£7.99All rights reserved. No part of this publication may bereproduced in any way or filed in any information systemwithout the written consent of the publishers. All copy andillustrations are the exclusive property of the author andpublishers. Whilst every care has been taken to ensure thecontents are correct, the publishers cannot accept anyresponsibility for any errors or omissions.

Designed by Nicholas James Design.

Copyright © 2009, Gatehouse Consulting Limitedwww.GatehouseGroup.co.uk

Created by Simon Wright

The A – Z of Internal Communications1st Edition

Created by: Simon WrightContributing authors: Ben Hunt & Lee SmithIllustrations: Paul Richardson

Published by:Gatehouse,14 Printing House Yard,Hackney Road,LondonE2 7PR

Telephone: 020 7754 3630Email: info@gatehousegroup.co.ukWeb: www.GatehouseGroup.co.ukCompany Registration: 5960808

Copyright © 2009, Gatehouse Consulting Limited

A is for… Audience page 2B is for… Boss page 4C is for… Channels page 6D is for… Design page 7E is for… Email page 8F is for… Feedback page 10G is for… Gatehouse and Gasp! page 12H is for… HR page 14I is for… Involve page 15J is for… Jargon page 16K is for… Knowledge page 18L is for… Leadership page 20M is for… Motivation page 22N is for… Nosey page 23O is for… Openness page 24P is for… Politics page 25Q is for… Quality page 26R is for… Resources page 27S is for… Strategy & Planning page 28T is for… Talking page 30U is for… Understanding page 31V is for… Vision & Values page 32W is for…Wheel page 34X is for… Xplain page 36Y is for… Generation Y page 38Z is for… Zoo page 39

Contents

page 3page 2

A is for…AudienceThe people it’s all for; your adoring or not so adoring public.

Love them and they will love you in return. At least that’s the theory.

But employees are a notoriously tough audience. They can smell spin a mile off and detectinsincerity and incongruence with astonishing ease.

Get your performance wrong and they will punish you. Feed them meaningless words andthey will heckle you. Ignore them and they will chase you from town.

The key, of course, is to know your audience – who they are, where they are, what makesthem tick, what turns them off, how they feel and what they think.

Who said communication was easy?

page 5page 4

The leader - the person who will make or break the internal communicator.

If the boss isn’t on side or thinks communication is an optional extra, then you’re going to really struggle.

So how to get the ear of the boss? Here are our top three tips:

1. Make it simple - the one thing all bosses have in common is that they are busy people and don’t have much time. Don’t go to the boss with a list as long as your arm, but make sure you have a few high quality, clear and concise issues to raise (together withappropriate solutions) which will make a difference to the business and to your boss. Findout what keeps them awake at night, talk their language and be seen as a ‘fixer’ and you’llsoon find that they come to you for advice.

2. Tell the truth - sounds pretty obvious? But it’s always a lot easier to agree with a roomof senior people (even though you know through your network that they are miles off themark), rather than drive home your point. Don’t be a nodding dog - be brave, speak up andtell it like it is.

3. Carry some bags - “carry some what?”, I hear you cry. Simply put, to position yourselfas the boss’s right hand man or woman, you need to deal with the baggage of leadership -preparing presentations, writing speeches, responding to questions, ensuring they’re in theright place at the right time. Stay close and be there when the boss calls and, before youknow it they won’t be able to live without you.

B is for…Boss

page 7

“Tell someone something in seven different ways and they’ll remember it” With the average person exposed to around 20,000 brands every single day, what chancehas your internal message got of being seen and remembered?

C is for…Channels D is for…Design

That’s where good design comes in.

You’ll never see an advert on TV looking asthough it had been pulled together in a hurryby someone without a creative bone in theirbody (ok well sometimes you do), but you’lloften see an internal newsletter or presentationthat looks as if it was cobbled together in fiveminutes by someone who has just discoveredclip art in PowerPoint.

Employees, like consumers, know what goodcommunication looks like. They areexperienced and sophisticated users of themainstream media and, to stand any chance of getting through to them, your message simply has to compete.

Quality content, great design and alittle bit of creativity in your internal communications can go a long way and will ensure your messages stick. Use the right channels for the right messages and repeat, repeat, repeat.

page 6

page 9page 8

Email is everywhere. It’s endemic. In less than two decades it’s taken over the world ofwork and become the curse of the modern organisation.

Email volume has grown to unprecedented levels and, according to many researchers, mostof it is junk - either deliberate spam or badly targeted, irrelevant bumph.

To help us we’ve invented new ways to cope - from the head in the sand approach (“if it’simportant they’ll call me”) to the dreaded Blackberry... But email isn’t the devil’s work - ohno. Used properly it’s quick, easy, effective and, best of all, cheap. There’s no better way toget a message out to thousands of people in a short space of time.

The problem is that it’s available to all - whilst you can prepare and send messages quicklyand easily, so can everyone else. That’s why organisations are drowning in emails aboutmissing coffee mugs.

Here are a few basic ground rules that will help you cut through the email log jam:

1. Make the message short and sweet - emails should be brief and easy to digest

2. Keep the format simple and clean - graphics can help your message stand out in the office but aren’t quite so helpful for those on the road

3. Use it sparingly - don’t forget that there are other channels available, some of which may be far more effective

E is for…Email

page 11page 10

After sweating away for days if not weeks, delivering the latest project against a toughdeadline, you finally get it out...

The boss liked it and your friends think it’s good. So what’s the point in asking anyone else- it’s clearly been a success?

But has it? Has it delivered the change you wanted or have people largely ignored it?

That’s where feedback comes in - one of the communicator’s most important tools.

It doesn’t matter what any single one of us believes, it’s the response of the audience thatcounts. Did it work? Has the message got through? Have people acted upon it? Hasbehaviour actually changed as a result?

There’s a wide selection of tools available to you to collect feedback, from simple feedbackbuttons on email and intranet, through to directly asking employees via surveys and focusgroups - or simply walking up to someone at the water cooler and asking what theythought of it!

Feedback is good. It can arm the communicator with valuable intelligence, helping you fine-tune future messages, gauge the effectiveness of the communication, assess the moodof the organisation and capture hot ideas and improvement suggestions.

Most importantly, it’s a surefire way to demonstrate one of the most critical and underusedskills in communication - listening.

F is for…Feedback

page 13page 12

From time-to-time you will undoubtedly need external help and support.

That’s where Gatehouse and Gasp! Events come in (well we have to get a littleplug in somewhere!)

We’ve been doing employee engagement and behavioural change programmes for years and we like to think we know what we’re talking about.

We’re also pretty good at creating fantastic, impactful events.

So if you have a communication challenge, seeking training in a specific area,need an extra pair of hands, want to deliver an innovative and engagingemployee event, or would simply like to chat through an issue, then why don’tyou drop us a line?

G is for…Gatehouse and Gasp!

info@gatehousegroup.co.uk020 7754 3630

www.GatehouseGroup.co.ukCommunicate. Change

info@gaspevents.com020 7033 8712

www.GaspEvents.comStrategic thinking. Breathtaking events

page 15page 14

H is for…HR I is for…InvolveAre those nice folk in Human Resources your enemy or your ally?

In some organisations responsibility for internal communication falls to HR, whereas inothers it belongs to marketing, PR, sits with the strategy team or reports directly to theCEO. Functional squabbles inevitably abound, but wherever it sits it’s vital thatcommunicators and HR people join hands and work together.

Whether your HR team is focused primarily on pay and rations or is driving the employee engagement agenda, there’s no escaping that we need each other.Go ahead – hug an HR person today.

page 17page 16

There’s no escaping jargon at work.

On the plus side, it’s a quick fire way to communicate complex information andsummarise ideas – providing a handy shorthand vocabulary for those in the know.

Now here’s the thing – not everyone is in the know.

Jargon can become a sort of secret code that the corporate power fiends use toconfuse and baffle the rest of us. To the layperson (and that’s most of us) it doesnothing but irritate and exclude.

