‘Setting the tone’ in internal communications

In chapter 10 of Katie Delahaye Paine’s “Measure What Matters,” she explains the six steps detailing how to measure your company’s internal communications program. Within the first step, Paine talks about how it is important to ‘set the tone’ when it comes to the kind of communication relationship that will exist between the communications department and rest of the employees.

What she means by this is that the communications department needs to let the company’s employees know what modes of communications will be used for internal communication. If the communications department thinks that it will be a good idea to use email as the most dominant form of internal communication, then communications needs to alert the employees to check their emails frequently.

In setting the tone, the communications department can also determine what kind of information they will provide the employees with. Will employees be allowed to see important company details, such as financial information? Or will most internal communication deal with general issues and public relations? This question of information exposure is important, especially if the company is changing upper-management.

However, regardless of how a company usually communicates internally, I think that communications departments should start to incorporate social media into their internal communications strategy. By using social media and creating ‘friend groups,’ not only is the company showing a presence on social networks, but they are also creating a link between themselves and their employees through a very popular medium.

By ‘setting the tone’ when it comes to internal communication, a company’s communications department can help its employees become aware of how their system of internal communication will work. And by using modern mediums of internal communication, companies are more likely to keep in touch with their employees and also gain a deeper online presence.