The #1 Way To Improve Your Internal Comms in 2024

What’s the single most important thing you need to do to improve your internal comms this year? Caitlin Kirwan has the answer. 
 

The single best way to improve your internal comms in 2024 is to learn from 2023. That’s right – I’m talking about the power of IC audits and interim reviews.

While the words ‘audit’ and ‘review’ might fill you with dread, let me put your mind at ease. Taking time to carry out internal communications audits and interim reviews will lead to greater transparency, connection, and engagement. And it certainly doesn’t have to involve spending the final few evenings of 2023 chained to your laptop, trawling through endless spreadsheets and user metrics.  

Let’s take a look into why these audits and interim reviews are so important, and how to get started. 

Why do I need to audit my internal communications?

While it’s helpful to conduct a full audit of your internal communications every two to three years, an interim review at the end of each calendar year will ensure learnings from the previous 12 months are taken forward.  

But this isn’t the only time you need to think about reflecting on the performance of your channels, campaigns, and initiatives – internal communications should be reviewed on an ongoing basis. An interim year-end audit is simply an opportunity to pull together everything you learned throughout the year and put it into action for 2024.  

Reviewing internal communication efforts from 2023 will allow you to create an informed roadmap and comms strategy for 2024.

There are lots of benefits to carrying out an interim IC audit at the end of each year, including…

• Understanding return on investment 
• Informing communications strategy and planning
• Driving engagement and alignment with business objectives

However, skipping this all-important reflection period can result in time and budget being wasted in 2024. After all, Einstein said it best – “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”.    

In a nutshell, measuring internal communications at the end of every year will improve the strategy and delivery of future activity.  

What should be reviewed?

The purpose of an interim audit is to ensure your current internal communications approach is aligned with the business objectives and is achieving the desired results.

Gary Moss, Internal Communication Director at Gallagher, recommends considering the following questions as part of a successful internal communications audit:

• Do your employees understand your business vision, mission, and strategy?
• Are they able to articulate how their role supports your business goals?
• Do you understand their information needs and channel preferences?
• Do your communication channels and messages support your company culture and values?

This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to ask employees for feedback, just in time for the clock to strike midnight on New Year’s Eve. As this is an interim year-end audit, you will already have a lot of the data you need to answer the above questions.  

Look back through the information you’ve gathered throughout the year, including metrics, formal feedback, and informal feedback. How connected were employees to the vision, mission, and strategy throughout the year – did responses change between each pulse survey? What did channel usage look like at various points throughout 2023? What did the data from exit interviews tell you throughout the year?  

Ultimately, the review should use your existing metrics and feedback to create a summary of 2023 that helps you understand what worked well, and what didn’t.

Improve your internal comms: how to get started

Time is of the essence if we want to put our best foot forward in 2024. These three steps will get you started with your end-of-year review!

1. Reflect on the 2023 internal communication objectives

The first step is to reflect on your 2023 internal communication objectives to consider which ones were achieved, evolved, or need to be rolled into 2024.

For example, dive into the intranet metrics if a 2023 objective was to increase usage by 20%. Or work back through your video stats if another objective was to improve engagement with the CEO update videos.

Or filter through the 2023 pulse survey results to see how well employees say they understand the company strategy, if that was a goal.

You get the gist!      

2. Turn your attention inward

The next step is to turn your attention inward and look at how the internal communication function is operating.

Did you have the right people in the IC team this year to deliver your objectives, or were there resource challenges? Did you have the right tools in place to get the analytics you needed, and will need going forward?

Are you happy that your internal communications strategy is up to scratch to achieve your 2024 objectives, based on your learnings from step 1?

Use our handy audit checklist to help you reflect!

3. Build an action plan

With all of the information and insights from steps 1 and 2, you will be ready to build the action plan for improving your internal communication in 2024.

Perhaps you decide to adjust the flow of next year’s content calendar, mix up your channels matrix, or request additional graphic design resources.

Whatever your findings, this step is about turning your attention to 2024 (and beyond) and thinking about what you need to supercharge your internal comms and achieve your objectives.  

Use Workvivo to improve your internal comms in 2024

If your digital internal comms channels were one of the things holding you back in 2023, Workvivo can help.

As the world’s leading employee experience platform, we help companies simplify their communication and drive engagement.

Book a demo to find out what we can do to improve your internal communications in 2024!