At a more basic and less sinister level it can hide the fact that the user doesn’t have aclue what they’re talking about. Colourful window dressing for meaningless drivel.

And don’t even get me started on TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms!)

This doesn’t mean that you have to patronise your audience. Just imagine that you’retalking to someone as intelligent as you are, but on your first day in the job.

J is for…Jargon

page 19page 18

Knowledge is Power. Or so they say.

Well, whoever they are, I think I agree. It’s pretty much essential to whatever destiny has instore for you. But what knowledge is critical to the communicator?

At the heart of every super communicator are three core Powers:

Power 1 – The BasicsA good communicator will be able to write original copy (accurately!), edit other people’s,know how to run campaigns, be an effective project manager, understand change and havea strong dose of creativity.

Get the basics right and you’re ready to don your cape and lycra tights…

Power 2 – The OrganisationNot some dastardly organisation run by a shadowy figure stroking a cat (well maybe not)but the organisation you work for. You need to have a good feel for the culture of thebusiness, a good grip on the organisation’s mission, vision and values, understand theformal and informal structure and know its market and competitors. The quicker youunderstand your organisation and its objectives (as well as who to speak to to get thingsdone), the quicker you will fly!

Power 3 – The PeopleThe final power is people - the ability to understand who your internal audience andstakeholders are and what makes them tick. What distinct groups exist?

K is for…KnowledgeHow do you reach them? What’s their mood? How do they respond to different messages?There are plenty of tools available from personality assessments (such as Myers Briggs)through to the more in-depth and scientific techniques like social network analysis.

With all three powers in your grasp, you’re ready to save the world!

page 21page 20

You may not be the boss,but if you’re responsible forcommunication then you’repart of the leadership team.

Through you, the tone,clarity, frequency andvolume of internalcommunication is delivered.This is an awesomeresponsibility as it has thepower to impact on moodand climate, productivityand, ultimately, the successor failure of the entireenterprise.

So, no pressure then.

As for delivery, don’t let anyone do it.

Make sure they have the skills and the credibility andthat they know what they’re doing. Just one wrongword and then…well you can see for yourself!

L is for…Leadership

page 23page 22

We’re all nosey.

We all want to know what other people are thinking,doing, what they’re saying and where they’re going.

This is a gift to the communicator as it means our audience are already attentive – already primed to sit up and listen.

But remember that most organisations are as leaky as a sieve. Openness shouldalways be a rule of thumb, but if you have to keep secrets make sure you keep the inner circle tight and beware that office walls have ears!

N is for…NoseyCommunication is all about motivation. How are you going to get people to do things differently?

Your message needs to be clear enough not only to make them understand, but also to spur them into positive action.

Sometimes it might need a little bit more. You need to think about what’s going to motivate and engage people. It might be some kind words; it might involve showing how an employee’s day-to-day activity supports the organisation’s overall strategy; it might involve sharing success stories, and sometimes it might require some sort of tangible reward (and no, that doesn’t necessarily mean money.)

And don’t forget the little things. Line managers often hold the key to motivation – simply saying ‘thank you’ and ‘job well done’ can go a long way.

M is for…Motivation

page 24

P is for…Politics

page 25

O is for…OpennessSecrets and lies are the evil twins to meaning and motivation.

Frontline employees rarely know what’s going on because information isn’talways shared with them, so they end up guessing.

Similarly, senior managers tend to have no idea what’s really going on in their organisations as no-one ever thinks to tell them.

Openly sharing the information - good, bad and indifferent - will ensure that everyone feels valued and involved and will be more motivated and productive as a result. It will also help create a culture of trust and empowerment.

But take care! Using the ‘O’ word carries risks. Don’t go shouting around the place that you are an ‘open’ organisation if, as soon as things start to get a bit tricky, the boss’s door slams shut and everyone else clams up. Next time your people might not be quite so quick to listen to you.

It’s not just the privilege of politicians – every organisation suffers from it. Politics.It doesn’t matter where you go, there’s bound to be at least someone playing thepolitical game. Unfortunately, we all tend to have our own agenda - which mayinclude everything from career development through to getting one over on Jeanfrom Accounts after what she said about our Ashley.

