Top 8 Internal Communications Strategies for Change Management

Organizations face rapid and constant change due to the introduction of new technologies, economic uncertainties, and demographic shifts within the workforce. For this reason, the resultant need for a change management framework becomes obvious.

Change management is also needed during mergers and acquisitions. In these environments, getting stakeholder buy-in from all departments within your organization often seems insurmountable, but it can be done.

This article dives into the concept of change management and shows how to develop an effective plan for achieving the best possible outcomes. You’ll also discover advanced communication techniques, such as using credible sources and maintaining transparency.

What is change management?

In its simplest form, change management is a collection of strategies and approaches to help ease the burden of change within an organization. This process typically moves through several phases:

  • Unawareness
  • Awareness
  • Understanding
  • Acceptance
  • Ownership

The most challenging period for organizations seeking change is between the “understanding” and “acceptance” phases. Stakeholders—especially employees—often react emotionally to change.

For example, during the initial “awareness” phase, most companies do an excellent job getting their employees excited about improving operations, implementing better policies, or affecting social awareness.

Most people are on board with making the company a better place to learn, grow, and increase productivity.

Unfortunately, when the “rubber meets the road” and the difficult work of implementation begins, many within an organization regret having “signed on” to the program. It becomes even worse if no internal communications are in place to ensure an orderly change management process.

Effective communication is vital to the success of any change management program. When leveraged correctly, it can get you to the ownership phase much quicker, where employees utilize teamwork and commitment instead of being mired in skepticism and inaction.

The most critical outcome for enacting any change management program is to decrease the time between the “understanding” and “acceptance” phases so you can get on with the difficult task of implementation.

Here are the steps for doing that.

1. Develop a plan.

First, set up a framework for your change management policy. Include all responsible parties and the rules governing them. Also, provide general information about what you want to accomplish through the various changes.

2. Map the desired outcomes.

Set clear goals and outcomes. Choose which key performance indicators (KPIs) to use and provide specific benchmarks to reach. These can include:

  • Change awareness percentages
  • Number of employees supporting the changes
  • Skill-gap identification
  • Time spent on training each process
  • Feedback analysis

Employee surveys are one way to gather the data. Another is conducting roundtable discussions with upper-level staff. Whichever method you choose, you must have a defined plan for tracking progress before implementing any changes. 

3. Map key stakeholders.

A stakeholder map is a diagram showing who the key people are in your organization. They can be executives, managers, employees, or shareholders. Simply put, these people have a vested interest in your company, brand, or product.

Mapping key stakeholders helps identify:

  • Necessary roles within your organization
  • Subject matter experts within each department
  • Possible change management leaders
  • Those who may be the most reluctant to change

The first thing to do is identify the key stakeholders in the process and determine their level of involvement. Then, assign each person a specific task within the change management process.

4. Utilize internal comms.

Change management only works when you have the correct process and policy documentation. This written content includes:

  • Change Management Policies.  Your change management policy details what you are trying to accomplish with the changes. It also identifies the reason for the changes and who will be involved.
  • Standards. Operational, administrative, and change control standards outline how to implement your change control policies. These guidelines are not as detailed as specific work procedures but provide general instructions for implementing your change management program.  Standards also show who is responsible for carrying out specific change management tasks.
  • Work Tasks. Unless you can convey your changes at the most granular level, the rest of your change management efforts won’t matter. Work tasks provide employees with detailed instructions to avoid ambiguity concerning the desired outcomes.

5. Select your channels.

Disseminate internal comms using the correct channels within your organization. Start with the most obvious choices, including:

  • Web. Develop dedicated web pages on your company site to highlight key features of your change management program. It’s best to use password protection to ensure confidentiality.
  • Intranet. Your in-house intranet is a good choice for sharing vital knowledge with your employees and upper-level staff. Sensitive, proprietary information can be password protected, or you could invest resources into creating a separate company-wide wiki site.
  • Social Media. Be careful here. While Facebook, X, and Instagram offer value for building trust and confidence with employees and customers, information you don’t necessarily want your competitors to have about your company can leak out fast. Instead, making general statements about the direction your company is willing to take will help motivate all stakeholders to take the journey with you.
  • Email. Mass emails are okay to get a general message to all employees concerning your change management strategy. For upper-level management, however, use a more targeted approach, addressing each person by name and their expected roles in the process.
  • Live Meetings. In-person meetings—whether you hold them at a company-wide event, closed-door sessions with managers, or one-on-one with immediate supervisors—can make a positive impression on those who are often reluctant to change.

Of course, you will likely deliver your finished policies and procedures over digital channels. If this is the case, be sure to password-protect sensitive documents.

You may also want to limit employee engagement to onsite viewing only. In other words, they could only view sensitive information on company-owned computers or devices at their workstations.

6. Train employees in the new procedures.

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One of the best ways to communicate new changes to your policies, standards, or procedures is through training. While standard classroom training is still valid, it’s best to use a wide variety of methods to keep employee interest.

Interactive Learning

Interactive learning and role-playing work well for front-line customer service employees. Learning what to say during a challenging exchange with a demanding customer goes a long way to helping the employee get through tricky situations.

Staggered Instruction

For complex workflows, staggered instruction works well to avoid overwhelming individual workers. Employees retain the information longer by learning new procedures a little at a time, utilizing the teachings more effectively.

Gamification

The latest trend in corporate training is gamification to help workers at all levels retain what they’ve learned. It involves using goals and games to make learning more fun and enjoyable.

For example, gamification uses a reward system of digital tokens employees can receive when getting the correct answers during an online training session. When they save up a specified number of tokens, they can trade them for cash or prizes. It incentivizes participants to learn the new procedures while getting more people on board with the changes.

7. Get feedback early on.

The whole idea behind change in the first place is to increase performance across all areas of your organization. Part of that effort involves listening to your employees, so it makes sense to get their feedback.

Once you announce your plans for change, you’ll receive a broad spectrum of feedback, ranging from total support to utter disgust. These emotions are normal and typically evolve during the entire change management process.  For this reason, you must gauge employee reactions carefully.

Unfortunately, the most vocal employees tend to drown out those who may feel uncomfortable sharing their feedback with upper-level management. To reach these people, it’s best to use employee surveys. You can make your own or hire a writing agency to create and manage them.

8. Collect KPI data.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are measurable metrics used to track the performance of your change management program. Incorporate them the same way you would for any other business activity. KPIs can be quantifiable or qualitative, depending on their purpose within your change management program.

Quantifiable KPIs:

  • Percentage of surveys received
  • Number of benchmarks hit on time
  • Percentage of attendees at training sessions
  • Costs of change implementation
  • Overall improvement percentages

Qualitative KPIs:

  • Employee engagement with the changes
  • Customer satisfaction
  • Brand loyalty
  • Customer loyalty

Use a combination of quantitative and qualitative KPIs to track change management performance across your entire organization. The method you use will depend on:

  • The type of data you collect
  • Stakeholder needs
  • Reporting frequency
  • Data collection sources

Additional Tips

Many nuances exist during the change management process, no matter the size of your company. Here are four more tips that may help.

Use credible sources within the company.

The idea of changing your company’s policies or procedures can come from someone other than the CEO. Others may initiate the process as well.

For example, an engineer or safety officer may find problems that could develop into catastrophic failure, leading to accidents or injuries within a workplace. In these instances, they would initiate a report and request procedural changes.

Sources such as these are invaluable to increasing credibility with your employees. The closer the source is to front-line workers, the better.

For example, when immediate supervisors direct the changes, rather than the CEO or upper management, the information becomes more trustworthy to those most affected.

Communicate often.

The success of your organizational change management program is highly dependent upon the frequency of communication with key stakeholders. Too little information given out infrequently is a key factor for employee resistance.

During the change management process, the sweet spot for disseminating information to key stakeholders is at least once per week. Still, it’s best to know your employees and their needs to determine the level and frequency of communication needed.

Maintain transparency and openness.

Successful communication during the change management process depends on the transparency level you provide. Negative feelings by employees are often brought about by a lack of information and being kept in the dark.

You can overcome this tendency by offering open and honest communication regularly. This strategy will help better meet the needs of the employees during organizational changes.

Continue tracking.

Continually monitor and evaluate relevant data concerning your new policies and procedures. Use the collected data to take appropriate action and make further changes when possible.

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Quick Recap

Change management is the practice of incorporating changes into an organization in a timely manner and with as few hiccups as possible. Unfortunately, too many companies struggle with employee resistance and spend too much time and money implementing changes.

This article has given you a basic framework for overcoming those objections. Effective internal communication is critical to a successful change management program: The more you communicate with key stakeholders during the process, the quicker your changes will be implemented.

How To Overcome Barriers to Cultural Change

Company culture is the personality behind your organization. It’s what makes you stand out in your industry and is reflected in your policies and procedures, leadership style, and employee interaction.

A strong company culture contributes to employee retention, efficient workflows, and high levels of customer satisfaction. But what happens when you change your company culture? How do you lead cultural change in the workplace?

Transforming your company’s culture can lead to confusion and frustration, so it’s best to implement a change management plan. Understanding change management and implementing these strategies is vital to your success. But it doesn’t end there.

Cultural shifts are inevitable throughout the life of your organization. Therefore, you’ll also need a continuous process improvement plan that ties in with your change management strategy.

What is change management?

According to Harvard Business School Online contributor Kelsey Miller, change management is all the actions an organization takes to make significant changes or adjustments. You can divide these activities into two categories:

Adaptive changes include small, incremental adjustments, such as adding a new position to address increased customer demands. These actions typically involve isolated parts of your company.

Transformational changes affect the entire organization. For example, changing your company’s culture would be highly transformational for your employees, customers, and overall brand strategy.

These change management examples have one thing in common: the need for process documentation to implement them. But first, let’s review the entire process in detail.

4 Elements of Change Management

The change management process is broken down into four elements:

  1. Goal Setting. What are you trying to accomplish by implementing cultural changes in your organization? What are the positive impacts you hope to obtain?
  2. Planning. Map the entire change management process from start to finish. You must also create change management documentation, assign tasks to departments or individuals, and determine  metrics—Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)—to track progress.
  3. Implementation. Change management includes bringing all stakeholders on board with the new policies or procedures. You’ll also need to train your employees to use them effectively.
  4. Monitoring Progress. Tracking the effectiveness of your change management program allows you to make necessary adjustments if needed.

Change Management Process Steps

Knowing how to implement your change management plan will help you overcome the hurdles of getting employee buy-in. It also allows you to focus your efforts and potentially reduce costs.

Step 1. Set tangible goals.

Focus on setting goals you can measure: for example, decreasing the time it takes to fulfill a customer order. Collaborate with workers and managers at all verticals (levels) to discover where process gaps exist.

However, change doesn’t always have to be about process; it can also be cultural. For example, if you want your workforce to adopt an agile mindset, you could set goals that:

  • Train managers to delegate authority.
  • Encourage innovative approaches.
  • Foster a culture of respect.
  • Emphasize continuous improvement.

Also, during this initial stage, you should decide how to measure your progress. While benchmarks are a common tool to help move the project along, KPIs are used upon implementation to assess the new culture’s impact on your company. Examples of process KPIs include:

  • Number of tasks completed on time
  • Feedback percentage
  • Compliance rate
  • Number of employee complaints
  • Budget considerations, including costs

Process KPIs provide a way to measure outcomes against stated goals. They also show you where you are improving and the areas where you need to adjust your procedures.

Step 2. Map the entire process.

Process mapping involves creating a diagram or flowchart to illustrate your company’s change management policies, standards, workflows, and tasks. It directs the project and shows how the change management project will be completed.

Step 3. Create change management documentation.

Start with a policy document containing a strong purpose statement and the reason for the changes. Build a case for why the culture shift is important to all stakeholders and highlight the expectations of those carrying out the change management project.

Next, create your change management standards using your previously mentioned policy statement. A standard operating procedure format is best and should provide:

  • General guidelines for carrying out change management tasks
  • Deadlines and benchmarks for project completion
  • Document governance rules, including authorized access, file storage, and version control

Step 4. Document the changes.

While your change management documentation is directed toward managers and subject matter experts (SMEs), the tasks for carrying out cultural changes will be directed toward employees. For this reason, writing each procedure in a clear, easy-to-read format is essential.

Once you have all tasks documented, have a professional proofreader review each piece to provide error-free instructions. Then, ensure proper sign-off before publishing the changes.

Step 5. Implement your changes.

The biggest challenge to implementing cultural change is getting employee buy-in, especially if this hasn’t happened in a long time.  Doing things the same way for many years often builds silos, and subcultures may have developed over time.

Another challenge is the different demographics within your company. For example, a 55-year-old person who’s been with your company for many years may have a harder time adapting to the changes than a younger, less experienced worker. Add the need to upgrade technology or software applications, and you could receive some pushback.

These and other challenges highlight the need for effective communication across all areas of your organization.

Let employees and managers know of your plans to change the company culture well before any planning starts.

This strategy will help all stakeholders feel like they are part of the process and hopefully facilitate buy-in later.

A cultural rollout plan is often required to get everyone on board. Some of the most successful, forward-thinking brands utilize several marketing assets, including:

  • Banners
  • Flyers
  • Emails
  • Handouts
  • Dedicated web copy

These are just a few ideas to get your employees and managers on board with the changes.  A team of experienced copywriters can help you plan, create, and implement your change management strategy.

Step 6. Conduct training.

New policies, standards, and work instructions require training to ensure everyone in your organization understands their roles within the culture. During the training process, you may find several procedures don’t fit correctly within the new guidelines. This realization is another reason for conducting training and allows managers to receive feedback from their team members concerning the changes.

Training can be anything from simple roundtable discussions to complete classroom instruction. Interactive role-playing is a great way to test your new procedures against real-world scenarios. You could even introduce gamification and give out prizes or awards to those who can answer the most questions or complete tasks within a certain amount of time.  

Step 7. Track your outcomes.

In step one, you decided on the KPIs to monitor the effectiveness of your change management program. Now it’s time to put this strategy into practice.

To obtain the necessary data, you’ll first need to have several templates in place. These documents include:

  • Employee assessments
  • Compliance reports
  • Employee surveys
  • Mishap reports
  • Readiness assessments
  • Customer surveys
  • Tests and quizzes

You can place many of these tools on your company’s website or print and disseminate them to stakeholders directly affected by the changes. Once you start receiving the data, log your KPIs as you go. Tracking cultural change is an ongoing process and should be reported regularly.

Step 8. Manage your documents.

Your change management process documents need a home separate from all your other organizational documents. You need a document management system that offers:

  • Ease of use
  • Version control
  • Search and tag functions
  • Excellent security
  • Collaboration capabilities
  • Authorship control

Document management is more than merely storing digital files on a computer. You’ll need to identify current document versions, migrate files from legacy storage systems, and share documents with only those who are authorized to see them.

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Change Management Versus Continuous Improvement

Changing an established company’s culture is difficult, but if you do it in small steps over time, you are more likely to achieve your goals. Having an ongoing Continuous Improvement Program can help.

But what is a Continuous Improvement Program, exactly?

Continuous process improvement is similar to change management, but you do it over time instead of implementing the changes all at once. It involves constant tracking and monitoring of your process KPIs and adjusting as you go. It may even mean deleting processes that don’t add value to your organizational workflow.

By implementing a plan for continuous improvement, you may realize higher productivity, improved customer service, and lower employee turnover. It can also save time and money by streamlining workflows while enhancing the quality of your products or services.

Steps for Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is an ongoing strategy. Therefore, the following steps often overlap, making the documentation process vital to your success.

Step 1: Assess each process.

In this initial step, you’ll select the processes that need improvement. You do this by assessing their process scope and usability, employee satisfaction with the procedures, and possible duplication with similar tasks.

Step 2: Set goals.

Define what you want from your new processes. Make your goals measurable, actionable, and relevant to solving current problems. Also, assign a timeline for accomplishing each objective.

Step 3: Map each process.

Instead of mapping your entire organizational workflow, like during a change management campaign, you should focus on one process at a time. Map each step chronologically and assign the appropriate symbols to create a visual diagram.

Step 4: Perform a qualitative analysis.

Assess each activity or task to identify which adds value and which needs to be deleted. Eliminate duplicated activities or ones that cause barriers to overall productivity.

Step 5: Improve the process.

This step is the process improvement phase and involves key stakeholders brainstorming ideas and developing solutions to current problems. Once you decide on a proper course of action, you must document the new processes, publish them, and manage your files for easy retrieval if you need to make changes in the future.

Step 6: Evaluate and monitor.

Continuous improvement means constant monitoring and tracking process KPIs. While quantitative data is essential, you can also use a qualitative approach.

For example, employee feedback can tell you how well the new procedures integrate into current workflows. Likewise, customer surveys provide insights into which service tasks are working and which need to return to the planning stage.

Final Thoughts

Your corporate culture is the personality behind your organization. It is the culmination of beliefs, values, and behaviors that define who you are as a company. It’s what keeps your employees and customers loyal to your brand.

Changing your company culture is a huge undertaking. Hopefully, this article has shed some light on the methods for effective cultural change within your organization. Use it as a handy reference when you need help with your change management and continuous improvement strategies.

How to Improve Employee Retention Using Effective Communication

Each month, around 4.1 million workers quit their jobs, according to a recent news release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That means you can expect to lose about two percent of your workforce every month, not including those you must let go of due to poor work performance.

While two percent may not seem like a substantial number, employee retention can affect your bottom line. As you probably already know, the costs of hiring and training new people can be significant.

The good news is that, when done correctly, you can increase employee retention using effective communication.

Here you will learn how to use the proper tone across both internal and external channels. Next, you will discover the secrets of creating an effective communication strategy with your employees. Then, we’ll show you the best ways to hire a writing agency if you need help.

Internal Versus External Communication

While internal and external communications have contrasting goals, they both deliver vital information. The only difference between them is that they have separate target audiences.

Internal Communication

Internal communication resides within the company structure and seldom reaches the outside world. Dissemination is primarily through personal contact, emails, manuals, or online platforms.

Four types of internal communication exist within most corporate structures:

  • Vertical. Messages sent between management and workers. They can move between hierarchal positions indiscriminately.
  • Upward. Requests sent up through the chain of command.
  • Downward. Directives sent from upper management to employees throughout the company.
  • Horizontal. Communication sent to peers within the same hierarchal position.

Internal communication occurs only between the people operating within your organization, where messaging is often informal. Therefore, it is vital to safeguard sensitive information, especially when utilizing technology to publish it.

External Communication

You can break down external communication into two categories:

  • Formal external communication. Includes sales presentations, press releases, and business reports. Utilize these channels to communicate information to stakeholders using a structured, professional tone.
  • Informal external communication. Includescommercial advertisements, social media posts, and blogs. Use this form of communication when informing prospects and customers about your brand.

While there are differences between internal and external communications, you should always align both to your brand’s messaging. That’s why many companies outsource their content creation strategies to a writing agency.

Getting all your teams working together on one project is sometimes difficult. When you hire a writing agency to get it done for you, it removes the conflict between rival departments.

How Tone Affects Employee Retention

Tone is to the written message that voice inflection is to speech. In other words, it sets the mood and reflects the writer’s attitude toward the reader.

Your organization’s internal communication impacts employee retention. Motivational messaging in the workplace helps team members feel valued and appreciated. You provide incentive to your team members by utilizing content with a positive, engaging tone.

Conversely, when you unwittingly berate employees through written communication, it negatively affects their performance. They may even pass on a bitter attitude toward your customers.

A constructive, energetic tone comes across to the reader as being trustworthy and caring. It could also improve customer service by motivating employees to assume a positive attitude.

You should always consider tone in all your messaging, including letters, reports, and standard operating procedures. It directly affects how your readers perceive your attitude toward them.

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How to Utilize Correct Tone Within Written Content

Before writing any document, consider its purpose. What outcomes would you like to achieve by sending it to your employees? In other words, you must ask yourself what action you want your reader to take.

Know to whom you are writing and what message you want to convey to them. Tailor your document to a specific audience and utilize a consistent tone throughout.

