Before we dive into today's topic, I want to invite you to a webinar I'm doing in partnership with Oak Engage. This one is a little bit different and is an event I think is super important. Because it's about the right to disconnect and how you can look after yourself as an internal communicator.
I see a recurring issue all the time in our field - internal comms pros invest so much time and energy into making the employee experience great for everyone else... but what about us? Aren't we employees too? Shouldn't we also be having a great experience?
Join me for this event where we'll be discussing how internal comms pros can set their own limits and avoid burnout and disconnect from work. You can register here.
Each week in this newsletter I answer a question from a reader. Here's one I received that I'm going to tackle today:
“A challenge I face is trying to find the right channel that works for staff of different demographics. We’re constantly bouncing from one platform to the next and find ourselves in a never-ending cycle of adapting content for every channel we can think of. As much as it’s part of the job, it can get really exhausting!”
I can hear the tiredness in this communicator's words. Trying to use every channel for every piece of content is a pretty quick road to burnout and exhaustion for you, not to mention a high probability of overwhelm and overload for your employees who are at the receiving end of all this content.
Managing channels is hard work and getting the right mix of channels for your company and your specific audiences takes a bit of trial-and-error.
Here’s the (frustrating) truth: there's usually no such thing as the perfect “one-size-fits-all” channel that will magically reach your entire workforce effectively. You probably need more than one channel to have effective reach.
BUT this is not the same as needing to be everywhere at all once. Let's get practical here and see how you could approach your channels to get the right mix.
Try the Pareto Principle
Have you heard about the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule? I reckon you could apply this to your channel strategy.
If you're not familiar with it, the Pareto Principle is the observation that roughly 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. It's named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who noticed that 80% of Italy's land was owned by 20% of the population. And studies show that this principle shows up everywhere, for example in business, you'll often find that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. I think the same can reasonably apply to our world of internal comms.
For example, think about your comms channels. Take an inventory of all your available comms channels, just write them down in a list. You might find that your list includes 10-15 different channels you use to communicate with employees. Now let's have a go at applying the Pareto Principle here: are 20% of these channels reaching 80% of your audience? In other words, which 2-3 channels are the most effective ones that collectively reach nearly all of your employees?
These become your primary channels or your core channels; the ones you'll use consistently and the ones you know will have reliable reach.
For example, this core set of channels might include:
- An intranet
- An email newsletter
- A real-time platform like Teams or Slack
And then in this example, all the other remaining channels (digital signage, print materials, town halls, manager cascade, department meetings, SMS, mobile notifications, etc.) become secondary channels, used only for specific audiences or specific scenarios or message types.
Do you see how you've very easily and quickly identified the core channels you'll use all the time and therefore made everything much simpler and easier to manage?
Some messages probably SHOULD go everywhere - but these are the exceptions
There will be times when you need to override your own guidance and really plaster a message over every channel you have available to you. It's worth thinking through some scenarios and criteria for this so that you know when there's a legitimate need to do this this, versus when a stakeholder simply wants you to.
For example, here are some scenarios that would probably warrant putting content across as many channels as you have:
- Critical safety information that requires maximum coverage
- A time-sensitive announcement about an unexpected office closure
- A crucial piece of information that employees absolutely must have
The key is being intentional about when you make these exceptions, rather than treating every communication as an exception.
The hardest part is (as always) saying no to stakeholders
Now in my experience the hardest part about putting manners and rules on your channels is getting your stakeholders on board. You need organisational buy-in for your channel strategy or it simply won't work. We'll all been in a situation where Karen from Finance or Brian from Product wants their IMPORTANT information put across all channels IMMEDIATELY and they simply won't hear of any other suggestion. But we need to be able to push back, take ownership of our channels and be the guardians of our employee's attention.
Here’s some practical advice on managing your stakeholders. Firstly, it's worth taking some time to identify your key stakeholders and who is likely to push back on this new approach. Talk to them, have a conversation about your new channel guidelines and the reasons behind it. Show them some metrics and data to help them understand which channels work for which audiences, and why you've picked a few as your primary channels.
Something that helps a lot is a simple decision tree that you and your stakeholders can use together to make decisions about channel selections. This is something I'm doing in-person with a client this week in Belgium, we'll be designing a decision tree they can use as a team to make quick decisions about which channels to use for which type of content.
And my final piece of advice is to be fully aligned as a team when you put these rules in place and really try to back each other up and stick to the new rules as much as you can. If stakeholders get past your rules at their first attempt, the rules may as well not exist.
Remember: your expertise as a communications professional means that you know your audience, your organisation and which channels to use (and which ones to skip). Own that expertise.
My final thought
After more than a decade of working in internal comms, I’m increasingly convinced that simplicity and a less-is-more approach is the way to go. Effective internal communication isn’t about being everywhere all at once, it’s about being in the right places with the right content at the right time.
The companies I see with the most effective internal comms aren’t the ones with the most channels or the most messages. They’re the ones with the clearest strategy and the strongest discipline.
So don't be afraid to pause, step back from the non-stop requests to plaster content across all the channels and focus on what really matters: connecting your people with information that helps them do their jobs well. Sometimes that means doing less, but doing it better.
Thanks for reading and stay curious,
Joanna
Find me on YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn and check out my book
Want to work together?
- Join The Curious Tribe. This is my membership community for ambitious, curious communicators who want to achieve more in their roles and have fun at the same time. Membership allows you to work directly with me for 12 months, make deep connections with other communication pros who 'get it' and improve your skills through training and learning. More info here.
- Ready to review your channels and content but don't know where to start? Download my practical Internal Comms Audit Playbook to guide you through a DIY audit - no expensive consultant needed. This has ready-to-use templates and checklists to give you a systematic way to do your own audit which you can repeat every single year. Get it here.
- Take a shortcut. I've developed a collection of tried-and-tested templates, checklists and how-to guides for the key processes you'll need in your role as an internal communicator. You can download my Internal Comms Cheat Sheets here.
- Enroll in my course, "How to use ChatGPT as your personal assistant". This is a practical, on-demand course where I'll show you 38 specific ways to use ChatGPT to help you in your job as an internal communicator. You can enroll in the course here.