Five tips to help managers embrace their communication role — Managers are the frontline leaders in any organization. And like all leaders, they play a significant role: · Communicating where the organization is heading · Clarifying what employees need to do to help the organization succeed · Sharing progress and recognizing accomplishments · Answering questions · Fostering relationships to build…

How to select the right tactics that engage employees — Your communication plan for that next big change initiative is well underway. You defined objectives, set key messages, and captured impacts by audience. (Nicely done!) Now it’s time to select channels and you have a few questions swirling in your head: Do I need a new channel? Should I rely…

Five ways to measure success during an organization-wide change — It’s an expected part of the modern workplace: organizations and their employees are constantly in a state of change — from mergers/acquisitions or new technologies to simpler initiatives, such as an updated approach to onboarding new hires. Even though change is expected; however, it doesn’t make it easy. With many…

These five skills will help you rise to the challenge — Your organization has been working hard on a new initiative and you are the expert communicator who will help employees understand the change and what to do differently. Lucky you! You work in an organization that recognizes the value of a strong change communication plan. It’s the perfect time to…

Go with the flow: Align communication with the waves of impact — Imagine you’re preparing to launch a new onboarding tool that will impact all recruits, new hires, and people managers. But there’s a catch: Only managers who are actively hiring employees are interested in onboarding communication right now. The rest don’t care, so they trash the emails and skip the workshops…

5 types of people you should recruit to get employees on board — With competing priorities and limited time, getting employees to embrace change is tough. But effective internal communication can be a game changer. Your role as a communicator is to come up with the game plan to reach and engage employees: define the objectives, create the right messaging, and choose the…

Follow these guidelines — I was reminded about the challenge of survey fatigue recently, when a client asked, “How do I get a handle on all of the surveys hitting employees?” Just as organizations strive to manage broadcast emails, many are now wrestling with how to gather feedback while respecting employees’ time. When it…

4 techniques to help with short-term employee communication planning — Most of us have been focused on crisis communication over the last four weeks and as we settle into alternate work arrangements, you may be considering what’s next for communication. It’s the perfect time to ask employees. Here are four methods designed to help you set communication priorities for the…

5 routine internal communication practices worth breaking — Looking for inspiration as you develop internal communication plans for the year? Ask yourself: What are we doing that has become routine and employees no longer find helpful? Here are five common practices that may be dragging down your communication. James Clear (author of Atomic Habits) recently posted a provocative…