Life at Blink | Maggie MacKay-Dunn

Experts predict that the staffing industry will bring in a record $185.5 billion in revenue in 2022. That’s because many companies are finally learning that people are one of the most important assets in a business. 

Investing in attracting and hiring the best talent makes sense, but recruitment is only half the battle. To maximize the benefits of your recruiting efforts, you need to create a work environment where your team members feel connected, energized, and motivated.

Highly engaged organizations have been found to benefit from a 23% increase in profitability due to improved retention, customer ratings and sales.  

Operating with a solid organizational communication strategy is the key to building a culture of engagement where you retain employees instead of fighting turnover.

In this article, we'll explore how you can achieve that. Here’s what we’ll cover:

Why communication is the key to employee engagement 

The Harvard Business Review describes an engaged employee as someone who's committed to their employer and identifies with their organization, has job satisfaction, and feels energized while at work. 

For human resource or communications leaders, this creates two primary objectives to improve employee engagement: creating a positive relationship between employee and employer, and enabling job satisfaction. 

Internal communications is essential for creating that positive relationship since it fosters trust and keeps leadership better informed about the employee experience. As for job satisfaction, communication is a valuable tool that can reinforce positive work experiences. 

When employees are well-informed, they’re better engaged with the business, and this leads to all kinds of positive business outcomes.

Communication builds trust 

According to a 2020 Brunel University London study, internal communications strategies such as open communication channels, information sharing, and consistent feedback result in higher co-worker trust and more engagement at work.

Communication informs leadership

Good communication works in both directions. It helps leadership convey values and big-picture goals and enables employees to share their opinions, concerns, and questions with decision-makers. 

Too often, employees feel that company leadership is out of touch with the needs and priorities of the workforce. Internal communication in the form of two-way conversations bridges that gap and enables leaders to make better-informed decisions about matters that affect their teams. 

Likewise, when employees can see proof that leadership receives their feedback and acts on it, this encourages them to speak up more.

Communication makes people feel valued

A report by McKinsey found that 54% of employees that left their jobs didn’t feel valued at work and 51% lacked a sense of belonging.

You may value all your employees highly, but if you don’t communicate it, it will be difficult to keep employee retention numbers up.

Creating initiatives that increase recognition helps your employees feel valued. You can also use internal communications to share the company’s vision and help employees understand where they belong in the big picture.

Communication improves efficiency 

In competitive rowing, there’s a person on the team known as the coxswain (or “cox”) who communicates orders to the rest of the team to keep them motivated and working together. 

It’s the same in the workplace. Keeping your employees informed and aligned enables them to do their jobs well. And when people feel empowered to do their jobs, satisfaction, energy, and motivation all increase.

Frontline focus: the increased importance of communication in frontline organizations 

Creating a sense of belonging and supporting employee engagement is especially important when you have a frontline (or 'deskless') workforce. 

However, there are also more challenges to overcome when employees are spread out at various locations, don't have frequent or formal in-person interactions with management, and are heavily reliant on paper documentation.

Yoobic’s 2022 Frontline Employee Survey illuminates some gaps that can lead to a lack of trust and engagement.

Although 83% of frontline employees want a workplace they can believe in and trust, only 45% believe management cares about their mental health. Another 81% say they want to feel valued by management, but only 38% feel connected to management and headquarters.

To make matters even more challenging, most frontline workers don’t have access to a work email or central communications platform where they can feel connected. 

Many workplace communications solutions were built for desk-based office workers, and aren't convenient for the needs of frontline staff, leaving them feeling even more distant.

This creates a knowledge gap for frontline organizations where management isn’t fully aware of what's happening on the frontline and is, therefore, unable to connect with and make the right decisions for its employees.  

Communication strategies to improve employee engagement 

By implementing these five effective communication strategies, you can energize your workforce — whether they’re remote workers, on the frontline, or in the office.

Ultimately, these strategies will help you build a sense of community where employees feel free to share their opinions and ideas and foster relationships based on meaning and growth.

So here's how to improve employee engagement through communication.

1. Implement transparency and visibility from the top down

Workplace trust works best when it’s implemented from the top down. A 2022 survey by People Element highlighted significant areas for improvement in communication from leadership. 

