Internal Communications Tools

"You and your IT team have gotten the sign off you needed from top management, the contractors have done their job, and now you’re ready to deploy a major technology shift at your company. If you’re thinking that the next step is to sell that technology to the users, you may have already made a serious mistake. Smart IT managers know that one of the most critical parts of a technology rollout is winning the support and trust of users before a project is underway.

If you haven’t brought other departments and their leaders, both formal and informal, on board from the very beginning, your project may already be in serious trouble."

Read the full article to find out more about these five ways to get employees using new technology:

1. Plan and budget for adoption from the start
2. Lead by example
3. Engage natural leaders, not just department heads
4. Align rewards and recognition
5. Be sure to communicate with users

"Given that more than half of mergers fail to meet their targets (83% in one study by KPMG), there’s lots of evidence that certain conditions can be fatal to deal success."

Read the full article to find out more about these merger-killers and ideas to combat:

1. Not enough communication
2. Rapidly changing org structure
3. No support for collaboration
4. Slow integration
5. Lack of leadership

The Digital Leaders Think Tank is a UK cross-sector, not-for-profit venture where leaders in digital marketing and communications share best practice and lessons with each other.  At a recent session they discussed Internal Social Media and the Implications for the Internal Communications Function.

Read the full article to find out examples and more about these discussion topics:

• ways to utilise internal social media to impact change
• understand what the barriers to change are so you can try to remove them
• have to lead by example
• how to remove the fear factor of communicating online
• the currency of trust
• shortest social media policy ever - don't be stupid
• find out what your audience wants and answer "what's in it for me?"
• people get things done, technology helps
• gamification, not shamification
• understand the five levels of attitude
• education and training - and one big miss, not including best practices
• importance of pre-planning
• importance of leadership buy-in
• fear of losing control
• and a long list of additional abbreviated take-aways

"Some aspects of organizational culture are visible on the surface, like the tip of an iceberg, while others are implicit and submerged within the organization. Because these ingrained assumptions are tacit and below the surface, they are not easy to see or deal with, although they affect everything the organization does.  Dealing with organizational barriers. It is better to be mindful of things below the surface!"

Read the full article to get a closer look at this image and get a better understanding of what's happening below the surface when you initiate a change.

"It’s against human nature to react favorably to change because it takes people out of their comfort zone. How have you seen people react to changes in their work? The typical reaction is resistance. Such resistance can often sabotage the best efforts of management to drive change throughout the organization. It even happens when managers are diligent communicators and active in the communication process.

When change initiatives fail, the culprit is often a lack of good communication from management. But that’s not always the whole story. Communication isn’t just about what management says – it’s also about how employees listen."

Read the full article to find out more about these core messages which your communications needs to identify:

• The nature of the transformational change itself
• The process of changing from the current state to the future state
• What role will I play in the change process
• Where is the resistance to change
• How will the change affect me 
• Communication is paramount

During divestitures and acquisitions, messages to employees must remain positive, concise and clear. Don’t leave employees asking, “Why, what now?” Direction and detail are needed. Without it, internal communication may quickly become an external problem.

Read the full article to find out more about these five tactics for communicating change:

1. regular updates
2. when information will be available
3. encourage team dialogue
4. open channels of communication
5. don't keep them guessing