Here are some examples of the types of tone you can use in your business writing:

Confidence

You must write confidently to get your reader on board with your ideas. You gain confidence when you carefully prepare your document and proofread it before publishing. You also must be knowledgeable about the subject.

A confident tone will persuade your audience. However, you should always avoid any hint of presumption or arrogance within the text. 

Sincerity

Be polite and sincere when communicating with your employees. You will foster more goodwill and cooperation than if you use a disrespectful tone.

Those you lead will accept your point of view if the tone is respectful and honest. In contrast, a polite but insincere message will come across as condescending.

Emphasis and Subordination

Emphasize an idea by placing it within a shorter sentence. You can also add emphasis by placing your most important points within the first paragraph.

Likewise, use compound sentences when expanding on the main idea. Later sections become subordinate to the focal point but still provide valuable information.

Language

Of course, you should never use profanity in your business writing. That’s not what we’re talking about here.

Unfortunately, it’s easy to fall into the trap of using discriminatory language. Even the slightest hint of bias can alienate your reader.

For example, it’s best to use neutral job titles, such as “chairperson” instead of “chairman.” You set a more agreeable tone by avoiding gender discrimination.

Another thing to avoid is group membership. For example, avoid telling an employee they did a good job despite being one of the older workers. 

Reader Benefits

Readers always want to know what’s in it for them when spending time skimming your content. Therefore, you should always keep them in mind when crafting any internal communication.

For example, instead of:

“I want to stress the importance of safety.”

Try this:

“Keep yourself and your co-workers safe by following these guidelines.“

By focusing on reader benefits, you avoid sounding arrogant and self-centered.

Difficulty Level

Again, think about your audience when choosing your difficulty level. For example, you must use simpler language when writing to court clerks than to district court judges. While both groups of professionals work in the law field, it’s the judges who typically have a higher level of education.

What if the message is negative?

Utilizing the correct tone is vital when writing a negative message. For example, sometimes, you must reprimand an employee or deny a request. In either case, you should maintain a professional tone throughout the message.

Avoid attacking the individual. Instead, state your position clearly. For example:

“Harassment of any kind will not be tolerated.”

Instead of:

“You are always harassing the other employees.”

In the case of negative messaging, active voice does not work well. Instead, utilize passive language to avoid singling out the individual.

How to Create an Effective Communication Strategy

Establishing an internal communication strategy provides your employees with practical information they can use immediately. Without it, your team members may feel alienated and forgotten. 

Another reason for creating a targeted communication strategy is to preserve your company’s reputation.

Your employees have unprecedented access to a myriad of social media channels. As a result, one disappointed worker can spread their dislike for your company to millions.

You can avoid creating ill will among your employees by keeping them informed. Then, they will feel appreciated and give your customers the same consideration.

Step 1: Research

The first step in your internal content creation process is to evaluate where you are now. What is the most crucial knowledge your employees need, and what channels do they prefer using?

You can utilize tools such as surveys or questionnaires to obtain the data. By conducting careful research, you create a thoughtful plan to carry out your communication strategy.

Step 2: Planning

Next, it’s time to plan your strategy. Again, your focus should be on the audience and their needs.

You will have to decide which channels best fit each role. For example, new hires will require more in-person instruction than your high-level managers. Some employees prefer emails, while others need procedural manuals to get them through the day. 

Step 3: Execution

Since your goal is to increase employee retention, keep that in mind when executing your plan. With each message, use the tone most appropriate for each piece, and maintain consistency throughout all documentation.

This is also the phase where you publish each document. You have already decided which channels best fit your audience, so it’s time to plug each message into the correct one. 

While this may seem like a daunting task, there are professionals you can turn to for help.

Step 4: Test and Evaluate

You can enlist the guidance of your quality control team to test and evaluate your company’s communication strategy. You will need to adjust as necessary to achieve the desired outcomes.

Main Takeaway

The most important idea to come away with here is to always keep your reader in mind. Ask yourself how you would perceive the message if you were the employee. How would you feel after reading it?

Like it or not, humans have feelings, and the tone of your written message can affect your employees’ emotions and even their willingness to stay with your company.

That’s why you may want to get help with your internal communication strategy. Outside professionals can maintain objectivity and leave emotion out of it. If you choose to hire a writing agency, look for one with experience in setting the proper tone.

Using Content to Retain Knowledge Within Your Business

Given the aging workforce in the United States, an employee nearing retirement may be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of losing knowledge within a business.

Truth is, knowledge can walk out the door at any time, leaving an organization scrambling to rebuild a key position to what it once was. Tweet this

Businesses that proactively plan the transfer of knowledge for key positions reap benefits beyond a faster recovery from an unexpected employee loss, including:

  • Better onboarding for new hires
  • Overall increase in productivity
  • Faster ramp-up during employee transfers or promotions
  • Time freed up for busy subject matter experts as knowledge is transferred down
  • Identification of skill gaps or redundancies as they look to replicate the best and brightest across the organization

There are a variety of ways to share business knowledge, from less-formal tactics such as mentoring and job shadowing, to using technology to capture employee knowledge, to more purposeful programs that identify and document certain practices.

Regardless of the chosen method for knowledge transfer, information gleaned can only be shared and useful for the future if it is recorded, and that is where content comes into play.

Turning Content Into Shareable Knowledge

As with most successful activities within a business, achieving effective knowledge transfer requires a plan. While the process will vary some for every business, it should include the basic steps of identifying what to capture, how to document it, how to gather it and where to share it.

1. Identify Knowledge to Capture

Some areas of greatest priority for knowledge transfer may be obvious, such as the case of planned retirements, while others may take more digging to determine.

To help identify knowledge to document and transfer, take a look at:

  • Key subject matter experts
  • Employees nearing retirement
  • Company goals and the generational “backlog” to achieve them
  • Profit-driving products and processes within the business
  • Fast-growing departments
  • Silos and one-person areas of expertise

The knowledge transfer consultants at The Steve Trautman Co. use a matrix that helps organizations analyze their available knowledge and understand which areas are most at risk of being lost.

“Our Knowledge Silo Matrix helps the organization ask its managers who does what best,” says Sonja Gustafson, director of marketing. “From the examination of these key experts will arise skillsets that may need to be transferred.”

Image courtesy of The Steve Trautman Co.

Businesses may also consider soliciting employee questions to identify key knowledge gaps. If you already have an employee Q&A, forum or blog mechanism in place, scouring it can offer a wealth of ideas for knowledge that may need to be more formally captured.

2. Determine Best Content Format

There is good news and bad news when it comes to content. On the bright side, the choices are plentiful, but on the other hand, that can make more difficult the job of choosing a medium.

Consider this list of some popular content types in today’s workforce:   

  • Blogs
  • Case Studies
  • Ebooks
  • FAQ Lists
  • Fliers
  • Online Forums or Q&As
  • Podcasts
  • Presentations
  • Training & Procedures Manuals
  • Videos

Further complicating the matter is that there is not necessarily one solution: A mix of content is often the most effective way of communicating with a diverse staff.

The key here is considering the type of information and with whom it is being shared. Think about factors such as:

  • How employees prefer to learn
  • Whether information is time-sensitive or quickly outdated
  • Generational differences of the workforce
  • How to make information digestible
  • Whether the workforce is off or onsite
  • How frequently and quickly information will need to be referenced
  • The technology available to employees
  • Whether the physical work environment is conducive to alternatives such as audio and video

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3. Gather Knowledge

Once the “who” to include and “what” to do with it is determined, next comes the “how” to get knowledge out of the heads of subject matter experts and into a useful format.

Here are four content-driven methodologies to consider for documenting knowledge:

  • Use of employee-driven technology: There is no shortage of tools available to help capture information from employees, from social-based sites such as Facebook Workplace, to custom intranet solutions, to robust software applications like these. While this may seem like an obvious and straightforward option, relying on employees to adopt such practices in a consistent and meaningful way is no easy endeavor, so be prepared for an ongoing effort to encourage use and participation.
  • Conducting interviews: Businesses can look to writers inside or outside of the organization to conduct interviews that can be documented and turned into useful content. Placing the task with individuals who enjoy and have a knack for writing can give you more control over the process, providing for smoother task completion and better content quality.
  • Tasking experts and trainees: At The Steve Trautman Co., consultants have found pairing an expert with a trainee and tasking the trainee with documentation to be most effective, as this protocol places less burden on a busy subject matter expert while putting the responsibility of skill development into the hands of those who need it.
  • Curating from existing material: Many businesses have a plethora of data sitting on drives, in online forums or applications, and within employee manuals. While it may not be as comprehensive as needed, it could be a good place to start documentation.

Photo by Daria Shevtsova from Pexels

4. Store & Share Knowledge

Here is where the hard work to document knowledge pays off – the sharing of content and reaping of the benefits.

Where content resides will depend on the chosen format and the communications framework established within the organization. Online intranets and network drives are popular, but some content types and business environments may require printed materials.

Whatever your chosen content combination, knowledge transfer efforts are wasted if information is not accessible and properly communicated.

Some ideas for storing, sharing and repurposing content to get the most “bang for the buck” include:

  • Do not forget to tell (and remind!) employees the content is available, and where
  • Post it on an intranet or network drive
  • Consider multiple uses – i.e., can a video be transcribed into an online blog, can an ebook be broken apart into smaller pieces and used another way
  • Use it for in-house training and webinars
  • Feature popular subjects in employee newsletters and communications
  • Insert key pieces into the employee on-boarding process
  • Make it highly searchable with keywords and a table of contents, where applicable
  • Use employee forums and Q&As as a source for future content ideas, then repurpose the information into other usable formats such as ebooks, fliers and FAQs

Knowledge Transfer Best Practices

The practice of transferring knowledge within a business can be overwhelming. The Steve Trautman Co.’s Gustafson offers a few parting words on putting it to use effectively:

  1. Do not make it up as you go along – having a plan and a process is critical
  2. Aim to use verbs and action words in content, especially where goals are concerned
  3. Set deadlines within the plan so steps can be met without overwhelming content contributors

5 Tips (Plus One Bonus!) for Business Communication in the Wake of COVID-19

If you are among the 44% of Americans who have found themselves working from home as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, you may be wondering how communication protocols have changed over the past year.