The communicator is not likely to change this. As you tread through the political minefields, you might just be able to rescue a few people and bring them to safety, reminding them on the way, just why they are all there – to help make the organisation a successful place in which to work.

page 27page 26

If your message is to carry any weight, you must get the basics right.

Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and shoddy presentation areimmediately going to dilute what you’re saying, undermine your messageand make your audience think that you couldn’t care less.

Quality and accuracy are the nails and screws in the communicator’s toolkit. If you can’t get these right, then everything else will fall apart.

Think about it as a carpenter who can’t cut wood, or a doctor who’s scared of blood, or…well you get the picture.

Blessed be the proof-readers, for they shall inherit the worth.

Q is for…QualityBeing responsible for communication can be daunting. Attempting to do it effectivelywithout making full use of all available resources makes it neigh on impossible to get right.

But if you look hard enough there is always help around – from people inside the firm, tospecialists outside.

Communication is not a solitary exercise. It is your job to conduct the orchestra not play every instrument yourself.

R is for…Resources

Start with the end in mind and work your way backwards.

Then start at the beginning and work your way forwards.

Get other people to pick holes in your strategy. Expect disasters, changes of direction andpolicy and then do it all over again. Then again.

And then the fun bit begins.

Once you have your nice shiny new strategy, don’t forget to share it. Whilst it’s admirablefor people to march to the beat of their own drum, it helps if everyone is heading in thesame direction.

Strategies and plans are not for personal consumption only, they need to be clearlyarticulated amongst all your key stakeholders - be it your team, or the business as a whole.

So create the strategy, develop the plan and communicate, communicate, communicate.

Oh, and don’t forget to build in a contingency - you never know when you might need it...

S is for…Strategy & Planning

page 29page 28

The ultimate goal of any communication is action –some sort of behavioural change. One of thefundamental steps towards that goal is to help yourpeople understand what you are trying to achieve.

Understanding is an entirely personal process- it happens in the heads of your audience -and it will therefore happen at differentspeeds and with varying levels of impact.

The clearer and simpler your message, theeasier this will be.

So Stop trying to rush things and startcommunicating with clarity. Go for it!

U is for…Understanding

page 31page 30

Talking saves lives, ends wars, fixes marriages, bridges cultures and breaks down thebiggest of barriers. Taken in equal measure with a healthy dose of listening, there’s nothingthan can’t be achieved through conversation.

Trouble is, not all of us are good at it.

Face-to-face communication is still, even in this world of Facebook and Twitter, the singlemost effective way to communicate. But it’s also time consuming and can sometimes leave people exposed – which is why it sometimes feels easier to bang out yet another email.

Our advice is simple.If you want good internal communication, then you better start talking.

T is for…Talking

page 33page 32

Your vision and values, together with your wider organisational mission, are the pillars of your culture. As such, they should underpin everything you say and do internally.

Whilst they’re not the message itself, they help set the context in which it is delivered - capturing the organisation’s DNA if you will and providing the glue that holds everything together.

The communicator’s role is to ensure this is embedded in everything you say and do (and everything your bosses say and do too!) Communication plansshould follow it, content should echo it and the behaviour of leaders andmanagers should reflect it.

It also helps if it is a little bit memorable too (so no 100 page MissionStatements please!)

V is for…Vision & Values

You’re special.

You’re lovely, talented and unique.

But you’re probably not the first person to have to communicate inside your organisation.

Take advantage of this and make the most of the learning of others.

If someone has done it already and tried it before, why waste time and effort trying to do it all again?

More often than not there’s a great example of how to do it already lying around – you just need to find it, adapt it and use it.

Remember - you get no points for reinventing the wheel.

W is for…Wheel

page 35page 34

page 37page 36

Okay. So it’s not really an X, but you think of a better one!

Anyway, it’s not enough to just tell your audience to do something, you have toexplain to them why they should do it and address that all-important question, what’s in it for me?

