Andrea Dawson-Shepherd, Director of corporate communications at Cadbury Schweppes explains why being in ‘the loop’ is a crucial element in achieving an engaged and committed workforce.
At the most fundamental level internal communications help the business by ensuring that people know what’s going on. Furthermore, knowing what’s happening encourages people to feel more connected with the organisation they are working for.
Everybody has moments during their day when they have to make choices about what they do, for example, how long they spend on certain things, resulting in which priorities they make. The job of internal communications is to help each employee know enough about what really matters in the business to make the best choice in that context.
It’s not the role of business to make people happy or unhappy; it’s the role of individuals. I think internal communications can help people feel satisfied by celebrating with them what they have contributed and showing them what everyone collectively is achieving. In this way you can improve morale, as morale is ultimately about direction: people work best when they know why they’re doing something, and even if they don’t agree with it, at least they understand what they’re being paid to do.
‘Engagement’ is a new buzzword in internal communications. As a result of good communication people are more engaged; as a result of being more engaged they’re likely to be more committed – so I think it’s a continuum. Increasing the level of engagement enables there to be more interest and time given to thinking about how well we communicate and deliver commitment, so that people make the right choices.
However, it starts with somebody thinking about what they ultimately want people to do. That’s what internal communication does: it takes them through a number of vital stages – hearing, understanding, feeling engaged and committed, believing in themselves, and finally delivering on performance.
In order to get your message across engagingly you need to be clear and simple. To achieve this level of clarity you need to understand that there is generally a lot going on within a business, but one of the key roles of any communicator is to ensure that despite the information overload, you know what you’re expected to deliver. People are seldom inspired by information, particularly a surfeit of information – they are inspired by meaning. Making communication meaningful can be a major challenge but it is certain to reap reward.
This is an extract of a full interview, Internal Communications: From Information to Inspiration, published by Shoulders of Giants, priced at £14.99.
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