Is it still necessary to alert my boss when I am going to be late?

Should I be using my video capabilities for Zoom calls, or is it okay to just dial in from my phone?

Stay tuned, because in this blog we answer all of these questions, and more. We will also give you the top five tips (plus one bonus tip!) for communicating in the new business environment.

Tip #1: Proactively establish expectations with your boss.

Regardless of which rung you occupy on the corporate ladder, be proactive about establishing communication expectations with your employer.

Not only can this act provide you with a sense of security about what the expectations are for you, but it’s also a positive reflection of your work ethic.

To get started, set up a face-to-face meeting with your boss. This meeting could be in person or virtual. What is important is that you can see each other’s faces and body language.

As the Insperity.com blog states, “people unconsciously scan faces and body postures to ‘read’ reactions to things we say and do. This is as true for constructive feedback as it is for friendly reassurance.” Being able to read your supervisor’s nonverbal communication can provide you with helpful insight into how well you are meeting their expectations.

If you know you’ll be working from home, some questions you might ask in this meeting could include:

  • Are there set hours that I am expected to be working, or can my schedule be flexible?
  • How will my work be supervised?
  • May I text you before or after hours in case I’m running late to work or staying late to complete a project?

Taking this one step further, be sure to set a regular time and day on both of your calendars to check in about goals, progress, successes, and opportunities for improvement. Checking in helps you establish trust with your boss and communicates professionalism and reliability.

Tip #2: Brush up on text etiquette.

Image by Pexels

Whether you have a company-issued cell phone, or occasionally use your personal phone for business, it’s likely you will use texts to communicate from time to time with your coworkers and management alike.

According to Denise Dudley, former founder and CEO of SkillPath Seminars, being savvy about text etiquette is important because “this is just the way people get work done,” and because in every communication you are representing yourself and your business. Representing yourself in the best possible light can only serve you well.

Dudley lays out the following key rules for texting etiquette:

  • “Only text those with whom you have an established business relationship.” Do not text a new client without first establishing their preferred communication methods.
  • “Limit texting to regular work hours.” In other words, it is best not to text your boss an update at midnight about that project on which you’ve been putting in extra hours. Your update can wait until the next business day.
  • “Remain professional – avoid using ‘text spelling’ like ‘C u l8r.’” Use full sentences and pay close attention to spelling and grammar.
  • “Reply promptly, even if it’s to say that you don’t have an answer right now, but you’ll have it by [date or time]. Then, make sure you get back with them by (or before) the deadline.” As with other modes of communication, prompt replies show you are reliable.
  • “Never text confidential news or information.” Unless you want your words to come back to haunt you, only text what you would be willing to go on record about publicly.

We would add the following two rules to supplement Dudley’s:

  • Never try to text through a complicated explanation or subject. Words can be too easily misconstrued in this context. Opt instead for an email or a phone call.
  • If there is a hint of the conversation going sideways, or miscommunications occurring, pick up the phone. In the absence of verbal and nonverbal physical communication cues, even seemingly simple text exchanges can sometimes go sideways. Trust your gut on this one and consider making a phone call if you notice a hint that your text conversation may be going off track.

Tip #3: Know the do’s and don’ts for videoconferencing.

In the absence of in-person meetings, videoconferencing has become commonplace for remote workers.

Chances are you have already been asked to attend a Zoom meeting or two.

You may have Zoomed with friends and family or met with your child’s teacher over Cisco WebEx. You may now even be checking in with your doctor virtually.

As Rose Cervenak, Executive Assistant to the President and CEO of PacifiCorp, states, “I think the essential key to communicating is face-to-face collaboration. If you are not able to do that in-person, then a webcam and app like (Microsoft) Teams or Zoom is essential so you don’t lose that connection with co-workers.

Given that videoconferencing has become so commonplace, it behooves all employees to become aware of standard etiquette while using this technology.

As mentioned above, nonverbal clues communicate much more than what we say out loud and what we write. These clues not only apply to our facial expressions, but also our background (including lighting), our clothing, and our sound equipment.

Four Rules for Videoconferencing Etiquette

  • Limit distractions as much as possible. Setting up your office in a quiet place in your home is ideal, though sometimes isn’t possible. Regardless, wearing noise-cancelling headphones can help limit distractions from everyday sound pollution.
  • Remain mindful of your background. Not everyone has the funds to invest in a green screen. If you do, that’s great! Zoom, in particular, offers many options for disguising your background with built-in and user-selected pictures. Who doesn’t want to pretend they are Zooming in from a tropical location? However, even being sure to clear the space behind you of clutter is perfectly acceptable. Also, don’t forget to turn on the lights! Dim lighting can greatly impede your colleagues’ ability to read your nonverbal communication.
  • Test your internet, video, and microphone connections before important meetings. If you find that your technology is not working correctly, remember it is in your company’s best interest to make sure you have the necessary tools to ensure productivity at home. Advocating for yourself to have the tools you need is not nagging. It is more than reasonable; it is expected.
  • Dress as you would for a meeting in the office. If there is any chance you may stand up during your meeting while the camera is still on, you should fully dress up. Otherwise, feel free to dress up from the waist up. After all, one of the best perks of working from home is wearing sweatpants and slippers all day long.

However, you may also soon realize that you feel more successful on days when you shower, style your hair, and dress as you would to go into the office. Pollak and Coombes agree: “you’ll find you’re more productive when you dress for the day and brush your teeth.”

Tip #4: Establish and communicate your availability, including standard response times.

In the absence of standardized pandemic communication protocols, businesses have been forced to create the ship as it is sailing, so to speak.

Mental health professionals have borne the brunt of this, with an overwhelming influx of need from front-line workers and those losing loved ones due to the pandemic.

The same findings are reflected by Melissa Richards, Vice President for Communications and Marketing at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. She shares on the Inside Higher Ed blog post entitled Our People are Not Okay: “less than 50 percent of U.S. adults evaluate their lives as ‘thriving,’ the lowest since the Great Recession of 2008. Even those who are not clinically depressed are languishing.”

With no confirmed end in sight to work-from-home orders in many states, it is more important than ever for workers to protect their time and their mental health.

The concern many managers have about their employees working from home is that remote workers are really just doing laundry and bingeing Netflix. In my experience and observation, the opposite is usually true — people tend to work more from home because it’s harder to ‘leave’ work,” Pollak and Coombes report.

Setting office hours and a timer on your phone can help alleviate the twilight zone workers sometimes go into when they don’t have firm boundaries protecting their personal time.

Furthermore, it can be very helpful to take scheduled breaks to get up and stretch, grab a glass of water, or just stare out the window. Don’t forget to mute your phone and computer so as to not be bombarded by notifications during your break.

Just be sure to communicate proactively with your colleagues about your new availability and standard response times.

You may be surprised that your boss is willing to work with you on an even better schedule than you were going to propose. Or you may realize that your boss is not supportive of you protecting your time.

Either way, you will be more aware of your next steps and confident in your ability to self-advocate.

Tip #5: Take advantage of all available digital tools.

Image by Pixabay

Though the standard line of thought is that people have become disconnected with each other as the world has remained in lockdown, some business professionals have found that utilizing new technology has allowed their team to collaborate more closely than ever before. 

In a lot of ways, I think the workforce in our office is even more connected and collaborative now because COVID forced us to examine how we interact/collaborate with each other and how we maintain a rich, essential connection with each other,” Cervenak reflected.

Cervenak mainly communicated with her boss via email—and some texting in more urgent scenarios—when she began working from home. But as COVID began to affect their normal business habits, PacifiCorp’s parent company, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, adopted Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Teams for all 13 of its energy subsidiaries in the United States and Canada.

Because we are an energy company, we have extreme security protocols, especially on our phones, but (Microsoft 365) allowed us to communicate in a more collaborative, continuous way,” Cervenak pointed out.

As David Kovacovich, author of How COVID Jumpstarted Digital Transformation, a post on the Society for Human Resources Management blog, explained succinctly, “As of March 2020, organizations have had to embrace two new realities: 1) What technology do I have/need and how can it be utilized? 2) How can I help the workforce get up-to-speed with whiplash intensity?

Indeed, it is critical to first examine what technology your organization has and how it can be utilized. However, you should also consider any new digital tools that are available to help your team be even more productive remotely.

Here are some of the incredible tools currently available to businesses.

Yammer

Included in the Microsoft Office 365 suite, Yammer acts as “an enterprise social networking app used for private communications within an organization – so like a company Twitter” — Cervenak.

Pros: User Interface, Ease of Use, Adaptability”—Elibe, Project Management, Ryan Companies.

Cons: It competes with other Microsoft products (Microsoft Teams, Kaizala) for collaboration” — Erik Ralston, Chief Architect, Live Tiles.

Slack

Slack is another business messaging app that connects people to the information they need. It functions similarly to Microsoft Teams in that users utilize channels to break into teams and projects to maintain connection and collaboration.

Pros: “[The] notification feature is awesome, Easy to use for any users, Sharing stuff made easy, Calling directly from web and from mobile app” — Kenil Vavaliya, Student, PPSU.

Cons: “The tool takes up a lot of battery especially if you are using a lot of channels and rooms, storage is very limited, the messages take time updating, the video collaboration tools aren’t very intuitive” — Lonela Marinela, Senior Product UX/UI Designer-Developer, Harvest Software Solutions, LLC.

Asana

Asana is a cloud-based project management program that allows businesses to manage, collaborate, communicate, and organize their tasks and projects. Like Slack, it specializes in allowing users to work on multiple projects at a time.

Pros:Great customer support/onboarding & training materials, Constant innovation, Flexibility of the tool as a whole (can be used differently for companywide usage, or for personal use)”—Tegan Jenner, Senior Data Analyst, Helen & Gertrude. 

Cons:Lacks the feature of exporting, Lacks time tracking feature”—Dezzy Linda, Product Specialist, John Lewis & Partners.

Our two favorites at The Writers For Hire:

Skype

This one is an oldy but goody. But we figure, if it ain’t broke, why fix it?