People like to be treated as grown ups and you’d be surprised how understandingthey can be – even if you have a difficult message to get across.

So if you know that pressing the big red button will cause a piano to fall on theirhead, don’t just tell your people not to press it, but let them know what will happen if they do, as otherwise...(cue the sound of a crashing piano.)

X is for…Xplain

page 39page 38

Some days it seems that you’re trying to communicate to a bunch of animals.

Every step is marked with vipers that turn, rats that scuttle, sloths that don’t doanything at all for weeks on end - and the less said about what the monkeys are up tothe better!

But just feed them with what they need at the right time and you’ll soon be surprised at how easy it is to get them to do justwhat you want.

Just no rubbish please!

Z is for…ZooMore than any generation before it, those born between 1979 and 1995 are bombardedwith messages from a plethora of sources. These media-drenched whippersnappers nowrepresent a big (and growing) percentage of your workforce. Ignore them at your peril.

These guys and gals are tech-savvy and you need to tap into the channels they’re using,particularly social media. But be careful not to get completelysucked in. Switching your entire budget to Twitter or reinventing your internal directory on Facebook might seem a good idea at the time, but you’llinevitably need some ‘old school’ channels too.

It’s about balance. Social media is important but at its most basic it’s simply another set of communication channels to work with. It’s just part of the mix.

Generation Y will move along soon enough making way for Generation Z and before you know it we’ll all be back at square one...

Y is for…Generation Y

page 41page 40

Simon Wright has specialised in marketing and communications for over 15 years, with the past decade focused on internal communications. He hasworked and consulted for a number of large organisations across a variety ofsectors, including financial and professional services, insurance, telecoms, retailand travel & tourism, both in the UK and the Middle East. In 2006, Simon co-founded the London-based internal communication consultancy, Gatehouse,which provides high quality, focused and results-driven internal communicationadvice and support to a range of private and public sector organisations.

Formed in 2006 by Simon Wright and Lee Smith, two former senior in-housecommunicators, Gatehouse provides high quality, focused and results-driveninternal communication advice and support to a range of private and publicsector organisations. From offices in London and the Midlands, Gatehouse workswith leaders, managers and in-house communicators in the UK and globally, tohelp shape their organisation’s culture, mobilise employees behind change, bringvalues to life and communicate in a way that delivers real, tangible results.

Formed in 2009, Gasp! creates truly breathtaking corporate events to engage,educate and entertain an organisation’s most important stakeholders – be theyits employees, its most valued customers or its shareholders. As part of theGatehouse Group it has a unique approach based on robust strategic thinkingand sound planning, ensuring a jaw-dropping and lasting impact on theaudience. Strategic thinking. Breathtaking events

Lee Smith is a director at Gatehouse and is an award winning communicatorwho has held senior positions with some of the UK’s leading financial andprofessional services organisations. He is Fellow of the Chartered Institute ofPublic Relations (CIPR), a visiting lecturer at a number of universities and afrequent judge on the major industry awards programmes. A passionateadvocate for internal communications, he runs the popular ‘Talking InternalCommunication’ blog – www.internalcommunications.co.uk/blog.php

Benjamin Hunt is one of the founders of Gasp! Events, together with SteveManning. After a number of years in the events industry, Ben has cultivated awell-earned reputation for creativity and an obsession with quality that ismatched only by his enthusiasm.

When not working on events, Ben can usually be found with his nose in a book or in his kitchen making something terrifying out of perfectly innocent ingredients.

Paul Richardson is a freelance graphic facilitator who has a long careerworking in the industry, visually capturing the key learning messages anddelegate experiences at conferences, training events and management retreats.As well as working in the corporate world, Paul has illustrated children’s books,sports books and training related books.

He runs his own company and can be contacted at www.abbeyparkart.co.uk

Gatehouse can be contacted via:

Email: info@gatehousegroup.co.ukPhone: 020 7754 3630Web: www.GatehouseGroup.co.uk

Gasp! can be contacted via:

Email: info@gaspevents.comPhone: 020 7033 8712Web: www.GaspEvents.com