Specifically, it found that:

• 44% of employees don’t think there’s sufficient communication from senior leadership
• 40% say that leadership doesn’t communicate a clear vision of the future
• 39% still feel that leadership doesn’t value employees

Without clear and transparent communication from leadership, it’s easy for employees to feel uninformed about the decisions that impact them and disengage from the workplace. 

Similarly, as a senior leader, you may get trapped in an “optimism bubble” when it comes to communication. In other words, you might overestimate your approachability, listening, and communication skills and underestimate how much your title and position make it hard for some employees to communicate with you. 

If you want to build a more connected organization, leadership visibility and approachability need to be part of your engagement strategy. 

Ensure management is communicating regularly, with purpose and opening up a two-way conversation as a result. Avoid sending “faceless” announcements and memos. Instead, have individual leaders sign their names on important messages. Take simple steps like adding photos of leadership next to their email signatures, so there’s more of a human element to their communication.  You can take a look at different email signature examples to get an idea of how to personalize these signatures

2. Encourage two-way communication and listen

Open and honest two-way communication sounds simple, but it doesn’t happen automatically. You have to build communication processes that facilitate employee feedback and then prove that you’re listening. 

Start by giving your employees a few different channels to provide feedback to higher-ups. This creates more accessibility and lets people choose the communication method they feel most comfortable with.  

It's important to go beyond the annual survey. Unstructured feedback in the form of multidirectional dialogue has huge potential as it provides insights into ideation, opinions, and concerns that let you capture your employees' inner voices.

When you have a better grasp of your employees’ voice, you can feed that into the messages you put out and integrate it into your strategies, objectives, values, and the company mission.

Your employees' ideas and opinions are excellent resources, but if you don’t provide space for free dialogue, you’re leaving that gold mine completely untapped. 

Once you have your feedback channels, make sure to actively promote them and send confirmation every time you receive communications. If employees feel that their words have disappeared into thin air, they won’t be encouraged to continue providing information. 

3. Centralize your communication technology

Technology is an excellent way to make your communications accessible to everyone. But too many communication tools and platforms can make it harder for employees to stay engaged. 

Nadir Ali, CEO of Inpixon, explains that people at large companies may have “10 or more work-related apps, each with a different interface and operating characteristics.” This means that even figuring out the right app to use becomes a challenge.

Instead, you can use an employee app like Blink, which gives your employees access to the people, processes, communications, and applications they need for their jobs. 

Blink was designed for the needs of frontline workers and offers a unique and simple user experience across corporate or personal devices. Desk workers or management can access the app on a computer, while frontline and remote employees can find all the same information on a tablet or mobile device.

With one central platform at the core of your communications, you can create more accessibility without adding complexity or sacrificing consistency. This will make your employees' lives easier, save them a huge amount of time, and leave them more capacity to do their “real jobs,” all of which will result in their engagement and loyalty in return. 

4. Create community through recognition, support, and inclusion

Effective internal communication builds community. You can do that by using recognition, providing support, and supporting inclusion.

Recognition isn’t just about celebrating good work and achievements. It’s also about showing empathy and letting employees know you understand and appreciate the challenges they face at work. 

In other words, be explicit about appreciation and supporting employee mental health. Demonstrating that you consider your employees’ well-being is a key factor for engagement.

This is especially important for frontline workers who often bear the burden of implementing organizational change at the customer level and may feel less connected to headquarters because they’re not working out of a central office.

It’s also crucial for leaders to ensure that the culture of support applies to all employees. In recent years, we’ve seen organizations prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) in the hiring process, but it shouldn’t stop there. 

Employees with different backgrounds and life experiences need to be supported, encouraged, and made to feel a part of the broader community to stay engaged and reach their full potential. Your internal communications can support this by creating employee resource groups that help people find their “tribe” at work and provide a safe and secure environment where DE&I issues can be discussed.

Ultimately, recognition and community building work best when they’re ingrained into the company culture.

One of the best ways to make recognition a regular practice (instead of an occasional one) is by attaching it to existing processes. Look at the communications you regularly send out and see where you can add messaging that celebrates wins and acknowledges current challenges. 

5. Use messaging to inspire and energize

As companies continue to deal with the effects of the great resignation and more recently "quiet quitting", leaders have to figure out how to mobilize and motivate workforces dealing with burnout. Every communications initiative is an opportunity to energize your employees and create a more engaged workforce. 

