As an executive of an organization, who do you believe your key stakeholders are? Who would be number one on that list?

In any organization, employees should be the number one audience.

The most successful organizations are those with engaged employees who are involved in frequent two-way dialogue with leadership throughout the organization and given the chance to provide their own feedback and ideas.

Good internal communications will not only make your organization stronger, but it will also come in handy if any changes or crises come along.

Employees need to be the first ones informed of any change with the organization – before your external audiences. One of the worst things to happen would be to have your employees find out that there will be layoffs – or even new jobs being added – by watching the evening news.

When you communicate with employees first, the support of an internal community can help keep your organization’s reputation on track. Their engagement directly affects company morale, productivity and customer experience.

Equally as important, internal communications needs a strategy of its own. It should be more than a simple plan of tactical message deliveries about business activities. This needs to be tied in with a business goal.

Ask yourself: how well do your employees understand your business strategy and how connected are they to the organization?

You should also think about: Who do your employees influence when they are in and outside of the office? They could have more of an impact than you know.

Your organization’s reputation depends so much on user experience, which is impacted by their direct communication with your employees.

So don’t put this on the back burner. Take charge of your internal communications and mobilize the army inside your organization.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download