Use your time well by following these steps for writing an internal communications plan.
Too many times, communication happens without a plan. And what happens when you communicate to all employees without a plan? You risk creating noise and disjointed messages. You end up reacting to all kinds of requests and doing rework and running from one tactic to the next.
Take the time to create a communications plan and everyone will benefit — you, the employees, the company.
1. Define the scope of the plan
This is an easy step but it’s still worth articulating: What’s your plan about? Examples:
- All business-to-employee (B2E) communication for the upcoming year
- Changes to network login IDs and passwords
- Performance of the company pension plan
- Transition to new CEO
- The importance to business results of cross-functional collaboration
2. Identify your key development stakeholders
Make note of who will be providing input and who will be reviewing and approving the plan. Limit the number of people involved to those who have valuable insights and the authority to provide information or make decisions.
3. Define the communications objectives
What will the tactics need to accomplish? Think in terms of measurable outcomes, not activities. Also make sure the topic is relevant to the all-employee audience.
4. Define your strategy
This step trips up many B2E communicators. The first common mistake is confusing tactics with strategy. The second mistake is thinking that a strategy needs to be complex.
What is a communications strategy?
It’s the articulation of the approach your going to take. It’s like an umbrella statement that will help you decide what tactics you’ll use. It might be complex but your strategy statement shouldn’t be long or overly detailed.
Does every internal communications plan need a strategy?
Yes. But it doesn’t have to be a unique or complex strategy.
Most B2E communications plans use whatever the basic strategy is for your organization. A basic strategy may look like this:
- Use the intranet as the primary channel
- Include quotes from leaders in every email and article
- Only actual employees will be used in photographic images
However, there may be situations when you need to make something really stand out. For example, if you are rolling out a new product, you might use a strategy like this:
- All content will be written from the perspective of the new product as a way to demonstrate its value to the company, employees and customers in a fun way
5. Zero in on the key messages
These are the must-have pieces of information or context. If your list starts getting past 7 points, take another look at each one. Ask yourself: “If employees don’t absorb this information, will it affect their ability to succeed in any way?” If the answer is no, then it’s not a key message.
Be sure to refer back to your Communication Objectives. Your key messages should support the objectives.
Tip Don’t let the word “message” mislead you and your stakeholders. Sometimes there is no “message” (as in an underlying idea or theme) in a key message, it’s strictly information that can’t be missed. For example, in a communications plan for a new community involvement program, “The enrollment deadline is March 15” is a key message.[
Remember Key messages are building blocks. Therefore, they should be written without context or extra language. They are chunks of information that will be incorporated into the various tactics in the ways that best suits the situation. That’s why, in the example above, the key message is “The enrollment deadline is March 15”, not “Employees will need to enroll by March 15.”
6. Identify your audience(s)
Saying your audience is “employees” is usually not enough.
There are multiple segments within any employee base. Taking the time to segment your audience will give you information and insights that will make it easier for you to create relevant content and delivery it in the best way.
Common employee audience segments are:
- Those with direct reports(supervisors and managers)
- Location
- Age demographic
- Access to a computer
- Office-based or mobile
[button url=”https://www.liftinternal.com/segment-your-audience-for-improved-outcomes”] Learn more about segmenting your audience [/button]
7. Develop your tactics and delivery timeline
The final step before the review and approval processes is to outline how you’re going to execute the plan. That’s all tactics are: actions that will lead to achieving a specific goal. In this case, the goal is meeting the objectives of the plan.
This process can be broken into 3 stages:
| Stage | Description |
|---|---|
| Identify potential tactics | Brainstorming and/or noting frequently used tactics |
| Test potential tactics | Assess suitability to audience segments, objectives, strategy, constraints, resources, etc. |
| Identify details | Include who will be involved, time requirements and constraints, dependency on other tactics, missing information, etc. |
Tip Everyone involved in the project will have ideas about tactics. In many cases, that’s the first thing stakeholders want to discuss — and sometimes in great detail! Learn to actively manage conversations and meetings to make sure the communications objectives, strategy, constraints, resources, etc. are pinned down before tactics are truly explored. Often, if you acknowledge and make note of someone’s idea, they are then willing to work on the other asepcts of the plan because they feel they’ve been heard. And, sometimes stakeholders do have very good ideas!
8. Work the plan
You’ve put a lot of time and thought into creating the plan. Use it!
Keep it at hand and refer back to it frequently to ensure you’re on track. Make updates to tactics and timelines as new information comes to light. Sometimes, you might tweak the key messages. Otherwise, nothing in the plan should change once it has been approved and set into motion.
One of the many benefits of having a communications plan is being able to refer to it if stakeholders want make changes along the way. The document makes it easier to say “The plan we have in place has everything we need to meet the communications objectives and make this a success.”
A closing thought
Communications planning is about making sure you’ve thought of everything before you dive into the time-consuming work of making it happen. Plan for valuable business outcomes and positive employee experiences. Be creative. Be strategic. Be thorough.
