The wonderful world of employee engagement and internal communication

When I left full-time education I wondered why I had chosen the subjects I had. English, history and psychology all made me buzz but I got frustrated when there didn't appear to be an obvious route for me to take.

12 Sep 2021
by Jennifer Robinson

But I should have had more faith as it led to my career now – the wonderful world of employee engagement and internal communication. I love it and I'm hugely passionate about it so I thought I would share how internal communication could be a great match for you too...

If you'd like to make a big difference to something we all spend a big chunk of our lives doing

Internal communication and the impact that has on employee engagement is huge. All of us at some point in our lives have a place of work, paid or unpaid, so most of us spend a significant amount of our waking hours being an employee. And what that experience is like can vary wildly and quite often affect our lives greatly; we can all recall an employer we loved to work for and perhaps remember with greater accuracy the one we didn't.

In internal communication you have the chance to look at what that employee experience is really like, and to continuously make sure it is top notch. And how you can do that is massively diverse; from ensuring people feel like they belong in an inclusive workplace and have a voice to powerful storytelling so everyone understands (and more to the point cares about) the company's ambitions.

If you'd like to be part of why a company is so successful

Without that above bit ? being right i.e. employees really digging their workplace, an employer will be hard pushed to be a success story. Yes, extrinsic rewards (pay, discounts, perks) take you so far but the sweet spot of any successful company or organisation is how happy and motivated their people are. There is stacks of research out there that shows happy and engaged employees are the reason for a business' success, not a result of it.

To put it simply, internal communication and employee engagement play an essential role in the success of any company or organisation.

If you love the power of language (and its many forms)

My undergraduate degree was in history. The parallels with internal communication are surprising (stick with me!) because both require an understanding of language and more importantly how humans choose to use it. (The downside is I frequently disappoint friends and family for not knowing the answers to any history quiz questions – remembering dates is not my thing). With history you're taught that everyone has an axe to grind aka a reason behind their language; someone they were trying to persuade/dissuade, someone they were trying to impress etc. With internal communication the purpose and aim of that language is equally essential.

I love helping to carve messages that inspire people and helpings others, especially managers and leaders, to understand the power of what they say and do. I also get to work on a variety of communications from animation and film through to printed copy. It's also really important to be a huge advocate for Plain English; when 100 words and not 10,000 will do and there's so much jargon you need a specialised dictionary, internal communication can most definitely save the day.

If you like to be kept on your toes

You can never be bored in internal communication. The workplace will always change as will the myriad of ways we interact as people so I love the fact you have to keep at the forefront of the latest technology and thinking on everything from behavioural science to the top ten apps to watch for in 2022.

Sometimes change is rapid; COVID blew the lid off many organisations and exposed their amazing internal communication, or their need to invest in it. And sometimes it can feel more like treading water, but even then, internal communication can challenge the norm and inject new life to a workplace when it is right to do so. 

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