Untangle your communications challenges

Near the top of the list of “most frustrating things ever” is untangling impossible knots. Whether it’s delicate necklace or wired earbuds, no matter how carefully we think we put it away in a drawer, they magically transform into a confusing mess by the time we need them again. 

Unfortunately, the same can be said for employee communications. You might start out with a clear plan, but it doesn’t take long for confusing messages to overwhelm you and your audiences. 

So how do you avoid information overload? Untangle, then organize.

Untangle: The Mini Anti-Audit

Before we can make a plan to move forward, we need to look at how far we’ve come. Whether it’s the beginning of a new year or a new quarter, it’s important to reflect periodically on how your communications landed over a period of time.  

Because “audit” makes us think about tax season, we like to call this strategy the mini “Anti-Audit.” No fines to pay or forms to fill! We’ve broken it down into three main buckets to make it simple:  

1. Clarify your audience(s) 
2. Review your channels 
3. Cut out the noise 

1) Clarify your audience(s)

• Ask this: Was your target audience clear for each communication? Or, in an effort to include everyone and satisfy stakeholders, did your team add more sub-categories of audiences causing lines to blur? (Don’t worry – it happens allll the time.) 

• Try this: Identify all audiences and categorize them. Who is your core audience? Are there segments within it? How do their priorities and preferences differ? Then when you plan each communication, choose which segment you’re targeting and speak directly to it – and no one else.  

This way, no one gets left out or is confused about if something pertains to them. Remember: if you’re talking to everyone, you’re talking to no one. 

2) Review your channels 

• Ask this: What channels did you use to communicate with your audiences in the last year? What metrics do you have for each of them? Was engagement consistently higher on one of them? Are there any that didn’t receive the attention you wanted, or elicited a ‘meh’ response from leaders or employees?  

• Try this: Choose your best-performing channels and phase out any that aren’t necessary. You can even build on your audience segments by identifying where each one spends the most time. Is it email, intranet, Teams or even a project management system?  

By streamlining and customizing the channels you use, you can keep communications focused and organized. (That means people will actually read what you write!) 

3) Cut out the noise

• Ask this: What were the most important communications you sent? Which laddered up to company goals? What metrics prove their effectiveness? Did communications resonate with your audiences enough that they took action? Did less important communications distract from core messaging?  

• Try this: Evaluate any lower-tier messages. Consider how often you speak about these topics – maybe pull back or consolidate messages if they turned into clutter. Consider using a channel specifically for day-to-day messages versus important communications.  

This step will help you stay on message throughout the year and prioritize the communications that align with your organization’s goals.  

Bonus: If you have organizational changes you need to emphasize, you can use these additional tips on cutting through the noise.  

Organize: The Plan

1) Develop a communications plan

Pop quiz: What’s the difference between a communications plan and an editorial calendar? In short, details.  

A communications plan lays out the overall strategy, focusing on long term goals. An editorial calendar is all about tactics – the content that ladders up to those goals.  

Some of our clients are tempted to jump straight into creating content. However, we find that if we skip the communications planning step, it’s too easy to get caught up in churning out deliverables and content, instead of strategically focusing on overarching goals. This method is ineffective and can overwhelm your audiences – essentially tangling messages further.  

A communications plan keeps teams focused on the big picture. Be sure to include: 

• Business initiatives and any expected company changes 
• Key messages and business strategies 
• Communications goals and objectives 
• Target audiences (and segments!) 
• Metrics and methods of evaluation 
• Channels 

By achieving consensus on a communications plan, you and your team can stay on track, meet business objectives and make an impact on employees in the future. 

2) Create an editorial calendar

Now’s the time to play around in those weeds!  

An editorial calendar helps you ensure individual messages and tactics align with the strategies from the comms plan. Plus, organizing all company communications in a central location helps your team prioritize the messages that matter most.  

Include components like:  

• Content topics 
• Publication dates 
• Formats and channels 
• Specific audience segments 
• Assigned owners 
• Status 

An editorial calendar is the middle step in between high-level planning and execution. 

3) Encourage feedback

Your strategies are set, your content is planned, so now you’re done. Right? Not quite.  

By putting feedback systems in place, you can see if content hits the mark, measure the effectiveness and reveal any blind spots. 

To do that, you can:  

• Build feedback loops into your website 
• Promote a suggestion box through your newsletter or intranet 
• Send employee surveys after big communications pushes 

You can then use the input to refine communications in the future and earn even better engagement. Data also serves as a baseline for future initiatives.

Look forward to a fresh strategy

With a little untangling and organizing, you can bring clarity to your internal messaging and focus employee communications. And – fingers crossed – there will be less to untangle next time.

Need help untangling? Let’s discuss how to make your communications make a statement — shiny, intentional and impossible to miss.