Worst-case scenario: It's 3:45 p.m., and your organization has scheduled a rally in favor of the new Youth Center at 4:00. The press is there, the folks pushing the Youth Center are there, the politicians are there...where are all the people from your organization? In a panic, you call the office to ask where the rest of the staff is. "Rally? What rally? Nobody told us about it," they say."We're not prepared for any rally." Show Even-worse-case scenario: You're the director of a community health clinic, and you're about to open on Monday morning. Suddenly, all the clinic's nurses are lined up in front of you. "Working conditions at this place are terrible. We've been abused and exploited long enough! We're all handing in our resignations...right now!" You stammer, "But you never told me you were unhappy. Let's discuss it!" Then you realize that you're talking to the slamming door. Each of these situations results from poor communication within an organization. They're particularly awful examples, it's true, but poor internal communication has plagued many grass-roots and community-based organizations, and has been the downfall of quite a few. It's tremendously important that your organization foster an atmosphere of openness and create systems that will lead to the freest flow possible of, not only information, but ideas, feelings, and a sense of shared purpose.
What is internal communication?In its simplest terms, internal communication is communication within an organization. It encompasses both "official" communication -- memos, guidelines, policies and procedures, etc. -- and the unofficial communication that goes on among and between the staff members of all organizations -- the exchange of ideas and opinions, the development of personal relationships, and the proverbial conversation around the water cooler. It goes in all directions among line staff (those who do the specific work of the organization and work directly with the target population), administrators, supervisors, clerical and support staff, volunteers, and, perhaps, even the Board of Directors. Internal communication is a lot more than people talking to one another, however. It's the life blood of any organization, the way in which everyone gets the information she needs. It means that anyone can easily get his question answered, as well as that no one gets left out when there's a birthday celebration for a staff member. Good internal communication can:
In many ways, internal communication is the glue that holds an organization together. Without it, you're just a collection of disconnected individuals each working individually at her own job. With it, you're a unit with power far beyond the sum of your parts.
Why should you promote internal communication?So good internal communication is a good thing. But there's so much to do. Why spend a lot of time on this stuff? Can't the organization do just fine by leaving people alone to do their jobs and let internal communication take care of itself? The short answer to that last question is "No." Unless you're a one-person organization, communication is one of the most important aspects of managing what you do. What can internal communication do for you? Here's a short list:
How do you promote internal communication?There are three interrelated issues that an organization needs to address in promoting internal communication. The first involves the organizational climate and culture. The organization has to be a place where open communication is accepted and encouraged. The second concerns establishing clear definitions of what needs to be communicated, and by whom. If you assume that everyone always needs to know about absolutely everything, the staff would spend all its time merely receiving and passing on information. There need to be guidelines about what and how information gets passed. The last issue is that of the systems that the organization creates to get its work done and to enable internal communication. Are they structured to encourage communication in all directions, or to discourage or channel it in particular ways? Organizational climate and cultureTo foster internal communication, the first and most important step is to establish a climate of openness that encourages the free flow of communication and information in all directions. This means that the organizational culture has to embrace internal communication, and that individuals -- particularly key individuals, who might be the director and other administrators, or who might simply be the people that others respect and listen to -- have to feel comfortable with, and model communicating regularly and clearly with, anyone and everyone else in the organization.
Ultimately, the organizational climate becomes the organizational culture. Creating a climate that fosters internal communication includes:
Clear definitions of what needs to be communicated and by whomMuch of the information an individual gets is directly related only to him or his job. He obviously can't relay all of it to everyone else. What does need to be communicated to others, and who is responsible for doing it? The answers to those questions will vary from organization to organization, but here are some broad guidelines:
SystemsJust about every organization sets up systems of different kinds to make it easier or more effective to complete some parts of its task. Internal communication can be stifled by your organization's systems, or it can be promoted and strengthened through both existing systems and new ones you create for the purpose. It helps both to understand what you can do, and what you'd be better off not doing. Some ways that systems that can be used to promote and strengthen internal communication: Hiring You may already have a plan for hiring staff members. It can easily include making clear to all applicants -- for every job in the organization -- that communication is absolutely necessary to what goes on in the organization, and that openness is part of the organizational culture. Your hiring plan can also include searching for people with the qualities that foster openness and communication -- comfort with oneself, friendliness, a sense of humor, a relaxed attitude, among many others. You may be able to devise questions and structure the interview situation to find those qualities. An important piece of this process is to be sure that your communication with applicants, including the interview itself, models what you're seeking in the working of the organization. A good way to make sure that you don't hire the wrong person is to put candidates through an experience of anxiety and harassment. That will demonstrate to them that the organizational culture is high tension, survival-of-the-fittest. The person who looks best in that kind of situation is probably exactly the wrong person to help establish an atmosphere that encourages internal communication. Staff training As with hiring, you may already have a staff training plan or program. You can adapt it for promoting internal communication by adding or enhancing training in the communication needs of the organization and individuals:
