#COMMSTRANSFORMATION - Person-Centred Internal Communications
Internal communications have played a key role during the COVID-19 crisis. Companies and organisations have made a conscious decision to adopt internal communications plans and protocols in order to support their closest audiences. These plans have primarily targeted employees, but other internal audiences include executives, shareholders, suppliers and franchisees in some cases. Companies have had to pay careful attention to these stakeholders during these uncertain times.
Listening to employees and other internal audiences in a much more holistic manner, attempting to understand their emotions, their home lives, their health, their capacities and limitations in relation to remote working, etc. was an important task for Communications departments, which aimed to show a caring attitude towards people and ensure that their messages helped to increase a sense of belonging.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dircom conducted a study on internal communications, which is referred to in the Internal Communications Handbook presented by the association in late February 2021. It concludes that improving employees’ motivation and enhancing feelings of pride and belonging were the most widely achieved objectives during the pandemic.
EMPATHY AND TRUST: KEY VALUES TO CONVEY
Conveying dedication, empathy and trust has been key for every organisation. Communications executives have had to manage different types of communication on the go, anticipating possible scenarios.
In a year when close, direct communication with internal audiences has been particularly intense, the number of channels used in organisations’ protocols has risen. This is demonstrated in the report Communicating in a Pandemic published by Dircom in late 2020, which contains 12 lessons for Communications professionals to take from the crisis, several of which focus on internal communications.
As well as implementing new channels, companies have also reactivated some of their lesser used channels. Among the initiatives launched by organisations to communicate with their most important audiences, their own people, are video messages from CEOs, apps, company podcasts, internal social networks, WhatsApp groups and employee helplines.
THERE’S NO LEADERSHIP WITHOUT COMMUNICATION
The COVID-19 pandemic has also highlighted the challenges of leadership during a global crisis and shown the need for new leadership models. Today, leaders have become especially important and communication is a vehicle for sharing a whole series of proposals for coping with ‘what happens next’ as constructively as possible.
The pandemic has prompted CEOs and leaders of organisations to focus on the messages they send their executives and employees and develop a series of narratives in collaboration with their Communications teams. In these narratives, they have sought to demonstrate their personal proximity to their colleagues throughout this difficult situation and to share the company’s vision and purpose with them, with a particular emphasis on solidarity and contribution in a turbulent 2020.
In this context, many organisations faced the challenge of creating a new internal communications narrative using all the sources of information at their disposal. It was important to report the facts using credible sources and provide rigorous, truthful information at all times.
The pandemic has been with us for a year now and it has shown that communication remains a key tool in our daily interactions both within and outside the organisation, serving to listen and generate empathy and send messages of hope that we will overcome this crisis.
[1] only available in Spanish: https://aula.dircom.org/descargar-el-manual-de-comunicacion-interna/
[1] only available in Spanish: https://aula.dircom.org/comunicar-en-tiempos-de-pandemia/
José Fernández-Álava, General Manager of Dircom
Any thoughts or opinions expressed are that of the author and not of Global Alliance.