Skype, a predecessor to Zoom, is a videoconferencing app that supports face-to-face meetings as well as internet-based phone calls. Unlike Zoom, Skype also features a text chat option outside of individual meetings.

Pros:Good quality video stream for video calls, Ability to transfer ‘massive’ files via chat.”Vasilii Chistyakov, Owner, Electronov.net.

Cons:Lack of Breakout Rooms (or similar functionality) — For meetings that require the ability to break away into subgroups, Skype currently does not offer an equivalent to Zoom’s breakout room functionality.” — Dan Talvi, A/V Coordinator/Worship Director, Fresh Start UMC (fka Pennsylvania Ave United Methodist Church).

Wrike

A project management and collaboration software used by The Writers For Hire, Wrike helps users connect tasks, discussions, and emails to their project plan. Wrike also features an integrated timer feature, which supports freelance and contract employees with tracking their work.

Pros: “Timeline creation, editing, updating. Template creation, Ease of use, intuitive UI. “– Rebekah Ryan, PMP, Senior Implementation Manager, Optum.

Cons: “The higher premium plans are suitable for large teams only. I keep checking my inbox constantly to avoid missing any notifications.” – Cathy Jenkins, Program Coordinator, Mount Carmel Health System.

Bonus Tip: Bone up on your industry’s standards.

Image by Pexels

Consult your industry’s leading professional societies to brush up on communication standards within your field of work.

With COVID reaching all corners of the globe, it’s likely that your business has been affected and that guidance already exists for how to modify your communications to best adapt to this new reality.

It can only serve you well to take the time to reflect in order to be certain your business practices align well with industry standards.

For example, in her call to higher education administrators at institutions of all sizes, Richards encourages college leaders to consider, “What do your institutional data suggest are the most engaging media and formats for employee communications?

Richards is suggesting there may not be a one-size-fits-all industry standard for communications in higher ed, but simply doing the research allows one to begin to have the individual conversations at their particular institution, and therefore serves to improve communication across the board.

Taking a proactive role in establishing communication expectations and standards with your team and leadership will serve you well both now and in the long run as the world moves on into the new normal post COVID-19.

Making the Most of Your Company Newsletters

A newsletter can be a marketer’s best friend. But like any relationship, they require an investment of your time, an understanding of what makes them tick, and some tender, loving care.

There are a few key factors you need to consider and best practices to implement before making a newsletter a regular part of your communications strategy.


Printed vs. Electronic? What is your delivery method?

You need to decide the medium for your newsletter.

Will you produce something that needs to be printed and mailed, or will you create a newsletter on a digital platform like MailChimp or Constant Contact?

Below, we outline best practices for both.

Printed Newsletters 

In this day in age, with so much electronic communication, the idea of receiving a printed newsletter might be a novel one.

Your target audience may appreciate the fact that you’re investing dollars to communicate with them, and they have something tangible to hold on to, clip, highlight, or pass on to someone else.

In a nutshell, they have a longer shelf life and are a great place to profile employees, clients, or donors. There is just something about seeing your name in print that is special.

If you decide a printed newsletter is a way to go for your organization or business, here are a few good rules of thumb, some of which apply to digital newsletters as well.

Create compelling content: 

Regardless of your mode of delivery, your content needs to draw your readers in and keep them interested. 

Guidestar, a popular resource for nonprofit organizations, says that your readers need to gain something from your communications so that they feel reading it was worth their time, and they look forward to the next edition.

Articles can be informational, inspirational, or educational as long you leave your readers with key takeaways.

Enlist professional design and writing services:

If you’re going to invest in doing a newsletter, consider hiring a professional graphic designer.

The designer has the skill set to design a template for you that is not only eye-catching but effective as well. And they can make the most out of “white” or “negative” space and choose fonts that strike an even balance between being inviting and being easy-on-the-eyes.

“A professional graphic designer can make sure your company’s branding and values are enhanced and reflected in a newsletter template while complementing the writer’s tone,” says Purvi Baron, principal of Sincera Designs, a Sugar Land, Texas-based graphic design firm.

You may also want to consider outsourcing to a professional writing firm.

These firms have a variety of talented individuals on their team who can efficiently create compelling and engaging copy. They offer a fresh, outside perspective, too, that you may not get working with someone in-house.

Use pull quotes:

A pull quote is a crucial phrase or excerpt from an article used as a graphical element in a layout, to help draw readers into the content.

See below for an example from Process Street of a pull quote and its use in a design. 

Don’t ignore the back page: 

There is a segment of the population that starts reading magazines, newsletters, and other printed materials from back to front.

Make sure your back page is just as engaging as the front. 

Be consistent with your branding: 

Your newsletter should reflect the look and feel of your organization or business. Make sure to include the logo and use your color palette.

These simple actions will help make your publications recognizable, and readers will begin to associate the newsletter that arrives in their mailbox with your organization or business. 

Digital Newsletters 

Electronic newsletters are much more cost-efficient than a printed newsletter and lend you the ability to send them out on a more regular basis.

And when you consider that, according to Pewresearch.com, 9 in 10 American adults use the Internet and three-quarters of the American population have Internet services at home, a digital newsletter might be your most effective mode of delivery.

Aside from some of the best practices that apply to printed newsletters, such as presenting engaging content, hiring a professional graphic designer and writing team, and being consistent with your branding, there are several “rules of thumb” when you decide to create and launch an email-based newsletter.

Personalization: 

Several email-newsletter programs allow you to personalize content for the recipient.

Customizing your news may make your reader feel valued and important, and it will stand out from the rest of their inbox as well.

Mobile-friendly: 

An article by CNBC says that three-quarters of the world will use their smartphones to access the Internet by the year 2025.

For this reason, you need to work with your designers and email developers to make sure your newsletter displays just as nicely on your mobile devices as it does on your PCs.

In fact, you may want to start the mobile design first. Failing to make your newsletters “responsive” will jeopardize your ability to engage with your readers.

Clever subject line: 

We are inundated with mountains of emails every day. You need to be creative about your subject line so you can make your readers open the email newsletter you’ve worked so hard to create.

You might want to include words that ask a question or challenge the reader, or if appropriate, utilize humor.

A write-up in Inc.com provides some great examples of email subject lines. Here are just a few B2C examples the article cites:

  • Travelocity: Need a day at the beach? Just scratch n’ sniff your way to paradise…
  • Uber: Since we can’t all win the lottery…
  • Overstock: Seriously. We’d like to thank you.
  • Grubhub: Last Day To See What This Mystery Email Is All About
  • Groupon: Deals That Make Us Proud (Unlike Our Nephew, Steve)
  • Eater Boston: Where to Drink Beer Right Now (Sent at 6:45am on a Wednesday)
  • Fabletics: Your Butt Will Look Great in These Workout Pants
  • UrbanDaddy: You’ve Changed
  • Influitive: So I’ll pick you up at 7?
  • BloomThat: Better than a pumpkin spice latte!
  • Gap: Mondays are suddenly AWESOME
  • The Bold Italic: Just P100ho You: Where to Eat SF’s Best Pho
  • The Muse: We Like Being Used

Vertical Response provides the following as examples for B2B subject lines:

  • How to Leverage (your product) in Your Business
  • Save Money and Look Like a Star to Your Boss
  • How to Impress Your CFO — Save $1000
  • Increase Your ROI by 30%, Guaranteed
  • How to make it onto your buyer’s shortlist
  • Free Webinar: [insert webinar name]
  • Now you can do even more with your (xxxx) should your company outsource (insert thing to outsource here)?
  • Breakfast & Secrets for How to (insert the problem you solve or the product you sell)
  • Success Tip: 5 Ways to a Better (xxxx)

Crystal clear call-to-action (CTA): 

When a subscriber opens your newsletter, not only should they find the content valuable, they should also know immediately what action to take, whether it’s to read a blog post linked to your website, register for an event, or make a donation.

Any CTA buttons should be prominent in your email design, with  straightforward copy to help the reader take the desired action.

Here’s a great example from BikeHouston:

Actionable language with links:

It’s best to avoid phrases like “click here” for more. Instead, use other verbs like “read,” “donate,” “subscribe,” “learn,” or “share.”

Short and sweet: Do what you can to drive readers to your website. Consider doing a summary with teases that allow the reader to skim and then dive further into a particular article if it piques their interest. Here’s a good example of how Robert Half, a staffing and recruiting firm, does this:

Make it scannable:

Today we are all bombarded with electronic information. Consider including only three to five articles in your newsletter and organize them in a way that makes sense to the reader, with your most important message at the beginning.

Test and test again: 

One of the best parts of electronic communication is the opportunity you have to test before launch.

Take advantage of this ability to ensure you have multiple eyes on the final product before it goes live to everyone.

How often will you send them?  

Regardless of how your newsletter is delivered, you need to be consistent in its production and release date. You need to commit to a regular schedule to truly engage with your readers.

Newsletters, whether they are printed or emailed, are a labor of love and take significant time to produce.

You need to account for planning the editorial content, writing the articles, editing/revisions, gathering quality photos, corrections, and securing approval.

If the purpose of your newsletter is to keep employees informed, you may want to consider publishing something at least monthly.

If your newsletter is for external audiences, you may want to consider sending it out monthly or quarterly.

Whatever schedule you choose, make sure you are being consistent with your communications and not sporadic. Your audience will anticipate receiving your newsletter and come to expect them on a regular schedule.

What types of articles should your newsletter include? 

When considering the content for your newsletter, you should think about including a message from leadership.

If you are producing a newsletter for employees, especially a Fortune 500 company with hundreds of employees, an article from leadership might serve as one of the only regular touchpoints your team has with the C-suite.

If you are producing a newsletter for an external audience for a nonprofit, for example, you definitely want to include a message from your executive director so that your audience, especially donors, are in tune with and hear from those at the top.

Your newsletter should also include a summary of what is happening at your organization and a list of current activities and events.

It should serve as another way to help grow your social media audience and include a call to action for people to follow your organization on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media.

How should you measure success?

The production and distribution of newsletters take dedication and amazing attention to detail, not to mention time and energy.

You want to know that you’re being successful and hitting the mark with your readers.

Even if you choose to do a printed newsletter, you should consider sending a survey to gauge which articles subscribers are reading and what readers would like to see in future issues. 

