South African companies have done well in exploring and investing in telling their brands’ stories to their external target audiences. Many have also improved their internal communication; possibly due to a growing buzz about the importance of employee engagement and employer branding, but there is certainly room for improvement in terms of aligning internal and external communications in many places.
I read an alarming statistic a while ago. According to the 2016 Edelman Trust Barometer, a survey of 33,000 people in 28 countries showed that almost a third of employees didn’t trust their employers. According to the study, the situation was worse the lower you go in the organisation. That poses a big problem for any business. If your staff, particularly at the lowest levels are feeling completely disconnected and don’t trust their leaders, why would they be loyal and make any extra effort to promote your brand?
Words like quality, excellence and safety become meaningless if the people inside your organisation are not committed to the same values, feeling valued and taking responsibility to live these values, following the example set by the leaders of that particular company.
The question is then, what is your business doing to ensure that employees feel a real connection - both as a team and with the values the company promises to offer?
At some point (and I would recommend it to be regularly) the HR, marketing, PR and internal communications departments need to be at the same table to discuss concerted plans of action to ensure that they communicate clearly and consistently with both their internal and external stakeholders. The internal audience has to be considered with every piece of communication your PR team is planning or working with. It is well worth taking the time to ask how employees can help to gather useful information or support messages you plan to send out.
Effective communication is a two-way process. It is not just about what the top executives and marketing team say about the company and its products or services in their advertising, newsletters or at the AGM. It is also about staying in touch to hear how your staff and customers are feeling, how they are experiencing your brand and if they still have trust in your product or service and the business. You have to make time to listen and create ways for people to speak up and feel heard.
Listening is vital to keep in touch with what your staff are hearing first-hand from customers, to address issues and adapt the way the business operates or the products or services you provide. It is also important to keep in touch with what employees want or need to be happy and fulfilled at work, for better staff retention and to grow your next generation of leaders.
We live in a time of rapid technological advancement, but that doesn’t mean that we should lose our human touch. Internal public relations help to build a company culture where your people are inspired to pull together to move your organisation forward. Companies can spend a lot of money on advertising, social media management and marketing activities, but if you don’t have a positive internal culture, your external efforts can be wasted, because your employees aren’t brand ambassadors and word of mouth can destroy the image you have been trying hard to build.
At the end of the day, it is about speaking the same language, both internally and externally, to connect people in all areas of your business. So why not test a couple key messages among a random selection of people within your company to determine if they are informed about your current external marketing drive or PR focus for the year. The feedback you receive will give your HR and PR experts valuable insights to help ensure that their future endeavours are aligned to build trust and enhance relationships, both inside and outside the business.
