If there is a clear disconnect between your external image and communications and the feelings and understanding of the same topics internally, it will not take long until you are found out. It is through your employees that the outside world gains a view into your company, culture and way of doing business.

Navigating the infinite cultural minefield

Internal communications can often be just as tricky and complicated, if not more so, that other corporate communications, especially in global and multicultural corporations. Just think about how many different ways one sentence could be interpreted when it’s delivered to 20 countries, in 15 different languages, to individuals who range from tech buffs and engineers to cold hard business guys, from caring HR managers to the single mother that punches in at the factory to carry out a repetitive task just to make a paycheck.

This typically means that you are faced with the challenge of creating a concept around a message that is universal and impactful (not an easy ask) or coming up with 50+ variants of the same message.

Communication is an act of DEI

Also, when we look at internal communications, the variation in topics is vast. They range from good news and the development of internal culture and processes to critical topics surrounding safety, legality and fair treatment. DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) is always a factor that must be taken into consideration in internal communications, but often, it is also at the heart of the topic itself.

Responsible global corporations are investing a lot of time and effort into ensuring responsible DEI practices in everything from daily operations to recruitment processes and leadership sensitivity training. Ensuring that communications about these actions reach everyone is part of that equation.

Is there no room for creativity?

So, how can a creative agency even begin to approach the field of internal communications when the topics are so critical, the objectives so specific and the audience so infinitely varied? One could easily argue that there is no room for creativity, but they would be dead wrong. The same rules and foundations apply.

We want the audience to know something. We want the audience to feel some type of way about this knowledge. We want to affect behaviour or drive action. Emotional engagement is just as important as the sharing of information. Building the story, concept and style of communications around the big topics we want to communicate makes a huge difference in terms of how the message is internalized.

And this brings us back to what I said in the beginning. How your employees feel, understand and accept the company they work for (and their messaging) relates directly to the way the outside world sees you. This is worth always keeping in mind.

More on the topic of internal communications:

Read:

Podcast episode on internal communications: