Communication practice, the better that raw material can be, and the better the quality and efficiency of every business activity can become.  And that’s surely something your leaders are going to want, is it not?

And doing so can have serious implications for your leadership influence, which we’ll start exploring in Step 10.

About the author

We are Russell+Olivia Brooklands (ROB) - and we've been working in the field of Internal Communication for over 25 years. We specialise in enabling IC Teams to get everything they want, to do the job exactly the way they want to do it – for good.  If you're an IC Manager we can help you secure all the:

• influence
• time
• confidence
• opportunities, and
• budget...

…you desire (and may not yet have).

Some people don't dare to dream this is doable.  But in fact it's all within your grasp.  And imagine what a difference it could make to your day-to-day working life, and your long-term career, if you had it all. We’ll be delighted to explain how you can make it happen.  Message us if you’d like to have a chat.