What do you think determines the value of internal communications?

I love it when posts on other blogs ask simple questions that frankly I've never really considered. Today I read this post that pins the value of internal communications to the quality of people representing them.

I get it. There's a strong correlation between value and quality. Quality people do quality work. They are engaged in the business and are able to properly frame messages and provide perspective.

For the most part, I agree with this statement but there are quite a few holes in such a general statement, with the biggest being who represents internal communications. Certainly there is a lot of communication going on that falls outside the scope and control of communications professionals.

If you're in a manufacturing environment, it's likely that supervisors play a large role in communicating to the workers. Communicators can provide them information and hopefully help coach supervisors, but at the end of the day, they lose control of the communication. And at this point, that supervisor is now representing internal communications.

Plus, the quality of vehicles plays a key role as well. If you have a horribly designed newsletter that comes out only sporadically, that certainly won't help the quality of your communication. If you invested in poorly designed or ad-hoc digital signage network, you're only doing employee communications a disservice.

The quality of people in internal communications is important, but the messages and vehicles play key roles.

What do you think?

Comments for What do you think determines the value of internal communications?

blog comments powered by Disqus

Sunday, June 7, 2009 by Liz Guthridge:: I see more holes than fabric in this line of thinking. The people may be high quality, but they may not have the type of quality or skills needed for the situation. For example, they may be excellent writers when the leaders could benefit more from coaching and advising. Plus, as you pointed out, the responsibility for internal communications rests on more shoulders than just the communication pros in the function. To me, the value of the internal communications is determined by business results, which formal and informal communications supports. And, yes, I realize that this means that GM and Chrysler would have a tough time arguing that they're doing excellent internal communications now that they're in bankruptcy. They may be doing great communications for a BK company, but they're not on the top of the world.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 by Mary Harvey:: Employees always want to hear the news from their immediate supervisor. Its up to the internal communications people to train those front supervisors in delivering messages. It is indeed a challenge on a manufacturing floor. Internal communications are exceedingly important. A motivated (informed) workforce will contribute to the bottom line.
Thursday, June 11, 2009 by Dave Seifert:: I think it's also important to note the source of the article ... from India? So the writer may be talking about India-specific characteristics.