Internal communications can be boring if you’re not thinking about your messaging. Instead of falling into the trap of simply spewing information, craft messaging that inspires your workforce. 

Implement useful and engaging communications that help employees visualize a common goal to strive for, and invite them to help you craft that future. In other words, remember that while your employees need communications that answer “what,” “where,” and “how,” they also need a “why” that keeps them going. 

In addition to providing your employees with the services and tools that fit into their busy days and help them do their jobs, make sure you are using that space to invite engagement with content that makes teams gravitate towards that space naturally. 

To do this, you can unleash user-generated content such as on-the-job stories, celebrations of small wins, and peer recognition. Authentic content generated by your employees is still the best employee branding available. When employees are given the freedom to talk about their work, they feel seen and heard, and they keep the conversation and engagement going. 

Final thoughts: communication strategies to boost engagement in the workplace

Many companies are still figuring out how to bring energy back into the workplace while dealing with employee burnout to avoid attrition. 

What you need to know is that your communication plan is one of the best tools you have to re-engage your workforce. With the right initiatives in place, you can build trust, make your employees feel valued, and make sure leadership has the information they need to create a better workplace. 

Blink’s frontline engagement app facilitates these strategies that improve two-way conversations between employees and leadership and creates a space which invites sustainable and organic engagement. 

Get your free demo today to find out more.

Cut through the noise with attention-grabbing internal communications

We’ll come clean. The idea that humans have an 8-second attention span is a myth. But — as with any enduring story — it’s a myth with its roots in truth.

In a technological age, we’re bombarded with more information than ever. And people looking to convey a message — be they marketers, influencers, or internal comms teams — have very limited time to grab our attention.

As such, the 8-second rule provides a useful frame of reference when designing employee communications content, particularly if you’re aiming to engage frontline workers or Gen Z employees, who prefer short, snappy instant messaging.

By drawing employees in quickly and effectively, you’re more likely to land critical messages. You cut through the noise and improve engagement across your internal communication channels — plus, you help to build a more captivating workplace culture.

Here, we explore all the ways your internal communication strategy can stop the scroll with attention-grabbing internal comms.

The attention economy at work

How many notifications do you get on your smartphone each day? Between news alerts, personal instant messaging, and work memos, there’s a lot of information competing for our attention.

To stand out, your internal communication app needs to adopt the tactics of the most effective players in the game. We’re talking social media platforms, with their rich multimedia content and addictive algorithms.

These platforms provide ample inspiration for internal communicators. They also establish employee communication expectations.

Away from work, employees are used to content that is dynamic, interactive, and concise. They’re accustomed to mobile-first communications and content that attracts their attention in a split second.

This is the challenge for internal communications teams. How do you replicate that experience and level of engagement in the digital workplace? How do you make sure your content is seen, read, and remembered?

How to create attention-grabbing internal communications

To make your employee communications heard above the noise, you need modern internal communication tools with content that attracts employee interest within seconds. Here’s how.

Make your content snackable and visual

Short-form content is everywhere these days. And it tends to resonate well with modern employees.

Workers don’t always have time to read a long, text-based email, scan a PDF, or try to navigate your dense company intranet. Plus, this type of communication and document-sharing are unlikely to spark employee interest anyway.

With bite-sized content, employees can read and digest need-to-know information on the go. Think snappy company news feed posts, pulse checks and employee surveys, and employee recognition shout-outs — all in a single platform with a user-friendly interface.

Visuals are also key. They help you say more with less and, because they appeal to our senses and emotions much more effectively than a plain text document, they’re a surefire way to foster an engaged workforce. Try incorporating micro-videos, carousel posts, and behind-the-scenes photos into your company comms.

Hook ‘em with your headlines

With just a few seconds to convince employees to view your content, you need headlines and subject lines that do much of the heavy lifting.

Your headlines should be short and simple. They need to provoke curiosity without resorting to clickbait tactics — and they should hint at the value employees will gain by reading further.

To craft engaging headlines:

• Keep it short and specific. Use a maximum of 40 characters in your subject lines. And ensure your headlines accurately reflect the rest of your content.‍
• Adopt an employee-centric mindset. Make employees the hero of your headlines. Figure out what is most important to your workers, then lead with that.‍
• Avoid corporate language and jargon. Use simple, easy-to-understand language and your headlines will be more engaging and quicker for employees to digest.
• ‍Create urgency or intrigue. When crafting urgent updates, mention upcoming deadlines to improve message open and read rates. Also, pique employee curiosity by hinting at what lies within.