If you go the digital route, you need to take the following metrics into account:

  • Open-rate: MailChimp.com defines “open-rate” as the percentage that tells you how many recipients opened the email. MailChimp analyzed open-rates and found the average across a variety of industries was 21.33%.
  • Click-through rate: MailChimp describes the click-through rate as the percentage of subscribers that took action to click-through to your website. This number reflects whether your audience found your newsletter interesting enough to click through to learn more. The average click-through rate, according to MailChimp, is 2.62%.
  • Bounce-rate: Finally, there’s bounce-rate. Bounces happen when an email can’t be delivered either because the email address is not valid or because a mailbox was too full or temporarily unavailable. A good bounce-rate, according to ConstantContact.com, is about 7.75% across all industries.

If you want to improve any of these metrics, you may want to revisit your email subject lines and make sure you have up-to-date email addresses for your subscribers.

How to Get More Subscribers

One of the main goals of a newsletter is to grow your community of supporters, advocates, donors, and consumers. Here are a few ideas:  

  • Have a way to capture subscribers at in-person events. You can have an ole’ fashion sign-up sheet, or better yet, an iPad or other digital device to obtain people’s information.
  • Cross-promote your newsletter on Facebook and/or Twitter. Provide a link directly to the sign-up page on your website.
  • Encourage social media sharing in your newsletter.

A Helpful Resource for Readers

A newsletter, whether it be internal or external, is a great way to get in front of your audiences and communicate information you need them to know.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, strong communication within newsletters has been instrumental in staying connected with employees and patients. The goal is to not inundate them—but work towards consolidation and educational information,” says Melissa McDonald, assistant director of marketing and communications for UT Physicians.

“The idea is to pull all of the information into one communication that they can then circle back on if they have questions. We use an external platform to generate our newsletters, so we have trackable information on what people are reading. When you have tracking information, it allows you to hone in on what your consumers want—and your employees.”

Document Management – How To Make Sure Employees Can Find Critical Business Info When They Need It

Let’s be honest…document management is probably not on the top of your priority list. You may even have an “old school” filing cabinet, where your company stores copies of personnel files and HR paperwork.

You have to admit, though, that digging through physical files (or even unorganized files on your computer desktop) is not exactly an efficient business practice. The good news is, you’re not alone.

Many companies have problems organizing their documents and making information easy to access.

Fixing this problem gives you a competitive advantage in terms of efficiency and the ability to promote synergy across the company.

Businesses of all sizes naturally end up with a ton of documents to manage, from job applications and employment forms to client data.

Just imagine being able to access all of the legal and marketing documents employees create, even after employees transition into new jobs with new companies. You wouldn’t have to waste time trying to find or recreate documents.

Implementing a document management system could be the solution for total organization and transparency within your company.

This guide is an overview of document management systems and some product recommendations for software that you can use.

What is a Document Management System?

A document management system is a software program that is used to store, manage, and provide access to digital files.

Sometimes referred to as DMS, versions of document management systems can be found in businesses, schools, and homes. Document management systems are designed to streamline the process of creating storing and accessing files.

Examples of Document Management Systems

Technically, you could have a document management system that exists without cloud-based software.

If you scan physical files into your office’s computer and label each digital file with identifying information so you can find it easily when you need it later, you created a rudimentary document management system without having to pay for a cloud-based system.

While this may work for some businesses, large companies, or companies the same files from separate locations, need a more interconnected system.

Cloud technologies make it easier to share files among computers, even if they are in separate locations. Many companies rely on cloud-based document management systems to store all company-related documents.

Some ways that document management systems can be used include storing:

  • Signed NDA agreements
  • Client files
  • Client contact information
  • Marketing files
  • Legal documents
  • Contracts

Advantages of Document Management Systems

There are many advantages to implementing a document management system. Depending on your company’s pain points, certain benefits might have more impact than others.

Here are some of the primary advantages of document management systems:

Paperless

Document management systems make it possible to have a paperless office where you don’t need to maintain filing cabinets of documents.

This can make your operations more sustainable and reduce your office-supply expenses for paper and ink.

Constant Access

Using a cloud-based document management system means that your team will have constant, real-time access to stored files.

This provides the ability to access files from personal computers at home, or mobile devices while on the go. In the event that a client asks for specific information during a meeting, you will have immediate access to the files.

Save Money

There are many surprising ways that using a document management system can save your company money.

First, employees won’t waste paid time looking for or re-creating files. If your team worked with a graphic designer to create a flyer or event logo, you will always have access to it.

More Secure

Document management systems are more secure than other alternatives.

Physical documents can easily get lost or destroyed. Files stored on individual computers, tablets, and smartphones can become compromised when employees leave or if the devices are lost.

Access to the document management system can be limited to only those that need it. This means that your executive team can have secured access to files that administrators and temps won’t have access to.

Scalability

Scaling your business is much easier when you have existing processes in place.

A document management system can provide the tools, documents, templates, and processes your growing team needs.

Less Wasted Time

As previously mentioned, your team will waste less time looking for or re-creating files after implementing a document management system.

However, there are other ways it will save you time. As more files are created within the document management system, no one will need to spend time printing or scanning physical papers.

Less Redundancy

A document management system can reduce the amount of redundancy within your organization by allowing for one file that everyone can access.

By contrast, emailing a document to several recipients creates multiple versions of the same file.

If you ask for feedback on a document, you will no longer need to compile several different files.

Steps to Creating a Document Management System

Creating a document management system doesn’t have to be complicated.

The process includes an assessment of what your company needs in terms of document management, who will be responsible for uploading printed documents, and file-naming conventions that you can rely on.

For most companies, the process of creating and managing a document management system is based on the following steps:

Determine Which Documents You Need

The first step in choosing a system is to simply figure out what documents you want to store.

This can include proposals, standard operating procedures, marketing materials, internal employee documents, and more.

You may decide that it isn’t practical or necessary to store every document your team interacts with.

Figure Out Who Needs Access

Next, you will need to think about who needs access to which documents.

Some programs enable you to partition off access, so employees only have access to the files that they need. Others allow everyone to have access to everything.

The ability to control access to specific files is important for company security, especially for larger, national, and international companies.

Companies generally limit access to files based on the management levels in the company, working areas, departments, and project participation.

For example, the executive management team of a company needs access to personnel files and business intelligence that many base-level employees do not need. The company gives the executive management team access but denies access to everyone else, effectively keeping the information secure.

This can also be helpful for keeping files secure while complying with government regulations. For example, the HR department must keep nearly all of its files secure.

By limiting access in the document management system to the HR department, the company can share a DMS across the company’s infrastructure while keeping the HR department compliant with regulations.

Scanning Paper Documents

If your company has a lot of paper documents, you will need to scan all of the paper documents into the system.

This can probably be done using the document management system you choose or your computer’s built-in scanning program.

You will need to think about who will be responsible for uploading the documents and when they should upload them. Does an administrator upload files each week? Or only as needed?

Labeling Files

The method that you use to label the files is probably the most important step in the entire process.

This method should be used by every member of your team so that it is easy for everyone to find the files that they need. When all of the files are labeled correctly, it is easy to find and sort everything.

The file name labeling process can include:

  • Business Name
  • Client Name
  • Client Number
  • Project Name
  • Version Number
  • Date
  • Department Name
  • User Name
  • Creator Name
  • Product Name
  • Types of Data
  • Location

In practice, this can look something like: “Client Name Document Location Date” or “Widgets Company Business Plan United States 2020.”

It is enough information to understand what the document is later. When the naming conventions are the same across all documents, it is much easier to find documents you need.

Deletion Policies

How long will you need to store the files? At what point do you need to delete the files?

Be prepared to think about what would serve as reasonable deletion policies for your organization. In most cases, there are files that you will not need access to forever.

Internet Security

Once you migrate company files into a cloud-based document management system, cybersecurity measures become even more important.

This includes antivirus programs and strong passwords.

Your company maintains responsibility for confidential customer information, private internal files, and financial data. If an unauthorized user gained access to this data and exploited it, your company could be held responsible. Customers could even lose confidence in your company.

Many document management systems have security features built-in to protect files from outside access and for limiting internal security risks as well.

How to Choose a Document Management System

When it comes to document management systems, you can either create your own system or you can use an existing software program that is commercially available.

For most teams, choosing a ready-to-use solution is the preferred choice, as you will be able to implement it without having your IT department spend the time and resources needed to develop a custom solution.

Some things to consider when deciding which document management system is best:

  • The size of your team
  • Need for restricting access
  • Type of access needed
  • Types of devices and platforms in use
  • Security and privacy needs
  • Types of files to be stored

Overview of DMS Software Options

There are dozens of different document management systems available on the internet, from free solutions to paid subscription-based tools.

Each program has its own pros and cons, from ease of access to the depth of their customization options.

The needs of each company are different, which makes investigating a wide range of DMS important. These DMS cover the needs of a majority of companies in different areas and with different focuses.

OnlyOffice

OnlyOffice makes it possible to work on documents at the same time, which is important for teams that like to collaborate.

In essence, it creates a small cloud-based within your company’s IT infrastructure, removing the need for access to an external cloud system. That way, you have full control over its security, redundancy, and disaster recovery systems since it is located on your company’s servers instead of in a third-party server system.

The biggest benefit that OnlyOffice provides is the integration with Microsoft Office tools.

If your company uses Microsoft Office, then OnlyOffice makes these tools available through the cloud system. You won’t need to invest in training for the editing tools in whichever DMS you use or to acquire a new system that makes document editing easier in a DMS.

With the ability to edit files using Microsoft Office through OnlyOffice, OnlyOffice makes Microsoft Office function more like online tools like Google Drive. There is no limit to the number of people working on a document at any time unlike using Microsoft Word on a single computer.

OnlyOffice integrates with other document management systems, too.

If you already have systems in place, like SharePoint, Nextcloud, or Confluence, your company can add OnlyOffice on to those programs. It gives other DMSs access to Microsoft Office’s document editing tools. OnlyOffice integrates with a range of other programs, making it possible to add cloud data management functionality to the systems and processes that you already have in place.

