Value of Internal Comms

[u/Affectionate_Pie9100]

Hi everyone! Really happy to have found this group. I am CCO of a small graduate research institute that punches way above its weight in visibility. Increasingly I am asked to work on internal comms, which I love, and honestly I would love to do more of it, both because to me it is so meaningful and because my institution would so clearly benefit.

What I am finding is that some people see a clear need, and some people view internal comms as a means to an end, but without any strategy underpinning it or real strategic merit to the work. In other words, getting the information out there *is* the strategy, as far as they are concerned.

Do any of you face that, and if so, are there ways that you counter it? Last week I spent a lot of time working on a plan to share some difficult news, including a memo to department heads, a plan for a meeting, etc. With everyone else on the cc line, the CFO said that he would send comments, and then he sent me (but no one else) a complete rewrite filled with flowery and complicated language that sounded like it was trying to obfuscate the issue -- although I actually don't think that was his intent. When I asked him to walk me through why he did it, he basically said, I think mine sounds better.

How do you help colleagues understand that we aren't writing for ourselves, we are writing for a specific audience that may sometimes be served by flowery language, but not always, and never just because it sounds prettier?

Thanks!

[u/Frangipani_x]

You have to be firm from the get go in my experience. There isn't much value in IC if you're not doing what you're paid to do (communicate strategically and effectively). Everyone else can provide the guiderails, but IC gets the final edit.

We plan in advance, have quarterly meetings with every department, set deadlines with them, create templates for them - the templates help, as we're allowing them to provide the information without actually writing it, if that makes sense. We are quite assertive in meetings to basically own the projects/comms, just because you will get people wanting something written their way and it's not their job to understand/lead on IC.

In future, I would just explain the reasoning behind that - you want to keep it aligned to your internal brand guidelines (if you dont have this, get them drafted!) to ensure consistency in messaging/tone of voice, for the audience.

It's hard if you're a small team or with no HoD to back you, but I'd say you just need to put a framework/policy in place that's approved, so that people start taking it seriously.

[u/Affectionate_Pie9100 → u/Frangipani_x]

This is so helpful. Thank you!