The power of good communication

The richest man in history — John D. Rockefeller once said: ‘The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee, and I will pay more for that ability than for any other under the sun.’. The author of these words was born almost 200 years ago. It does not change the fact that they are as relevant today  as they were  on the day they were spoken.

Challenges such as remote work or coordinating the tasks of groups  from various areas require efficient communication. We have to cooperate and talk to our superiors, subordinates, partners or associates to achieve the set goals. We have to unite and complement each other at work to use our skills and talents.

Knowledge about valuable communication is therefore a key to success today. Managers and  CEOs of the companies more and more often notice this and begin to appreciate the value of the internal PR segment. It concerns the image and loyalty to the brand in the eyes of the employees and their environment as well as their attitude towards co-workers.

The proof of this is the constantly growing curve of employee involvement in the company’s life developed by Gallup company on the basis of thousands of surveyed companies from the USA. The researchers checked what percentage of employees actually feels closely related to the company, its goals and tasks. This indicator has increased by almost 40% (!) over the last 20 years. The percentage of employees who describe themselves as disengaged is also systematically dropping.

But why exactly should better communication influence internal  PR?

Well, research confirms that up to  99,5% (sic!) employee satisfaction and commitment factors are associated with pleasant and effective communication. Transparency — that’s the key word! Employees, who are kept informed about company’s activities, have insight into its plans and the rationale behind these plans, financial reports, company goals or even its mistakes feel important and taken seriously. After all, someone took the time to make each of them feel worthy of receiving this information. Knowing, in turn, their own tasks and the tasks of other employees they see a common vision and value of their work as part of a larger whole.

Additionally, good communication is always two-way. If the employees have a chance to express their doubts, comment on the actions of the management board or propose their own ideas, then they are more likely to get involved in the life and plans of the company. The result of this is a creative, motivating and friendly atmosphere. Its opposite will be organizational chaos, distrust of messages or the management board. Bad communication leads to rumors, frustration and confusion.

These are not just empty guesses. In a 2020 report for Gallup, the research group proved that committed employees record up to 23% more profits, 18% more productivity, 41% increase in work quality, 66% increase in well-being and even up to 81% difference in absenteeism. In addition, they become ambassadors of our brand, speaking about it with superlatives among family and friends.

This is the power of good communication!

How to organize communication i.e. why Facebook group is not enough?

CEOs have many different options in the field of communication to choose from. Sometimes they decide to implement an intranet or create a group on a social network, which is just a scrap of the possibilities. The solutions should be adapted to the company’s activities and the requirement of its employees. Each decision regarding the choice of communication method must be well-thought-out and purposeful.

But what’s wrong with just creating a Facebook group? After all, information is in one place, you can comment on it and respond to it. What more could you want?

Well, that’s true. Facebook is still the most popular community platform. It is, however, more and more often criticized due to its ambiguous actions regarding user privacy. For this reason, forcing employees to open an account there may be opposed.

Another problem starts when we want to select information, for example. Usually, different sectors of the company need different messages. We can create one group for information intended for all employees and other for specific departments. However, it requires administrators to participate in many different groups, and employees to control all of them regularly. Additionally, remember that our messages are not the only ones, that will be included in the employee feed . Information about the company may disappear in the maze of other groups and liked pages.

What’s more, our group will not allow us keep all the necessary files in one place. We have to use external tool anyway. Reaching out to older posts is also problematic. We can use tags but they have nothing to do with a well-thought-out , categorized news directory. We are also deprived of granting special rights — these for administrators are almost identical to those for an employee. There are no tools for HR, there is no possibility of analyzing surveys and employee involvement, planning and holding videoconferences or even a basic schedule.

Security is also an important issue. It is worth considering whether we want to inform Facebook about all activities that take place inside the company?

If we let go of creating a Facebook group, we have several alternatives to choose from.  Instant messaging services such as WhatsApp or Messenger allow you to exchange messages instantly, but their possibilities are even more limited to those of Facebook groups . A more informed person may turn to, for example, Slack or  MS Teams. These are extended versions of communicators, resembling a small social networking sites. They are a better solution than a Facebook or WhatsApp, but dedicated mainly to working in small groups. They do not offer the possibility of creating newsletters and cataloging messages, creating schedules, conducting research and surveys etc. They lack what is at the heart of a well-chosen application for the company — personalized functionality!

Personalized functionality

In Expansio we believe, that good internal PR is the basis of an engaged and motivated community. These values were reflected in “our child” — the communication application.

We tried to create a program that will not only solve the problems described above, but also be expandable with additional modules. We know that in every sector of the economy, every director and every employee have different requirements.

The core of the application is always the same:

• Personalized newsletter with the possibility of creating new categories
• An extensive schedule with the option of assigning permissions
• Separate sections where employees can find the necessary information on insurance, regulations, medical packages or the most important contacts etc.
• A section containing all forms and files necessary for the employee
• Surveys and quizzes
• Personalization and notifications settings
• A section on company strategies to help employees understand its activities

However, it is just the beginning of functionality.

• Do you want to share the knowledge with the subordinates ? You can use the e-learning module. We will implement necessary materials and enrich it with tests and rankings! We can even create a game for you! In this way, using the rules of gamification, you will provide your employees with necessary knowledge in a simple and pleasant way. We did just that with Volkswagen company! → check how we managed it.
• Do you run an accounting company and need an option to quickly reach documentation? We can implement our  chatbot for you. Upon request formed in natural language, it will find all the necessary files. It is ready, just waiting to be implemented according to your needs! → Bigdata Chatbot
• Do you work in Human Resources and need a method for a convenient and orderly  recruitment? We also have a special module for this! We will integrate your recruitment system with our application, so that each employee has an insight into promotion opportunities, available positions and individual requirements.
• Do you have a large company with various sectors and you want to test the well-being of your employees in specific departments? We will implement dedicated surveys with an extensive system of graphical analysis of results.

Additionally, we conduct interviews with employees to find out which functions are necessary. After all, they know best what they need !

What if you want to know even more? A more detailed description of the application you can find →  right here ←

So if you plan to improve communication in your company and create a multifunctional, personalized tool, as it happened with Volkswagen company (click to find out more) – contact us. We will get back to you and talk to you!