How do you create a compelling communications plan that will engage each and every employee? Our 11-step guide will help you create a plan that WORKS.

2. 11 ways to perfect your
internal communications
plan
What can help you create and implement your IC plan?
Blog: 11 ways to perfect your internal communications plan

3. 11 ways to perfect your internal
communications plan
Blog: 11 ways to perfect your internal communications plan

4. Perfecting it, so that
your IC plan is
efficient and honed,
has many
for employees.
A strong and unified organization can only be achieved
when a quality is
executed.
Feel
Empowered
Contribute
more to
their jobs
More
proactive
Happier
Feel
valued
11 ways to perfect your internal communications plan

5. So…
11 ways to perfect your internal communications plan

6. Research your
plan

7. How do you
perfect your IC
plan when you
have
what the
problems are?
Research your IC plan

8. Before crafting your , research where your organization currently stands.
Research your IC plan

9. Planning
11 ways to perfect your internal communications plan

10. The is vital !
That means taking raw, basic data and using it to form a
new plan that satisfies to your IC goals.
But where do you begin?

11. Planning
Your IC plan must define, in
measurable objectives:
§ What will your plan achieve?
§ How long will it be before you need
to measure your objectives?
§ What will these measurable
objectives achieve?

12. Planning
S
Specific
M
Measurable
A
Attainable
R
Realistic
T
Timely
Your goals should
be as specific as
possible and answer
the question:
What is your goal?
How often or
much?
Where will it take
place?
How will you
measure your
goals?
Measurement will
give you specific
feedback and hold
you accountable.
Goals should push
you, but it is
important that they
are achievable.
Are your goals
attainable?
Is your goal and
timeframe realistic
for the goal you
have established?
Do you have a
timeframe listed in
your SMART goal?
This helps you be
accountable and
drives motivation.

13. Ensure the
is
presented

14. To get buy-in into your communication strategy you must be able
to answer the question everyone asks …
What’s in it for me?
Ensure the business problem is presented

15. Your IC plan should be used to:
present the
reasons why
something has or
has not
happened
keep employees
feeling informed
engage them in
problem solving
across your business.
Ensure the business problem is presented

16. A committed
11 ways to perfect your internal communications plan

17. To be taken seriously, the message delivered by
your IC plan should be backed by the highest
levels of the organization.
There needs to be an individual
who can push the vision forward.
A committed driving force
But who fits that role best?

18. Traditionally, this task has
been the responsibility of
the marketing department…
How about considering someone
who is already an
part of your company?
A committed driving force

19. Your intranet’s
is a great way to
find the people who are
already actively engaging
with their colleagues.
That passion and desire to
communicate can be
channeled into implementing
an exceptional IC plan.
A committed driving force
Interact’s Influence Score takes Likes,
Shares and Blogging habits of individuals
and turns that data into a score
The score is a measure of each user’s
adoption and interaction with your
primary internal communication tool.

20. Understand the
available
tools

21. Understand the available tools
Assess all the tools you
have at your disposal:
§ How will you
and gauge people’s opinion while
you are doing the research?
§ How do you intend to
and ensure
participation?
§ What tools are available for you to
create meaningful, long-term
?

22. If you have an , this would be a very good time to leverage that tool.
§ Can key employees write blogs,
giving the organization as a whole a
view of the everyday problems they
face?
§ Can you instigate an employee
forum for asking questions or raising
issues?
§ Can you run surveys or polls?
Understand the available tools
A well run intranet could offer a
wealth of opportunity for engaging
internal communications.

23. Ensure consistency
11 ways to perfect your internal communications plan

24. Employees want
of the truth
For employees to have trust in your IC
plan, the message must be consistent
in terms of .
Develop a across
your intranet, newsletters, etc.,
company branding can be used to
help link the content together.
Ensure consistency

25. A good intranet can
impose a process
on authors that
ensures pages are
checked before they
are pushed live,
helping maintain the
internal
communication
plan.
Ensure consistency
This is where an
intranet comes
into play as a
method of
communicating
internally…
Using Interact, you can set perm issions so
specific work can be signed off

26. Cater for

27. People want to be able to respond to
information, express concerns and
promote ideas without fear.
If this is a new concept for your
organization, ensure people know that
they are free to express their opinion
and that they can tell it like it is (not as
they believe management want to see
it).
Your employees should not fear censorship

28. Cater for two-way conversations
Intranet Forums are a
great place to start
open dialogue.
Build them into your plan, ensuring
they are monitored and that
comments are responded to quickly
and accurately.
It is better to have a few, well
supervised forums than lots of
neglected ones: .

29. Don’t overwhelm
employees
11 ways to perfect your internal communications plan

30. On a daily basis, people have a huge
amount of information thrust at them.
Don’t let your internal
comms be a part of the
noise.
Emails
Meetings
Bulletins
Notices
Mandatory reads
…and more.

31. Think about what is important.
Breaking your plan down into smaller
themes or focusing on a few at a
time, will help you make use of the
diverse range of communication
initiatives that you have in your plan.
These themes should have goals that
form part of your larger IC plan and
should be reviewed regularly to
evaluate their effectiveness.
Focus your messaging

32. Ensure your internal
communications plan is

33. Your IC plan must and
There should be no part of the organization that is
ignored or considered unimportant.
Ensure your IC plan is inclusive

34. Ensure everyone has a voice
There may be areas that require
different tools to enable involvement
in the communication plans,
especially for distributed workers.
Luckily, social technologies have
demolished the barriers of space and
time, giving us almost instant
communication.
Make sure that regular communication
is delivered from the top & middle
management (perhaps in the form of
an internal social network which gives
everyone a voice).
Ensure your IC plan is inclusive

35. Ensure your external
and internal
communications plan
is standardized
11 ways to perfect your internal communications plan

36. .
Ensure that your external and internal comms plan is standardized

37. Consistency is key
§ While the message, tone, focus and
audience of your external
communications is very different to
that of the internal, consistency must
run between the two.
§ CIPR have argued there should be
no difference between internal and
external communications.
§ If agreement is not possible, then the
IC should include what is being said
externally with an explanation as to
why this message is different.
Ensure that your external and internal comms plan is standardized

38. Plan for

39. Nothing is perfect…
are you prepared for a disaster?
Plan for contingency and disaster

40. Don’t let it be the first time…
Try running a scenario and see how
well your methods work:
§ Does everyone get the message?
§ How quickly does it disseminate?
Your IC plan will be put
to the test in a crisis
A shared & efficient comms platform that connects all
areas of your business in a crisis should be the backbone
of your crisis plans.

41. Some questions to ask, before
sharing your
:
• Are there situations where your
normal or most used method of
communication is too slow or at
risk from threat?
• Do you have an alternative?
• Does everyone know to use it?
• Does it have redundancy, or is it
robust to most crisis scenarios?
Plan for contingency and disaster
The more effort you put into planning
for disasters, the more prepared you
will be if they happen.
SENIOR MANAGEMENT
BUSINESS
CONTINGENCY PLAN
Shared Comms Platform(s)
RiskManagement
SupplyManagement
Disasterrecovery
Facilities
Healthandsafety
HumanResources
DepartmentalHeads
Managers
Employees

42. Read more about perfecting your IC plan at Interact.