Internal communication, an inevitable
element of business, needs to be promoted to achieve organizational objectives.
While endeavoring to promote internal communication, an organization needs to
address three main concerns:
1. Organizational climate and culture should
encourage open communication
2. There should be clear guidelines about
what and how communication (in form of information) will flow within
organization.
3. Organization should have a system to
track the effectiveness of flow of communication through different levels of
hierarchy.
We suggest some important ways for ensuring
seamless internal communication within the organization:
Maintain
a sophisticated information distribution system
Every organization requires a
sophisticated information distribution system for free flow of information
across different strata within it.
Design dedicated channels that are
responsible for conveying a message through different operational levels such
as finance, production, marketing, distribution and supply, etc. The whole
distribution system needs to be supervised to avoid bottlenecks or
pitfalls.
Open
climate and culture
Establishing a climate of openness where
everyone has the freedom to voice their
opinion in a democratic manner fosters the seamless flow of information through
effective internal communication.
The organization should have a system
in-place to allow people at different levels to raise their concerns, register
their ideas, and share their views against a policy or procedure. Such
transparency in an organizational system gives way to an effective internal
communication.
Practice
what you preach
What you say or promise to your work
force should be in harmony with your actions.
For instance, if you promise your
sub-ordinates to listen or invite their suggestions while taking a decision,
you should have a proper channel to implement the same.
The internal communication will get a hit
if your juniors come to see some sudden changes in policies or processes
without their consultation or knowing.
Also, ensure that there is no sense of
inequality in an organization. Discrimination on the grounds of position, power
or personal relationship spreads negativity, a huge hindrance in smooth flow of
internal communication.
Problem
solving
Since no system is perfect, you should
stay vigilant to assess the hindrances or obstacles in the way of effective
internal communication. You need to address the questions such as what is favorable
atmosphere for internal communication; is there any technical loophole or
management issue; or are the right people employed for respective tasks?
For problem solving, take the advice of
experienced CEO peers by becoming a member of some reputed CEO association. The
Brain Trust CEO peer group in Atlanta provides effective business leadership
coaching and CEO training helping CEOs to meet management challenges in every
step of business development.
