SAMPLE Optimize the Internal Communications Strategy Inform, engage, and inspire employees with messages that matter. McLean & Company is a research and advisory firm providing practical solutions to human resources challenges via executable research, tools and advice that have a clear and measurable impact on your business. © 1997-2016 McLean & Company. McLean & Company is a division of Info-Tech Research Group SAMPLE Learn about becoming a member

Introduction Internal organizational communications has the power to fuel or quell employee engagement. An effective communications strategy proactively aims to use communications as a tool to improve employee engagement. This Research Is Designed For: This Research Will Help You: Communications Leaders HR Leaders Business Leaders Understand the importance of investing in an organizational communications strategy. Assess your current communications practices. Develop priorities for communications goals. Create a communications strategy to anchor organizational communications practices. Assist communications stakeholders to build communications plans to action strategic goals. SAMPLE

Executive Summary SAMPLE Organizational communications is the heart of the business, yet they are often neglected or executed in an ad-hoc fashion, leaving employees under-informed and confused – ultimately causing employee disengagement. With the increasingly complex business environment, dispersed employees, economic instability, and the rise of Generation Y in the workforce, strategic internal communications is becoming ever more important as employees need to know what is going on to remain engaged and perform effectively in their roles. Employee engagement results show that employees are seeking more organizational communications, especially from senior leadership. Communications is a major opportunity to improve overall employee engagement without investing in brand new initiatives. In the information economy, everyone in the organization is communicating at high speeds all of the time. As a result, sometimes messages can be inconsistent, and the organizational culture and credibility can suffer amongst employees. A communications strategy gets all key stakeholders to form communications goals, agree upon those goals, and determine the delivery mediums to employ over the course of the year. A strategy also helps them create harmony and synergy between communications and save time overall in communicating throughout the year. McLean & Company’s research helps your organization build a communications strategy tailored to the organization’s goals and target audiences. Follow this process for improved internal communications: Learn why internal communications requires a strategy. Assess the current state of your communications practices. Document target audience profiles. Set strategic communications goals. Choose effective communications mediums. Get to action by developing communications plans. With so much of an organization’s success riding on effective communications, investing the time upfront will save resources and protect you from regret in the long run. SAMPLE

Guided Implementation McLean & Company offers various levels of support to best suit your needs Guided Implementation “Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track.” DIY Toolkit “Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful.” Workshop “We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place.” Consulting “Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project.” Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options SAMPLE

Use McLean & Company’s process to optimize your internal communications strategy 5 Facilitate communications planning for key stakeholders. 1 Assess the current state of internal organizational communications. 4 Map strategic goals to effective communications mediums. 2 Create profiles for target audiences. 3 Define internal strategic communications goals. Once you have completed a comprehensive communications strategy, the process becomes much easier the next time you work through the exercise as it involves updating rather than recreating every step. SAMPLE

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The nature of work is changing. An effective communications strategy can mitigate the challenges in today’s wild world of work Challenges The nature of work is changing. Generation Y in the workforce By 2025, Gen Y will make up 75% of the workforce and they have different needs, wants, and ways of communication. Unengaged Gen Y’s may cause talent shortages, turnover, expenses, and a damaged reputation. Teleworking Employees are expecting more flexibility to work from home. Failing to address this expectation may disengage employees. The ease of technology use Technology that is not convenient to use and not supported by proper training may frustrate employees. Information overload Employees already have too much to juggle and their attention span is limited. Overusing communications will shut off their attention. Lack of job security If employees feel they may lose their job at any time, they may be more vigilant with what they say, and communicate what they feel should be heard, and not the truth. Increased trends towards transparency Employees who do not feel that their organization discloses important information to them will likewise not disclose important information to the organization. The working world is much more knowledge- based than ever before. This has changed the way people work. Employees expect flexible work options and many don't need to be tethered to a workstation. Anytime, anywhere workers have become the dominant employee type. 92% of employees carry out knowledge work to at least some degree. Source: Develop a Telework Program, McLean & Company Teleworking on a regular basis (1-2 days per week) grew by 61% between 2005 and 2009, and the number of regular teleworkers is expected to increase 69% by 2016. Source: Telework Research Network, 2013 To learn more about working with and engaging Gen Y’s, refer to McLean & Company’s solution set, Engage Generation Y. SAMPLE

Because of its impact on all employee groups, communications cannot be developed and disseminated in a silo McLean & Company’s Six Organizational Communications Categories help to divide the responsibilities of communications across key stakeholders, and convey how different types of communications are impacted by one another to provide consistent messaging to employees. Essential components of an organizational communications strategy. Recommended components of an organizational communications strategy. Optional components of an organizational communications strategy. Business Communications HR General Communications Change Communications Crisis Communications Culture & Events Communications Knowledge-Sharing Communications McLean & Company’s Six Organizational Communications Categories Basic communications strategies Sophisticated communications strategies The strategy grounds everyone responsible for developing and delivering organizational communications (communications stakeholders) in a common understanding of what needs to be communicated and why. SAMPLE

McLean & Company Helps HR Professionals To: Empower management to apply HR best practices Develop effective talent acquisition & retention strategies Build a high performance culture Maintain a progressive set of HR policies & procedures Demonstrate the business impact of HR Stay abreast of HR trends & technologies  Sign up to have access to our extensive selection of practical solutions for your HR challenges Learn About Becoming a Member "Now, more than ever, HR leaders need to help their organizations maximize the value of their people. McLean & Company offers the tools, diagnostics and programs to drive measurable results." – Jennifer Rozon, Vice President, McLean & Company Toll Free: 1-877-281-0480 hr.mcleanco.com SAMPLE