Building a Strong Corporate Culture through Effective Internal Communications
Today, a company's success is not only measured by its products or services but also by the strength of its company culture. A healthy company culture fosters a sense of belonging, it enhances employee engagement and satisfaction, and ultimately drives productivity and success. One of the most important pillars driving a strong corporate culture is effective internal communication. Internal communication is a combination of both formal channels, such as company-wide announcements and team meetings, as well as informal interactions, like discussions between colleagues. Effective internal communication ensures that important information is disseminated consistently with accuracy and transparency, and contributing to a shared understanding of the company's mission, values, and goals. In this blog, we'll look at how internal communications is fundamental in shaping and maintaining a healthy organizational culture, and we'll highlight some real-world examples of companies that have successfully (and unsuccessfully) used communication as a tool to build a strong sense of community in their organizations.
The Role of Internal Communications in Company Culture
By definition, internal communications refers to the exchange of information, ideas, and messages within an organization. When executed properly, internal communications plays a crucial role in shaping and reinforcing company culture in the following ways:
Aligns with Company Values: Clear and consistent communication helps employees understand the company's mission, vision, and values. Regularly communicating these core principles reinforces clarity and a sense of purpose and direction, leading to a more unified culture.
Fosters Transparency and Trust: Open and honest communication builds trust among employees and leadership. When leaders directly communicate key company updates and changes and promote open dialogue, this not only shows transparency but it encourages employees to contribute their ideas and solutions.
Drives Employee Engagement: Effective internal communications provide platforms for employees to share their opinions, feedback, and suggestions. When leaders treat employees like they are key stakeholders of the company’s future, they become more engaged and committed to the company's success.
Promotes Education and Integration: Through consistent communication, new employees can be educated about the company's culture and values, allowing them to integrate more quickly. However, this is key for existing employees and leaders as well. All members of an organization need to be reminded about the company mission and values or as Simon Sinek says, “the WHY.” It gives the work greater purpose and it serves as a benchmark to measure if leadership’s actions and decisions are aligned with who the company says they are.
Lessons Learned: Real-World Examples
Just Eat — Success
Challenge
Just Eat faced internal communications chaos with no dedicated team or structure. Essential messages were lost amidst trivial announcements, causing employee disengagement and information overload.
Approach
To streamline communications, Just Eat established a specialized internal communications function. Headed by Mark Tittle, the team focused on consolidating messages, making them relevant and segmented for different audiences through storytelling, and adopting a structured channel strategy. They also began to measure engagement metrics to gauge the effectiveness of their new communications approach.
Outcome
Just Eat now sees 46,000 monthly hits on its intranet and received a positivity rating of 79% for the communications channels. A clear channel strategy allowed the internal communications team to make company updates structured, relevant and consistent — while understanding the importance of measuring engagement too. Today, Internal Communications at Just Eat is a vital function of the organization.
Yahoo — Fail
Challenge
To underscore the importance of effective internal communication, it’s also valuable to learn from missteps. One example comes from Yahoo back in 2013, when they decided to transition all remote employees back to office.
Approach
Yahoo's Head of HR sent out a motivational memo that focused on the company’s "positive momentum," "the buzz and energy in our offices," and "remarkable progress." At the end of this upbeat message was the directive: all staff working from home had to either return to the office or resign.
Outcome
This example illustrates some key pitfalls from an internal communications perspective. First, a message of this magnitude should have come directly from the company's leadership, ideally the CEO, not the Head of HR. Visibility from senior leaders is crucial, especially during times of significant change. Secondly, the communication lacked the necessary context and failed to provide a strategic business rationale for the change. While the memo aimed to inspire employees about the company's progress, it did not clearly explain why this change was essential for the company's future. As a result, it likely created confusion, mistrust, and disengagement among employees—all factors that can adversely impact company culture.
As seen in both real-world examples, good internal communication is not just about conveying a message; it's about considering the way you deliver information, who delivers it, and who you’re speaking to. A well-executed internal communication strategy is crucial in building and sustaining a strong company culture because it is directly linked to levels of employee engagement, productivity, and overall satisfaction.