OnlyOffice is a cost-effective solution, even though it isn’t free. While it does have some compliance features, this may not be the best solution for companies that have to deal with a lot of regulatory compliance concerns.

SharePoint Online

SharePoint has long been used by corporations as a way to share and organize files.

For companies that are already heavily invested in Microsoft programs such as Microsoft Office 365, it is an intuitive program that is easy to integrate with other programs.

SharePoint gives your company more modularity in file sharing. You can create spaces within SharePoint for different business units, making it easy to share information among specific groups and reducing information exposure and overload for units in other parts of the company.

You can also share resources across all business units to speed up critical information sharing.

One of the most useful features that SharePoint offers is the SharePoint Mobile app. It extends SharePoint onto mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets, so that your staff members can stay connected anywhere.

While SharePoint is one of the leading options, it also has its drawbacks.

One of the major disadvantages of SharePoint is that it is fairly expensive compared to other DMS available. The price can limit the extent to which your company can deploy SharePoint, making it a better option for large corporations with high technology and infrastructure budgets.

Rubex

If your company needs to continue to use physical documents, then you may need a system that works more effectively with physical documents.

If sharing physical documents is more important than editing documents online, eFileCabinet’s program called Rubex could be a good option.

One of the features that makes Rubex stand out is its optical character recognition function. It can scan physical documents with a high degree of clarity, ensuring that sharing your documents with other staff members will still produce high-quality documentation.

Once scanned into the system, staff members can share the online version of the document instantly, while maintaining the physical copies that they need.

The ability to scan files in high definition is also important for companies that need audit trails.

Companies in the legal, accounting, human resources, and insurance sectors are good examples of companies that can use Rubex to its fullest potential.

HR departments must keep physical copies of documents under lock and key to maintain compliance. However, Rubex makes it possible to securely share copies of documents within the department without compromising the security of the physical copies.

While Rubex is useful for document management, it is not particularly well-suited for mobile devices.

OpenDocMan

For a free option, OpenDocMan is an open-source web-based DMS that works on many different operating systems.

This is because OpenDocMan is built using PHP, the same programming software as other leading programs and web-based systems including WordPress. Because of this, it also works for any file type.

OpenDocMan is designed for security and efficiency, with a deep focus on privacy standards for web-based programs. It has detailed file access control to make sharing more secure.

The system uses the same type of cloud-server-based systems that websites use, so it has a built-in recovery infrastructure in case of disasters and emergencies.

OpenDocMan supports automatic system maintenance. The program will manage its own updates, including installing security updates and new features when they are available. This prevents the need to dedicate a lot of time and effort to system maintenance.

OpenDocMan is an effective way to share files to make information sharing more efficient, but it doesn’t have strong collaboration tools or one-on-one training options. In fact, its only training is through webinars and third-party tutorials.

If your team requires more support to learn a new program, this wouldn’t be a good fit.

Confluence

Confluence is a document management system that offers other resources to help companies stay organized and increase efficiency.

Confluence uses a template system to help staff members create documents. Then, they can be accessed by other users making it easier to share information with effectively designed documents.

While Confluence focuses on document creation and sharing, you can also create other forms of information sharing.

Most notably, it has a feature for creating knowledge bases, blogs, and social features. It essentially creates a database of company knowledge that can be used for daily operations, training, and communication enhancement

The biggest drawback to Confluence is that it doesn’t seem to support documentation outside of the program. If your company already has systems in place that Confluence won’t replace, this may present some challenges.

Optix

Optix is another option that focuses on replacing all of your company’s internal documentation systems. It is designed to make information management and document creation more efficient with online tools.

This reduces printing costs and physical systems overhead.

Another feature that Optix uses to reduce costs is automation. It has many automated functions that both collect data from documents and create documents.

Optix uses a drag-and-drop system to help staff members create templates that automatically collect data needed for different operations.

Perhaps the biggest drawback to Optix is that most of its efficiency gains comes from being the only system that your company needs to create and manage documents.

If your company continues to use systems outside of Optix, like Microsoft Office or Google Drive, then the gains that it promises may not materialize.

Employee Buy-In

Cultivating employee buy-in can be just as important as choosing the right software program.

Implementing a document management system will only be successful if you can get employees and contractors to follow the process and use the program.

Creating use cases and demonstrating how a new system can improve performance can help to position the document management system as a worthwhile solution. When employees can see how a new program will help them, they are more likely to be invested in implementing it.

In addition, having access to effective training can have an impact on employee buy-in.

This can be training provided by the company that sells the document management system or that you create for your staff.

If you are torn between two different software programs, choosing the option that has existing training videos, live help, and tutorials could be a good choice.

Staying Connected While We’re Disconnected

In these uncertain times of Coronavirus and quarantines, we have all had to find different ways to adapt and change the way we do things in our lives.

TWFH came face to face with this challenge while trying to plan a “going away” party for our wonderful senior editor, Stephanie. We wanted to find a way to come together as a group, to thank Steph for her many years with TWFH, and to wish her luck on her future endeavors. But, coming together while socially distancing is easier said than done.

After a lengthy search into the growing industry of digital gaming, though, we found that there are still some great ways to stay connected (and safe) while having fun with family and friends.

While perusing the vast array of games available online, we discovered a great site called Jackbox Games.

Jackbox offers a variety of games that can be played by 1-8 players, using nothing but a web browser on your computer or mobile device.  These hilariously entertaining games are great for social distancing parties and family get-togethers alike. 

Individual games can be purchased for as little as $5.99 each, but there is also an option for buying Party Packs and Bundles that include multiple games.

Another great thing about Jackbox games is that they can even be used for homeschooling or teaching remotely!

And, after a very successful virtual party, where we spent many hours laughing and playing remotely, Jackbox has become a TWFH favorite!

Now, if you manage to make your way through all of the games on Jackbox, and are still looking for some entertainment, check out this great article from Smithsonian Magazine that offers a fantastic list of 12 games that can be played from afar, using platforms such as Google Play, the App Store, Tabletop, and more.

The list includes classics like Clue and Monopoly, as well as lesser-known games such as Ticket to Ride and Codenames

Smithsonian’s article includes details about each game, as well as the cost and a list of which platforms offer the game.  And the best part is, the games are all relatively inexpensive. (And some are even free!)

7 Tips and Tricks for Effective Communication in the Business World

You’ve started a business. You’ve got a good product, built your operation, and started making good sales. But, you have challenges. You have a good team, but have trouble keeping people on the same page or taking advantage of the momentum you’ve worked so hard in your business. 

So, what’s going wrong?

Chances are, it’s communication. Every business leader has a vision for their company. The good ones are able to get their business started through sheer force of will. But, there comes a time when a business needs to be propelled forward by its own momentum.

Effective communication—with your managers, your employees, your vendors, and your customers—is how you make that happen.

To help you communicate within and about your business, we compiled a list of the seven most effective business communication tools and tips for how to use them best.

Top 7 Forms of Business Communication

Obviously, not all businesses use all these forms of communication, and some use still other options. But, of the big seven named above, it’s important to know when each one is best and how to use each one to effectively communicate complex ideas both inside and outside your company.

1. Email

Despite the growth of instant messaging and other options, email remains the most common type of business communication. With over 120 billion business emails sent every day, this medium is a great way to convey information in a controlled manner.  

Using email, you can review communications before you send them to make sure they focus on the right things and convey the correct tone. You can also make sure that any demands or requests that you’re passing to the recipient come across clearly and with the proper sense of urgency.

Email is best when you’re trying to convey complex ideas or want to present a professional face to outsiders.

Email is also ideal for asynchronous communication; when you don’t need an answer right away, but can let the recipient gather their thoughts before responding.

Lastly, email is the best option when you want to document interactions—when you’re seeking approval for a project, clarifying discrepancies, or making sure that everyone is on the same page. None of these are things that can be done effectively over the phone. 

Tips & Tricks

  • Compose a professional email signature that includes your name, direct contact information, and include any necessary disclosures
  • Re-read messages before sending 
  • Make the purpose of your email clear upfront
  • Make clear any requests of recipients

When to Avoid

While email works great in many situations, it’s not always the best choice.

For example, if you need an immediate answer to an urgent question, then you might be better served using instant messaging, phone, or text. One of these might also be more beneficial when your communication needs a more personal touch. 

Similarly, if you’re trying to convey a lot of information about a product or service to customers, email may not be as effective as a whitepaper or newsletter.

2. Phone and Video Chat

Physically talking via phone or web conference isn’t a written form of communication (except if you’re using a script or reading a prepared statement), but it nevertheless has big advantages in certain situations.

The biggest benefit of phone or video chat is the personal touch that helps you relate to recipients. 

When you speak with someone by phone or on video, they get to hear your voice and participate in real-time dialogue, which helps to establish a personal connection and improve the free flow of information.

This makes communicating by phone a great option when you’re trying to establish a connection with someone, soften the blow of bad news, or communicate a message that is dependent on feedback or insight to be gleaned from the recipient.

If you want to maximize the impact of your message or deepen your connection, video chat is far better than phone. However, it only works if both you and the recipient have reliable internet. Any technical difficulties can have the opposite effect.

Tips & Tricks

  • Know what hours are good for the person you’re contacting 
  • Always call from a recognized number
  • Don’t try to multitask—give the call your full attention
  • Call from a calm, quiet place to avoid background noise or interruptions

When to Avoid

Using the phone for business can be a great option when you want a more personal touch or need some back-and-forth in your communication with a recipient, but it isn’t always ideal.

When you need to measure your words and communicate carefully, the phone is usually a terrible option. 

Also, when you’re sending or receiving communications that you want to document for the future, it can be difficult to do so over the phone.

So, if you’re worried about a misunderstanding later, want to avoid back-and-forth, or are worried that you may go off script, you should probably consider another form of communication.

3. Text

Texting is also a good option when you need a quick answer to a question or want to quickly convey small bits of information. However, texting is generally a little less personal than a phone call and doesn’t offer the sender a good opportunity to convey lots of information.

It’s also important to remember that not everyone texts—especially for business.

And, texting requires you to be extra careful with the tone of your message, as it’s very easy for messages to be taken too casually or for the recipient to misunderstand what you’re trying to say. 