Here are a few examples of high-impact internal message headlines:

Create a sense of exclusivity and intrigue

• Not this: What you need to know about the new product launch next week.
• But this: Be the first to see our new product!

Empower action and counter known hesitations

• Not this: Please fill out the latest employee engagement pulse check survey.
• But this: Have your say — share your feedback in minutes.

Focus on clear benefits with simple language

• Not this: Sign up for our newly implemented training programs to improve your productivity. 
• But this: Career goals unlocked! Discover new training programs.

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Embrace the Stories format

The Stories format has been popularized by Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. It provides an easy way to share short-form video content, a current favorite among social media users, in a way that highlights human connection.

The beauty of this type of video format is the ease with which you can create it. It doesn’t have to look polished and professional. In fact, DIY, smartphone-filmed content has an air of authenticity that boosts employee engagement and trust, particularly with Gen Z employees.

When exploring this format with your internal communication tools, you can feature daily updates, employee recognition and spotlights, and even shift announcements. Make Stories available on mobile and give your deskless employees a quick and engaging way to access the latest company content, too.

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Make your communications a two-way conversation

Interaction and engagement go hand in hand. So — to create compelling internal comms content that positively impacts the employee experience — you need to prioritize two-way communication and team collaboration.

You can do this with the help of key features like:

• Polls and quizzes. Quick, easy, and engaging. Polls and quizzes allow you to gather instant employee feedback and insights while giving employees the chance to make their voices heard.‍
• Emoji reactions. A simple way for employees to interact with your news feed content, emoji reactions allow them to express opinions and show support on company updates.‍
• Employee-generated content. The ultimate in interaction, employee-generated content is sure to attract the attention of co-workers and offers a centralized platform for employee content creators too.‍
• Manager video updates. Leadership and management posts break down barriers and make comms more personal, particularly if you throw in the occasional Q&A. 

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Harness the power of FOMO and urgency

The best marketers understand consumer psychology. They know what makes prospective customers sit up, take notice, and take action.

Internal comms teams can harness this psychology to maintain high levels of employee engagement across communication channels. Here are a few ideas:

• Time-limited content. Content — like Stories — that disappears after 24 hours is great at grabbing employee attention. It also encourages regular use of your employee app or internal communications platform, because employees don’t want to miss out on the latest company news. A quick video from the CEO, a behind-the-scenes look at an event, or a snapshot of a team milestone feels more valuable when it’s only available for a limited time.‍
• A sense of urgency. As with the 24-hour news cycle, regularly posting real-time updates creates a sense of urgency. Employees want to check in with your internal comms to find out what’s new. Deadlines are also effective. So launch limited-time challenges — and use time-sensitive language like “now,” “today,” “don’t miss out,” and “last chance” — to spark interest and encourage participation when it comes to urgent updates.‍
• Exclusivity. We’re drawn to content that creates a sense of prestige. So offer “sneak peeks” and “first looks” at new products, initiatives, or instant messaging from leadership. Positioning messages to employees as exclusive makes employees feel valued and part of an elite group. It also taps into employees’ natural curiosity and desire to stay in the loop.

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Adopt a mobile-first approach

The best internal communication tools are mobile-first. They make it easy for employees to comment, react, and participate in real-time conversations.

For a mobile workforce without desktop access and for Gen Z workers who live on their smartphones, mobile-first communication approach supports quick social interactions without a significant time investment. 

Make your internal communication platforms available on employee smartphones and you also have the option to use push notifications — the ultimate attention-grabber.

But be careful — don’t overdo it. To prevent notification fatigue, reserve alerts for priority messages and allow your employees to customize their notification preferences, particularly when it comes to lower-stakes content like internal newsletters and direct messaging.

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Measure, learn, and iterate

When adapting your comms so they catch the attention of employees, it takes more than guesswork. You need to measure your success by tracking engagement metrics, views, and interactions.

You can also make like your marketing team by A/B testing your internal content. Switch up images, thumbnails, colors, headlines, and calls to action to find and roll out the most eye-catching options.

