Our monthly digest of news, views and opinion from around the wonderful world of internal communications…

It’s going back a few years, but one oft-quoted stat from an IBM survey states that 72% of employees don’t have an understanding of their company’s strategy.

And that’s the subject of a recent LinkedIn post from freelance comms strategist Simon Rutter.

You might want to factor in the thought that it’s a sales pitch for his own business, but Simon says internal comms people need to focus ruthlessly on strategy.

“The IBM findings are frightening”, he writes, “because it means most people at work don’t understand what they should be doing, why, or how”.

“Yet having worked in #internalcommunications for over 20 years,” he continues, “I see this on a daily basis. IC teams are battered by a barrage of non-strategic requests that clog up the system, create noise and confusion, and leave no room for what matters.

“Bottom line,” Simon says, adding in a useful chin-scratch emoji to underline his point, “if your people don’t know what your strategy is, how on earth are they going to deliver it?”

It’s good stuff. And as 44 Managing Partner, Tom Abbott says:
“All too often, companies announce a new strategy with a grand fanfare and management attention. Then what? Silence until the next big strategy launch. Keeping colleague focus on strategic priorities requires constant attention, demonstrating progress, acknowledging challenges and celebrating milestones.”

Speaking out on strategy

On a loosely connected topic, PR Moment features an article by Ian Morris, who looks at the role a CEO plays in internal comms.

He points out that ultimately it is the CEO’s responsibility to establish a collective vision, purpose, culture and strategy for a business. But they need to be an effective communicator to start with, and to buy in to the concept that it’s their job to share their knowledge about why the company exists, what it is trying to achieve, and how it intends to achieve that.

And he’s come up with six top tips to help you to create a CEO-led internal communications strategy.

You’re having a laugh

If you’re a regular LinkedIn user, you’ll no doubt have stumbled upon the very entertaining series of posts from TikTok creator and occasional stand-up comedian Rob Mayhew.

If you haven’t discovered him yet, it’s worth a visit to see how he mercilessly takes the rise out of the comms world. Check out a new short vid highlighting the things we all say just before an important pitch, and the one about all the extra work created by a successful campaign.

Any thoughts on IC teams using marketing techniques, or how to keep remote workers engaged? Drop us a line or comment below, and we’ll be back with more IC news next month.