Tips & Tricks

  • Avoid flowery language or unnecessarily long texts (no treatises)
  • Know whether the recipient texts
  • Avoid emojis unless you have an established rapport with the recipient

When to Avoid

Texting can be a good option for conveying quick points or getting answers fast, but it’s definitely NOT the way to go when you have a lot of information to convey.

It’s also best to avoid texting completely if you don’t know that the recipient texts or if you need to convey a lot of information.

4. Instant Messaging

Instant messaging is a form of business communication that’s grown tremendously in popularity, especially with the advent of platforms like Slack, Skype, or even Google Hangouts.

In this context, it’s best used for checking in with individual employees, keeping track of group projects, or making occasional company announcements. 

Instant messaging is great because it keeps messages from getting lost in email inboxes, which tend to fill up quickly. It also helps business owners and managers avoid having to constantly text or call employees for small things.

However, it’s important to remember that this form of communication works best during hours when recipients are typically online.

Tips & Tricks

  • Don’t encourage excessive use to “build company culture,” as communication can become too casual and cease to be professional
  • Don’t make too many announcements—people will end up focusing on their messages instead of their work
  • Avoid gossip or jokes that not all employees will appreciate (stick to PG-13)

When to Avoid

Instant messaging is great for quick, internal, task-related business communications, but if you have serious messages or a lot of information to convey, it’s not usually the best option.

If you need to have a one-on-one dialogue with an employee about a serious issue (such as their employment), then the personal touch of a phone call is probably better.

Or, if you need something outside normal business hours, then you shouldn’t depend on instant messaging.

5. Intranet & Project Management Systems

With the advent of video chat and instant messaging platforms like Slack, company intranets aren’t as popular as they once were.

But, many companies still use project management systems like Wrike, Asana, Trello, and Insightly, and most of these offer chat or comment boxes that give employees the ability to exchange messages.

While these systems can work well for discussing projects back and forth, they usually aren’t great for communication that needs quick responses, because many don’t include live chat features that employees can monitor constantly.

In fact, the only communication tools that many of these systems offer is a commenting feature that’s usually tied to individual projects; so communication done over these platforms usually needs to be related to specific tasks or projects that a team is working on.

Tips & Tricks

  • Stick to discussions about specific projects or tasks
  • Encourage employees to share plenty of context in their messages
  • Actively discourage rude or abrupt messages

When to Avoid

  • If a project needs input from multiple people simultaneously
  • If a project is apt to change direction suddenly

6. In-Person Meetings

In the modern age, in-person meetings are becoming increasingly rare, but that makes them all the more valuable as opportunities for business leaders to deepen personal connections and energize their team. 

While in-person meetings can be extremely useful for managers who want to leverage their personal connections to employees, create a safe space for the sharing of ideas, or deepen the impact of their message, this method is also much riskier than other forms of communication. 

For one thing, you can’t review what you’re going to say before you say it.

If you misspeak or fail to clearly communicate something to an employee, client, or partner, confusion can result.

And if you say something unfeelingly in the moment, you can engender animus that lasts a lifetime.

Still, when it comes to communicating in business, in-person meetings are as personal as it gets. If you need to discuss a delicate matter or maximize your team’s combined brainpower to accomplish a task, a face-to-face meeting may be the only way to go.

Tips & Tricks

  • Be an active listener; don’t monopolize the conversation
  • Give the meeting your full and undivided attention
  • Don’t schedule meetings to close together, so people can collect their thoughts before and afterward

When to Avoid

  • When you need to measure your words
  • If you need to communicate about sensitive issues with potential legal ramifications
  • If you or your colleagues aren’t able to be good listeners and stay engaged in the task at hand

7. Social Media/Blog

This form of communication can take place over platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and others.

It can take the form of posts on one or more of these platforms or direct messages with individual customers (or potential customers) through company social media accounts.

Direct messages can be exchanged using tools like Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Twitter, and others.

Communications can also include those conducted through live chat features on company websites.

Regardless of platform, these types of communication are ideal for interacting with customers or prospective customers to develop awareness, build goodwill, or answer specific questions about your business or your offerings.

Using social media, you can also build an awareness of your brand, encourage interactions with your followers, and showcase your corporate social responsibility through involvement in your community or various social causes.

Tips & Tricks

  • Commit the time and resources to keep up with your social media presence
  • Respond to all direct messages within 12 to 24 hours
  • Review all posts before publishing as well as individual messages prior to sending
  • Keep business profiles separate from personal
  • Avoid debates, disagreements, and controversies, even and especially with individual customers

When to Avoid

Using social media for business communications can be a great way to build a following, communicate with customers in a casual online setting, and share—succinctly—the benefits of your company or its offerings.

However, it’s generally not the best option when you have specific information to share with an individual person.

Social media is also usually not a good idea if you can’t commit to keeping up with it, as it requires consistent posting and interaction with your audience.

Wrapping Up

Today, more than ever before in history, effective communication in business is of the utmost importance.

Whether it’s keeping your employees productive and working toward common goals, or conveying important information to your customers, effective communication requires using the right form of communication in the right way. 

If you’re struggling to decide which methods are best for your business needs, be sure to consider the tips and tricks above to help establish best practices for your business communication.

Getting a Handle on your Business Documents

Policies. Procedures. SOPs. Instructions. Standards. These aren’t just fancy buzzwords tossed around the office. These are documents that, when written well and used correctly, will save you mounds of time, money, and frustration.

Defining the differences

All of these documents are different and serve various functions.

If you are not familiar with their differences and use the terms interchangeably, you run the risk of confusing yourself, your leadership, and your team.

Below are simple definitions of each of these documents and their distinctions.

All of them should be written clearly, so everyone across your organization can read and comprehend them regardless of age, position in the company, education, knowledge, or skill level. 

Policies

Painting a picture of what is and what is not acceptable

Derived from the Old French term, “polici,” which means “civil administration,” policies serve as the overall guidelines to govern your business or organization.

Policies help leaders make decisions by defining what is and what is not acceptable in the workplace. 

A dress code, for example, is a type of policy.

It outlines what kinds of dress are and are not acceptable in the workplace and provides management and leadership guidelines, ensuring your workforce is presentable in front of customers and clients.

Most organizations also have policies that address drug and alcohol in the workplace, as well as ones for attendance and tardiness.

Having these policies helps management decide when — and to what degree — a manager should administer disciplinary action if an employee breaks them.

Simply stated, policies allow a manager to respond to a workplace problem consistently and confidently. And, at the end of the day, help employees be more productive. 

When it comes to writing a policy, there are some questions you should ask yourself:

1. Is it clear? Policy definitions need to be concise and comprehensive.

For example, if you are writing a policy about bullying in the workplace, using terms like “physical aggression, intimidation, or verbal abuse” helps paint a picture of what bullying at your company or organization looks like.

You also need to include to whom the policy applies. Is it only for staff? Or is it for volunteers and contractors? 

2. Are you communicating policies effectively? A policy serves you no good if you’re not reaching your intended audience.

There are many ways to communicate your policy, including an article on your company’s Intranet, reviewing it in a town hall or other type of staff meeting, and including a link in a learning management system.

Policies are not just for new employees, either. Tenured employees should review them often as well.

3. Do they reflect your company’s core values? When writing your policies, they should reflect the values you’ve established.

They should be specific to your culture and what you expect from your team members. 

Standard Operating Procedure 

Providing a roadmap to success

A standard operating procedure or “SOP” acts as a roadmap for teams to follow when carrying out specific processes or a flow of activity. It provides a basis to ensure that services and products are delivered consistently. 

In the pharmaceutical industry, for example, SOPs cover the proper way to carry out activities such as dispensing of medications and checking expiration dates. The SOPs help pharmacists avoid errors in getting medicines to patients, thus keeping them safe.

Without having this go-to guide, several different team members may approach the same task in several different ways.

However, if there’s a protocol in place for them to follow, the chances of them making a mistake decreases, saving you time and money.

When writing an SOP, you may want to consider including the following elements: 

  • A title of the procedure 
  • An SOP identification number
  • A publication or revision date
  • The name of the role, organization, division, or agency that the SOP applies to
  • Names and signatures of those who prepared and approved the procedures outlined in the SOP

Here is an example of an SOP from Iowa State University on food preparation and safety: 

A tool for outlining expectations related to quality control, an SOP also includes company standards, which are written with “musts” and “must-nevers.”  

A standard does not tell you how to carry out the process; instead, it tells you what you must — and must not — do.

Thriving Small Business provides a great example of how a call center may create a set of standards for its team members to provide exceptional customer service. These standards may include:

  • MUST answer the phone within two rings.
  • MUST identify themselves when they answer the phone.
  • MUST take down the customer’s name and phone number.
  • MUST NEVER hang up the phone first.  

These standards help ensure consistency when carrying out the work, and team members should be held accountable to them.

Work Instruction

Giving step-by-step instructions

Finally, work instructions specifically spell out the correct way to perform a task.

They are not the same as an SOP, even though you may reference them in your SOPs.  

For example, an SOP may instruct team members to maintain good personal hygiene, with a step stating they must wash their hands before starting each shift.

A work instruction, on the other hand, gives step-by-step instructions on HOW to wash them.

You can think of a work instruction like a recipe. They should be: 

  • Clear
  • Easily accessible to those performing the task
  • Consistent
  • Short
  • Explanatory, providing the “whys” behind each step 

Operational Excellence Consulting provides an excellent example of a work instruction here: 

“All of these documents serve an important purpose to streamline how you do business,” said Carolyn Olivarez, retired vice president of quality for LifeGift, the organ, eye, and tissue recovery agency in Houston. “Establishing and organizing these documents is particularly critical when you are managing multiple offices in various geographic locations.”

It is great to have all of these documents clearly written and organized, but they will not serve your business or organization if they are not communicated to your team and often.

SOPs, policies, instructions, and standards should not be left to collect dust.

Your business documents can quickly become obsolete as your business evolves.

Have a plan in place for a regular review of policies, make the appropriate updates, and, most of all, make sure they communicated to your employees. 

For more guidance on how to write and organize your critical business documents, here are links to some suggested reading: