Five key challenges for internal communicators

FIVE KEY CHALLENGES FOR
INTERNAL COMMUNICATORS
Sept. 2015

Foreword
Letter from our CEO
The New Scenario
The Five Key Challenges
Five [obvious?] Tips
The New Role
We almost forgot…

We all know the world is changing, and changing fast. As a result, most of us just keep up with
our daily ‘fires’, trying to respond to our both internal and external clients as quickly and satisfyingly
as possible.
However, we also need to dedicate some time to think. That is why at Intermedia we have
decided to publish a series of ‘papers’ aimed to promote debate and reflection, mainly in the area
of Corporate Communications.
This first one is dedicated to Five Key Challenges for Internal Communicators. Five major changes
have caused a real revolution in our function. Five changes and five challenges. That is what we
are facing right now.
These are not scientific researches or data-based studies. These papers are just the outcome of
our interaction with clients and experts. They are just our thoughts about different issues, which -of
course, can be wrong.
We hope you find them interesting and, most of all, we hope they will make you think.
“These papers are just our
thoughts about different
issues, which -of course, can
be wrong”
Foreword

Seven years ago, right at the beginning of the financial crisis, I was invited to participate as a
keynote speaker at the Internal Communications Forum in London. At the meeting, we all agreed
that our role as Internal Communicators was at a critical moment: for the first time ever, we had a
real chance to put our function in its right place within companies. Employees were avid for news,
senior managers wanted to be the first ones to inform them… It was our finest hour.
Today, all those expectations have not been fulfilled. Even though many companies are now more
prone to consider Internal Communications as an important function –mainly in the areas of
creating corporate culture and sharing goals and results, it feels like we have lost a great
opportunity to become the strategic partners we should be.
However, the new scenario defined by social media, technology, tight budgets, language and
dispersion of our audiences, is beyond all doubt an even better chance for us to add value and
raise our position up to strategic levels.
Here, we gather our findings after a series of interviews and daily collaboration with Internal
Communicators from both large and small companies, as well as experts from Business Schools
and Universities. Our goal is mapping the key focuses of our activity, our challenges, our
opportunities.
And this time, we will take our chance.
Pachi Lanzas – CEO
“The new scenario is an even
better chance for us to add
value and raise our position up
to strategic levels”
Letter from
our CEO

New communications habits and routines alongside new means and devices to communicate
with, encourage us to address actual employees in a new way, as opposed to focusing too
heavily on company strategy and long-term initiatives.
Social media networks aren’t just for communicating to friends and family anymore.
By it’s own nature, social media network means that anyone is invited to collaborate and
participate in discussions. Communication can flow in every direction from the top down, bottom
up, and even from side to side thus providing a number of benefits within the company. Well
managed interactions come up with positive results, such as a higher employee loyalty, the
creation of brand ambassadors who are thrilled about their work, significant decrease in the use of
internal email, and development of a space where questions are answered with a reduced sense
of hierarchy.
Social does not mean just an open channel of communications but a new opportunity to
“humanize” internal communications by adding “human” stories to internal publications.
An increasing number of organizations share this vision and are leveraging new tools such as
social networks, mobile, and visual storytelling to collaborate, build company culture, and create
brand ambassadors from within.
Social Media tools create a new compelling opportunity for internal communication, collaboration,
and innovation. Internal communication strategies that embrace new technologies and tools such
as video, mobile and social, will power-up the company’s ability to collaborate; build a solid
company culture; and increase productivity.
Sylvia Areitio - Head of Social Media
“Social media networks aren’t
just for communicating to
friends and family anymore”
Social and
Human

Most companies have deployed some kind of technology around Internal Communications.
However, in the era where everybody carries around a smart-phone with the capabilities of a good
[5 years old] personal computer; where everyone keeps informed and in touch almost immediately
through social media platforms; where everything is "right now" and"exactly for me”; companies
are now facing a challenge where they need to cope with these major changes in how we interact
with employees, clients, brands, co-workers, family and friends.
Technology must be the tool and the I&T department should be the ally, not a impediment.
Thankfully, technology is here for everyone who wants to take advantage of it’s strengths. Although
there may be some concerns about information security, technology should be the driver to The
Smart Internal Communications.
Measure, then learn
The use of the right technology would provide means to track, measure and optimize the
effectiveness of our internal actions and activities. This information should be used to learn and
improve. That is the only way we can keep the pace of changes in this new digital age.
Mobile
There are no doubts about the benefits of mobile communications, especially for organizations
that need to collaborate with team members scattered in different locations.
The immediacy of mobile allows employees to access messages and information right where and
when we need them to. We all are used to it. So, why the internal communications should not
take advantage and embrace a mobile technology strategy to improve productivity and
effectiveness?
“Technology must be the tool
and the I&T department should
be the ally, not a impediment”
The Era of
Smart IC

Social
Email is still the "weapon of choice” push channel for internal communicators. Email is becoming
more and more crowded and impersonal, and we can not ignore the inbox clutter problem.
Technology help us create pull channels where the employees can retrieve the right information in
a structured and controlled way.
By implementing applications such as social intranets, wiki’s, forums, chat rooms and
microblogging platforms we can have the perfect toolset to create a social pull channel.
Embrace a tech based social approach to the intranet and its tools to help re-engage managers
and leaders to create meaning, value and a shared perspective within the company.
Technology is the key to improve our ability to collaborate, build company culture, and increase
productivity.
Mike Cobián - CTO
“Technology is the key to
improve our ability to
collaborate, build company
culture, and increase
productivity”
The Era of
Smart IC

Five Major Changes
The New
Scenario
Social Media
Technology
Budget
Language
Audiences
“Five major changes have
caused a real revolution in our
function. Five changes and five
challenges”

Five Major Changes
“Our employees have now less
time than ever to spend on
Internal Communications
channels”
The New
Scenario Audiences
Maybe Internal Communications Departments have never been The Oracle
for their employees, but today for sure they are not. Our audiences have
access to an immense number of sources.
But that’s not all. We also used to have places where we could easily find our
employees: from canteens in the early days, to intranets more recently. Today,
most of them are on the move.
Apart from that, the economic crisis has led to the search for higher efficiency
levels. Our employees have now less time than ever to spend on Internal
Communications channels.
As a result, we must now more than ever search for the audience and be fast
and appealing in our messages. Otherwise, they will find that in other sources
and we will loose track of the conversation.

Five Major Changes
“Even when the Social Media
are part of our daily lives,
Internal Communications
Departments have not been
able [a few exceptions made]
to create solid channels to
mirror the new trend”
The New
Scenario Social Media
The Social Media are the way our employees communicate and get informed
in their personal lives.
Internal Communicators have always adapted our channels to the reality
outside: employee magazines, video news and intranets were just a reflection
of the way people were getting informed.
Lots of questions rise:
Do intranets make any sense today?
Shall we promote and facilitate our employees’ role as prosumers?
How can we create buzz and hype?
What should the conversation be like?
As soon as the Internet became mainstream, most companies launched their
Intranets. Instead, even when the Social Media are part of our daily lives,
Internal Communications Departments have not been able [a few exceptions
made] to create solid channels to mirror the new trend.
The impact of the Social Media on our role is also huge. New skills are
required, closer to Internal Marketing and Internal Communities Management,
rather than traditional Internal Communications.
And, finally, we must be able to make Senior Management understand that
companies are not the owners of the message anymore. Employees must
have the tools to create and publish their own contents, and our key goal now
is to lead the conversation and explain the corporate positioning in different
issues.

Five Major Changes
“As long as any of our
employees can sign up in any
Social Network and add his or
her colleagues in order to
share content about our
company in an easier way than
in our own channels, we will be
loosing the battle”
The New
Scenario Technology
Today, any individual wishing to build a site, a blog or even a Private Social
Network, can do it in basically hours and with no cost. But Internal
Communicators remain prisoners of our Technology Departments. As a result,
projects take months or even years to be implemented, and costs are much
higher.
Also, our employees are more and more a mobile audience. We cannot rely
anymore on reaching them at their computers, we must be able to offer
content on their mobile devices, both in pull and push ways.
As long as any of our employees can sign up in any Social Network and add
his or her colleagues in order to share content about our company in an
easier way than in our own channels, we will be loosing the battle.
Yet we understand security is obviously critical, so are Internal
Communications. We must be able to respond to our employees’ demands
by having our own dedicated servers and teams.
And, again, this makes a big difference in our role. The times when we asked
Technology Department for help are gone. It is about do-it-yourself channels,
easily adapted and updated, responsive and fully equipped with multimedia
features.

Five Major Changes
“With less money to invest and
smaller teams, most Internal
Communications Departments
simply are not able to face new
projects, which leads to lower
impact levels on audiences”
The New
Scenario Budget
Practically every Internal Communications Department has suffered a
proportional decrease in their budgets, even when a raise in gross numbers
may have happened.
This race for efficiency has had an evident impact in projects and
improvements, as well as in the size of teams and ability to contract external
collaboration.
As a result, the continuous need for keeping up to date has been harder than
ever. With less money to invest and smaller teams, most Internal
Communications Departments simply are not able to face new projects,
which leads to lower impact levels on audiences.
Internal Communicators must be able to justify budget raises according to the
present needs. But, in order to do so, we also must be able to speak financial
jargon, create and monitor strong reporting and measuring models and
prove our function’s added value for the business.
As long as we don’t present our projects in terms of return on investment, we
will never be considered as a key role for our companies.

Five Major Changes
“Language has become hyper-
language. This means contents
are not single independent
pieces anymore, they are
continuously linked to each
other”
The New
Scenario Language
Social Media and instant messaging tools such as WhatsApp have definitely
changed the way people communicate. Today, language is more direct,
shorter and uses more images.
Furthermore, language has become hyper-language. This means contents
are not single independent pieces anymore, they are continuously linked to
each other.
This kind of interdependent language has changed the way our audiences
get informed. Today, we read [or watch] in different tabs or windows, from
different sources. This is a real challenge for Internal Communicators, more
used to publish pieces of content about one subject.
This change affects the core of our activity. For our employees, now Why and
What for is more important than What. They can track company news in the
Social Media, even on corporate accounts. Internal Communicators have a
unique opportunity to focus on the strategy behind the fact.

The Five Key
Challenges
Positioning
Teams
Channels
Conversation
Advocacy

“The higher we move our
function up from a tactical to a
strategic position, the more
value we will be adding to the
business”
Teams
Most traditional Internal Communications skills remain valid. But we also need
to add new profiles to our teams. It is not about having larger teams, but
more accurate to our present needs. Similar to the changes we are living on
Journalism, our function goes now further from the mere writing and
publishing.
These are some of the roles and skills we need to add to our teams:
- Social Media Management
- Internal Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Project Management
- Web and app design and programming
The Five Key
Challenges

“The higher we move our
function up from a tactical to a
strategic position, the more
value we will be adding to the
business”
Positioning
Although this is an old claim, today more than ever is time to put Internal
Communications in the right position within companies. We cannot be
considered as email-senders or intranet-publishers. The higher we move our
function up from a tactical to a strategic position, the more value we will be
adding to the business.
In order to do so our key priorities should be:
- Take the leap from Internal Communications to Internal Reputation
- Create and monitor strong reporting and measuring models
- Focus on strategic projects, rather than tactical ones
- Focus on internal customer’s satisfaction and employee experience
- Use financial language when defending the importance of Internal
Communications
The Five Key
Challenges

“Transmedia content managed
and published on different
formats and channels are the
key to reach our employees
and speak their language”
Channels
As we have already pointed out, Internal Communications can’t live far from
the Social Media anymore. Our competitors today are Twitter, Facebook,
YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp… Intranets can no longer be the information
centre.
Transmedia content managed and published on different formats and
channels are the key to reach our employees and speak their language.
Some new channels to be implemented:
- Internal Social Network
- Prosumer employee enhancing
- Internal Wiki
- Internal Transmedia Center [video, audio, photo, blogging, etc.]
The Five Key
Challenges

“Internal Communications key
focus must be leading the
conversations, adding context
and activating Internal Social
Networks”
Conversation
Most Marketing and Corporate Reputation Departments have perfectly
understood they are not the owners of the message anymore. Even [some]
Senior Managent keep it in mind. However, this mindset hasn’t reached
Internal Reputation. Managers still think they can control the messages
employees receive.
As a result, in many cases they keep pushing Internal Communications to
deliver a message, even when contrary to what employees are reading and
watching on the Social Media.
Today, our role can’t be sending messages. Employees themselves must be
the creators of content. Internal Communications key focus must be leading
the conversations, adding context and activating Internal Social Networks.
But, to do so, we need:
- Deeply understanding how Social Media work
- Proficiency in analytics, planning and reporting
- New focus and language for our interactions with employees
- A unique employee experience
The Five Key
Challenges

“The challenge for us, as
Internal Communicators, is
turning employees into not just
fans, but advocates”
Advocacy
Most people today [and nearly everyone when we talk about Millennials] don’t
feel their job as just a way to make a living. They really want to be part of
something bigger, they want to make a difference in the world they live in.
More than just financial results, employees want to know about the
company’s role in the community.
The challenge for us, as Internal Communicators, is turning employees into
not just fans, but advocates. If they are the ones to speak in the name of the
company and defend it in their lives and in the Social Media too, they will
become the best brand ambassadors we could ever have.
Advocacy comes from:
- Information. Employees need to have access to the whats, the what-fors
and the whys, and the right tools to spread the word
- Reputation. Employees must feel like they really are making a contribution
to the community and the world around us. This is not just about Social
Responsibility, but about making business in a responsible way.
- Content. We must be able to provide our employees with contents suitable
to be shared on the Social Media or internally.
The Five Key
Challenges

Five
[Obvious?]
Tips
Make it human: channels and tools are just levers.
Make it for everyone: don’t forget ‘hidden audiences’
Content is king
Conversation: buzz and hype, lead it!
Audiovisual: always use video and images

“A holistic approach to the
internal reputation of the
company is necessary, and that
precisely should be the key
focus of our function”
Towards Internal Reputation Management
Talking about Internal Communications Departments today is similar to talking
about Personnel Departments [or even Human Resources]. A holistic
approach to the internal reputation of the company is necessary, and that
precisely should be the key focus of our function.
Internal Reputation Managers and teams must make a strong effort in keeping
up to date in an area of expertise in which both Technology and trends
change overnight.
The Internal Reputation Manager must be:
- An expert in Social Media
- An expert in Marketing and Campaigns Management
- An expert in Business Strategy and Reporting
- An expert in Technology, Apps and Mobility
- An expert in Corporate Culture, Talent Management and Employee Value
Proposition and Experience
- And, of course, an expert in Corporate Communications
The New
Role

“A holistic approach to the
internal reputation of the
company is necessary, and that
precisely should be the key
focus of our function”
Five Paradoxes
Paradox #1: the silent majority. Most employees are not the active type.
They are not going to express their disappointment or in satisfaction. The
1-9-90 rule also works on Internal Communications Channels. Many times,
we make decisions or adapt our language to that 10% of employees who
participate, and forget about the rest. Getting that silent majority to participate
in the conversation is key.
Paradox #2: the old fashioned. In our effort to innovate and be state-of-art
communicators, sometimes we forget about those employees who simply like
it the old way or just don’t have the skills, expertise or tools to access the new
channels. But, we cannot just leave them out.
Paradox #3: the slang. Yes, we definitely want our language to be closer,
simpler, warmer. But we are also responsible for educating employees in our
business. And if we want to be accurate and professional, we also need to
use large doses of technical language. Finding the right balance is not easy,
but neither is it impossible.
Paradox #4: time. Today, our audiences have less time than ever to dedicate
to the Internal Communications Channels. And our competitors [Twitter,
Facebook, YouTube] are also more available and attractive than ever.
Managers don’t want their teams to waste time on our Channels. Let’s make it
sexy, accurate and quick.
Paradox #5: images. Why, if we are pointing out that audiovisual content is
key, we are not using it at all on this paper?
We almost
forgot…

FIVE KEY CHALLENGES FOR
INTERNAL COMMUNICATORS
+info: pachi@doingstaff.com

Five key challenges for internal communicators

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