Using the data on employee behavior and gathering feedback you get from your internal communication tool — along with real-time feedback from employee surveys — you can evolve your internal communications strategy to better spark the interest of employees.

Does your comms content meet the 8-second rule?

Attention-grabbing internal communications are short, visual, interactive, and mobile-first. They communicate key information — and draw recipients in — in a matter of seconds.

In a time when it’s hard to maintain the edge in the attention economy, content like this stands out. It helps you share important information and urgent updates with employees and keep everyone on the same page.

Not only does this foster more effective communication, it also improves the employee experience. When people feel informed and connected to their organization, they enjoy higher levels of employee satisfaction.

So do you accept the challenge? Will you strive to meet the 8-second rule with your internal comms? 

Audit your current content, explore the capabilities of your internal communication software, and experiment with new formats to find out what works for your entire organization. Because, by going beyond old-fashioned, text-based comms, you stand to make a big impact on your audience and create a more engaging company culture.

Blink. And craft attention-grabbing internal communications

Quick question: who does a forklift operator turn to when there’s a problem? Or to whom does a shift nurse bring her safety concerns?

In most cases, this would be the middle-level, frontline manager or supervisor. That’s how critical frontline leaders are to the day-to-day functioning of your organization and its workers.

But many of them are handling a management role for the first time. They were probably promoted because they were great at their job. So the skills and behaviors they need to manage frontline workers may not come naturally to them.

Whether you’re leading frontline workers or leading those who manage frontline workers, proper frontline leadership training is essential. And the following tips will help take your training programs to the next level. 

Frontline leadership training tips

The right frontline leadership training strategies don’t just show people how to lead frontline teams, but also help you turn junior frontline workers or those with no frontline experience into powerful frontline leaders. Let’s see what these are.

Get out in the field 

This frontline leadership training tip may look obvious on the surface. After all, how can you lead or train deskless workers just from your desk?

But it’s surprising how many leaders and supervisors become disconnected from the people they lead due to physical distance.

Their teams are out there in the factory, toiling away at the warehouse, serving customers in their rooms, or traveling to client locations, while the managers spend most of their time in their little cabin.

This doesn’t just impact frontline leadership training, but also puts you out of the loop from what’s really happening on the ground level.

So get out and see your world. Frequent places you wouldn’t normally visit. Seek out conversations with workers you don’t usually interact with. And train other frontline managers in your company to do the same.

Prioritize empathy

A hospital security guard was once working the night shift. He noticed the hospital CEO walking toward him in the hallway. Wanting to make a good impression, he acknowledged and smiled. But the CEO walked right past him, as if he was not important enough to engage. So how would the guard feel at that moment?

Understanding and empathy are essential to engaging frontline employees. And it’s important to reinforce this fact as much as possible in frontline leadership training.

As a frontline leader, you should be easily approachable. And make your workers feel comfortable in raising their concerns and suggestions.

Also, be proactive about this. Many frontline managers unintentionally project a stoic image. They accidentally come across as cold and uncaring even though they are not. So a frontline leadership training session is a good opportunity to identify and improve on these blind spots.

Empower your people

As per a 2019 employee engagement study, 33% of workers feel undervalued at work. Without the motivation and authority to take full responsibility, it’s hard for them to take pride in their work.

So another aspect of effective frontline leadership is teaching and supporting workers in taking ownership of their tasks.

As you train frontline leaders and employees, you’ll notice them wanting to step up. And this is the time to allow them to do so. Encouraging independent decision-making is the key to building a high-performance team.

One way to empower your frontline leaders and workers is to reduce the bottlenecks and red tape preventing them from experiencing autonomy at work.

Instead of micromanaging their every move, provide clear expectations about the final outcome. Your role as a frontline leader is not to micromanage every little process, but to empower your teams to handle day-to-day operations on their own.

Second, always encourage open communication. When a team member communicates with you, listen actively and respectfully to their issues and feedback. And provide candid feedback of your own when required.

Use storytelling

As humans, we are wired for stories, and they’re easy for us to remember. Not just that, stories activate more areas of the brain than just language processing. So they have a better chance of inspiring and impacting us.

When training or managing frontline employees, storytelling goes a long way in creating cohesion and showing them that their actions make a difference.

For example, a real-estate company built a set of simulation videos to demonstrate a new customer-success approach.

