What does Internal mean..?

I was asked to speak at the Teneo Conference on Excellence in Internal Communication (23rd – 24th June 2010) – and a great pleasure and honour it was especially amongst other organisations,  ROYAL SUN  ALLIANCE, RWE nPower, AIRBUS, UBS,  HM Revenue & Customs and CADBURY to name a few.

As the topics of Internal Communication and Employee Engagement are a bit of a soap box for me it was also dangerous for the audience and I had to be on my best behaviour to stick to the Teneo model of using Case Studies to illustrate and demonstrate the principles or key lessons you are promoting...

I think I managed it... just!

Often Internal Communication is the phrase given to the broadcast of key messages across a whole organisation. It is meant to be the direct two-way communications between employers and their staff. Downward, upward and horizontal and is a vital means of addressing organisational concerns of all stakeholders. Too often it is a top-down broadcast from the Leadership who genuinely want to bring the rest of the organisation with them.  Unfortunately when “a few” broadcast to “many” the “many” tend to duck...

A high percentage of surveys on communication in organisations show two apparently contradictory things

1.The staff complain they are never told things at all or on time
2.The staff complain they have too much information pushed at them, typically these days too many emails.

How can that be ~ I'm never told anything AND I've been sent way to much to read..?

Let's re-frame those words ~ “I can't hear you – it's too noisy” ~ I certainly understand that, or at least my wife would tell you how often I have to ask her to repeat things... Don't I listen..? Yes... but the TV is on at the same time and she's nearly finished the sentence before I come out of my trance by which time it's too late and I have to ask her to start again. And that is often what happens in organisations, there is so much going on, the relevant key information is drowned out by the day to day traffic.

If “internal communication” - meant the internalisation of an idea within the hearts and minds of everyone in our organisation then we'd have to approach that communication different – it can no longer be a broadcast – it has to engage each and every person in thinking, talking and working on that idea; on creating a calibration of understanding  across a critical mass of people until that idea took hold and became the reality not just an ambition.

What are your thoughts..?