If you haven’t read our previous article about communication, check it out to get a good foundation before diving deeper into this article.
Remember, we defined communication as the sending and receiving of messages through verbal or nonverbal means.
Within a business organization, communication happens internally and externally.
We defined internal communication as communication within the business, usually between employees. This can include vertical and horizontal communication channels, from higher-level employees to/from lower-level employees (vertical) and communication between same-level employees (horizontal).
Types of Internal Communication
Let’s take a closer look at the types of internal communication.
Employee to Employee Communication
This includes conversation and interaction between employees of an organization. This is a peer-to-peer communication related to work or personal matters and is generally the least formal type of communication within the organization.
Employee to Manager Communication
This includes messages being sent from employees and received by managers. The content of these messages may be about current projects or logistical issues and is often a more formal communication style than employee-to-employee communication.
Manager to Employee Communication
This includes messages being sent from managers and received by employees. Examples of this type of communication may involve delegation of tasks, requests for status updates, etc., and can be done formally or informally.
Employee to Company Communication
Employee-to-company communication is primarily based on the feedback employees give to the organization. This could be done informally or through surveys and reflect employment satisfaction, excitement about the brand, etc.
Company to Employee Communication
This type of communication consists of messages released from the organization to its people. While we know people created these messages within the company, the content is presented to come from the organization as an entity and is often relatively formal.
Formal and Informal Internal Communication
Within a business organization, the formality level varies per message and circumstance. For example, when speaking to a manager or leader of the organization, it is natural to become more formal than talking to a peer.
The formality could be reflected in words, tone, communication channels, etc. It is revealed in both verbal and nonverbal choices. Unfortunately, people have varying expectations and understanding of what is formal, proper, and appropriate. So, the interpretation of communication can become a problem.
Managers can feel disrespected by their teams, and employees can feel overwhelmed by their organizations, leaving everyone feeling misunderstood and frustrated. Whatever the circumstance, most of these issues can be traced back to the root cause of poor communication. Ultimately, this affects the company’s culture or is a reflection of it.
Pause and think about all the daily communication in a single organization, including employee-employee communication, employee-management communication, employee-customer communication, etc.
The quality and importance of communication within an organization directly connect with the culture and, ultimately, the success of that business.
Have a Plan for Communication
While companies cannot control every communication that happens during a year/month/day/week/hour, the importance of having a plan is evident. The better the plan, the better the results. This applies to every area of business, but especially to communication. Organizations should create holistic internal and external communication plans and processes, which can be followed and carried out by the entire team.
Creating a plan gives you a better chance of sending messages on purpose, having your message received and understood as intended by the right audience, and growing your business.
Contact our team for more information or help with communication planning and strategies, as well as more information on this and other communication topics.