Supervision The form that supervision takes in an organization can easily either foster or stifle internal communication. If supervision is seen as intrusive and punitive (like looking over people's shoulders and trying to catch them doing something wrong) internal communication, particularly among supervisors and supervisees, probably won't benefit. If supervision is seen -- and practiced -- as supportive and helpful, a way to continually enhance the quality of one's work, then internal communication is more likely to flourish. Another role that supervision plays here is that it can help staff and volunteers to examine and improve their own communication, and thus improve communication within the organization. Regular meetings A staff of any size, particularly one that operates out of a variety of places (different communities, for instance), should meet regularly, ideally every week. Such meetings are often slighted because they appear to take time away from the work of the organization, or because most people dislike them. But they are, in fact, vital to the work of the organization, allowing people the chance to share ideas (and thus improve their own work by applying what they've heard ), hear what's going on in the organization as a whole (and confirm their commitment to the work), and renew relationships with one another (making it easier to work together). When people dislike attending staff meetings, it's often because the meetings feel like they're imposed by the administrator who runs them. They may not deal with issues that are important to most of the staff, and, all too often, they consist of only one person talking -- the administrator. A meeting that takes this form sends exactly the wrong message in an organization that's trying to foster open communication. If you want to make meetings more conducive to real communication, you can try one or some combination of the following ways to make them more interesting and enjoyable:
Other avenues of communication An organizational newsletter -- either printed or e-mailed -- can be a way of getting large amounts of information to people so they don't feel left out, and at the same time give them the choice of how much of that information they want to digest. That and any other communication (bulletins, memos, etc.) should embody in their style and the method of their distribution the same principles of openness and general respect as the rest of the organization's functioning. Everyone should have easy and direct access to the means of communication, i.e. mailboxes, phone and voice mail, phone numbers, e-mail addresses for everyone else in the organization, and both electronic and actual bulletin boards and newsletters. E-mail is a particularly effective method of internal communication. It's possible to create an internal list-serv, so that everyone can receive e-mails sent by any other person in the organization. There should be guidelines for using list-servs, so that messages meant only for a particular person and non-work-related messages are not sent over them. In addition, people may ask to be put on specialized lists that cover their area of work (counseling, grant information, new medical developments, etc.). Procedures and clear lines of communication for dealing with out-of-the-ordinary situations When problems arise, communication is made easier - and more likely - if there are systems that help people understand exactly what to do to deal with the situation. Some of the more common instances: Problems among staff. Unresolved conflicts in an organization make life harder and more tense for everyone. The ideal here is always that a staff member at least tries to resolve issues by approaching the person with whom he has difficulties. If that's not possible, a well-drawn procedure for addressing the conflict (First, tell X, who will try to mediate. If X is involved in the issue, go to Y. Etc.) makes it more likely that it will be brought out in the open and that it will be resolved. Problems, or potential problems, in the organization that need to be discussed and addressed. As in the story about the director who was told about organizational problems "in confidence," issues unacknowledged are issues unresolved. It's possible to create procedures for flagging problems that take the responsibility off the reporter, and outline clear, inclusive steps for dealing with the situation. One possibility, for instance, would be to refer issues to a small group which could then come up with one or more potential solutions to be discussed by the whole staff. In order for problems to be dealt with effectively, or, even better, nipped in the bud, people have to believe that:
Emergencies. These can take many forms, from an attack on the organization in the press to an injury on the job to a security problem that results in a rape. There need to be clear lines of communication for reporting the situation, and the person to whom it's reported needs to know exactly how to respond, both to the reporter -- who may be injured, terrified, or shaken up -- and to the situation. Accessibility of everyone in the organization This is a fairly simple concept that is sometimes difficult to effect. In essence, it means that anyone should be able to speak to anyone else in the organization without permission from anyone else (a common example is a staff member needing permission to attend a Board meeting or to speak to a member of the Board).
Occasional or institutionalized opportunities to socialize, either at work or elsewhere One way to encourage communication is to set up ways for people to get to know one another well. Many organizations grab any excuse they can find to have a party, a celebration, or just time to relax and talk about things other than work. Some staffs eat lunch together as a regular daily ritual, which can be fostered by the presence of a refrigerator, coffeemaker, and hotplate. Celebrating birthdays, organizational anniversaries, and particular successes is another way to bring people together. The goal is not necessarily to make staff members best friends who spend all their time together out of work, but rather to make people comfortable with one another. How do you monitor and improve internal communication?As with so many aspects of organizational management, developing plans, systems, pathways, and a conducive climate for internal communication is only the beginning. The hard part is getting and keeping it going, essentially forever. In order to maintain internal communication and continue to make it better, you have to look at it regularly to see how you're doing. Monitoring it on a regular basis will help you identify where it's working and where it's not, and to keep working toward your communication goals. Analyzing something as vague as "communication" can be difficult: it often falls into that realm of "I know it when I see it." Sociologists use complicated research strategies to map communication among individuals in a group, but it's unlikely that most organizations have either the resources or the desire to go to those lengths. There are a number of simpler ways to look at your internal communication that will give you at least a general picture of how well it's working. Some ways of monitoring internal communication:
Like all aspects of an organization, communication should be monitored on a regular basis, at least annually. In SummaryPromoting internal communication is one of the most important things you can do to make sure that your organization runs smoothly and effectively. Good internal communication will flourish if you can create an organizational climate of openness that is conducive to the free flow of communication and information in all directions; adjust your organization's systems or develop new ones to encourage, rather than discourage, internal communication; and create clear definitions of what needs to be communicated and by whom. Monitoring and adjusting your internal communication will help to maintain it at the level you need over the life of your organization. |