The videos featured the activities of the protagonist — a leasing agent — as she worked with customers to fill a unit in her locality. And each video created an opportunity for the viewer to learn how to handle a specific conflict that may arise in the process.

As a frontline leader, we bet you have a lot of stories to share from your experiences in the field. If you do, you’re sitting on a goldmine that can be invaluable when imparting frontline leadership training. So use stories to emphasize key takeaways in your training sessions and drive frontline workers to action.

When telling a story, follow the standard story arc. Start with a character your audience can relate with, build tension with a conflict, then introduce concepts and actions the character used to resolve the conflict. For more information, see our guide to employing storytelling for communication.

Invest in a continuous improvement program

Training frontline leaders and workers on improvement strategies like TWI, Lean, Kaizen, and Kata can kill two birds with one stone. They learn how to be more efficient and be a good leader.

Kaizen, for example, is the process of making tiny, incremental improvements in both strategy and operations over time. And these small improvements eventually lead to a big difference in the long run. Toyota is famous for applying this model right from the beginning, and it played a big role in the company’s success.

By introducing a continuous improvement course in your organization, you can turn frontline supervisors into real leaders, and teach them how to:

• Motivate frontline employees
• Collaborate with people in other departments
• Get workers to comply with safety measures
• Empower frontline employees to share feedback
• Build trustworthy relationships at work

Start small and see how the small changes you initiate are impacting your team. If everything goes well, you can apply the changes to the whole organization.

According to the Kaizen philosophy, the goal is not perfection, but improvement. No matter how trivial. So remember not to get your workforce bogged down with unrealistic expectations.

Frontline leadership FAQs

What is frontline leadership training?

Frontline leadership training programmes will aim to improve the skills of those currently in or looking to move into a frontline leadership role. The majority of these courses will focus on improving communication, reducing conflict, improving employee performance, and enhancing team effectiveness.

What is frontline leadership?

Frontline leadership refers to the ability of supervisors or managers on the frontline and their ability to combine practical management skills with proactive and decisive decision marketing.

What are the skills of a frontline manager?

A frontline manager will rely on a lot of skills to keep their team performing efficiently. Some of these skills include: communication, critical thinking, leadership, strategic thinking, motivation & engagement skills.

Conclusion: frontline leadership training tips

According to a Woohoo study of employees worldwide, workers say that 40% of their bad days are because of a lack of guidance and support from their manager.

Frontline managers in your organization need to listen and be responsive to their teams’ needs. And effective frontline leadership training is essential to develop the skills that make this happen.

Even if you already have a training program in place, the tips outlined above will help you make it better. So go ahead and use them to turn workers into leaders.

“Teams of knowledge workers who collaborate intentionally are nearly three times more likely to achieve high team innovation than teams that do not use an intentional approach.”

Alexia Cambon, Director, Research, Gartner.

How much do your frontline workers collaborate when working? If your answer is a “they do okay,” you’re probably not getting the most out of your workforce.

A 2022 Corel report shares that 64% of surveyed employees claim poor collaboration costs them at least three hours per week in productivity. And 41% have also left their job or would consider leaving their workplace due to poor collaboration.

Team collaboration among employees is a vital skill for every organization, even more so for frontline organizations where employees are often at considerable distance from each other. Those frontline employees who work well together are happier with their jobs, more productive, and less stressed.

With that in mind, here’s what we’ll cover:

• How do you know your frontline workers are collaborating effectively?
• Signs of poor workplace collaboration
• How to improve employee collaboration
• Final thoughts: 5 ways to improve collaboration among employees in 2022

How do you know your frontline workers are collaborating effectively?

Frontline workers who gel well build positive working relationships with customers and team members. They understand how different views can lead to innovative ideas for better outcomes.

That said, here’s how to know if your employees are collaborating effectively:

Clear communication of goals and progress

Clear communication of goals, progress, and needs is the first sign of team chemistry. That’s why 96% of business leaders believe effective communication gets them the desired results from employees.

Frontline workers who collaborate well know who’s responsible for which task. This collaboration among employees saves time and increases productivity.

Healthy conflicts

You don’t always need to shush a conflict. Workplace conflict can be good if you turn it into a healthy debate that leads to business growth.

Healthy conflicts promote stronger ideas, more creativity, and more engaged employees. But it requires workers to understand each other and respect where the others are coming from. In other words, you’ve got yourself a collaborative workforce if you can have healthy conflicts.

Exchange of opinions and ideas

Frontline workers who collaborate well don’t hold back opinions and ideas. They’re free to say, “I don’t think this can work. Why don’t we try this instead?”

Every employee feels free to discuss their point of view. They can all sit together over coffee and discuss the problem and prospective solutions.

This healthy exchange of ideas is what team collaboration achieves. It also leads to creative thinking and overall awareness of critical decision-making elements.

Peer-to-peer recognition

Recognition heavily influences employee satisfaction.

A collaborative frontline workforce recognizes the work each individual does and celebrates them for it. This recognition motivates everyone to work towards the common goal and enables each individual to shine.

In fact, Deloitte shares that organizations with the right recognition program have 14% higher employee engagement, productivity, and performance than those without it

Signs of poor workplace collaboration

Successful businesses have a healthy collaborative work environment, but problems start when organizations fail to see the signs of fading collaboration among employees.

Here are some red flags to assess whether you need to examine your frontline employees’ team dynamics:

Low enthusiasm during meetings

Employees talk freely and even share foolish ideas when there’s team collaboration.

But if employees don’t speak up during meetings, your workplace might lack a culture of team collaboration. Silent meetings mean it’s time to evaluate how well your workers collaborate.

Poor communication among your workers

Poor communication is a clear sign of a dysfunctional team. You may have the best bunch of individual stars in the world, but the team won’t be worth a dime if they don’t play well together.

Project.co shares that over 35% of businesses have lost employees due to poor internal communication.

Signs of poor communication include conflicting goals, missed deadlines, and negative attitudes. If such issues are present in your organization, it could be a sign that your employees lack team collaboration.

High employee turnover

You may be unable to prevent some of your top employees from leaving; Gartner shares that the annual voluntary turnover in the U.S. is likely to rise by 20% in 2022.

But if most of your best employees bid your farewell, there’s a good chance that team dynamics may be contributing to it.

If you lose your best frontline workers, you lose your most effective problem solvers and reliable winners.

Create an exit interview process to learn why employees left. Maybe the workplace culture isn’t conducive to team collaboration and professional growth. Or the pay rates aren’t competitive enough. You’ll only know if you ask.

No accountability

Employees who disagree with a leader’s management style are less likely to take the initiative and responsibility for tasks.

Are you seeing blame games among your employees? Bad behavior? No staff loyalty? Eroded values? Don’t care attitude?

If you notice such patterns, it may be time to tackle the accountability issue head-on.

Chat with individual employees. Ask them what’s wrong and apply that feedback to your processes. Get them involved, so they feel part of the process and work towards the goal instead of against it.

Lastly, talk to your team leaders and ask them to practice accountability. That means owning up to their mistakes and taking responsibility for the team’s actions. If something didn’t get done, they should show the team what they can do differently next time to make sure it gets done.

How to improve employee collaboration

1. Let your employees know what you expect from them

2. Create a safe environment that encourages open and honest communication

3. Use an employee engagement app to transform the workplace experience

4. Have regular team-building activities to solidify relationships

5. Reward team collaboration as you do individual success

Employees collaborate differently depending on their working model, so consider your goals, company size and workers’ needs before implementing these steps.

Here are five ways to create a collaborative environment and improve employee collaboration in the workplace:

1. Let your employees know what you expect from them

“High expectations are the key to everything.” — Sam Walton.

You can’t expect your frontline employees to collaborate if they don’t know you want them to.

What performance level do you want from each person? Communicate it.

Set clear boundaries between each employee’s individual role and what they’re expected to do with their workmates.

Do you want your employees to help one another instead of showing an “it’s not my job” attitude?

Well, communicate it.

Tell your workers to always ask for help needed and be open to constructive feedback without being defensive.

Set your expectation for collaboration from the get-go. Add it to your onboarding process so potential hires know you prioritize teamwork.

Also, let your employees share their opinions about working collaboratively — positive or negative. You can support the positive thoughts and address any concerns openly. That way, you’ll create a judgment-free environment when dealing with issues.

Here are some tips to help you clearly state your expectations when talking with workers:

• Meet your frontline employees face-to-face to communicate with them as often as you can.
• Break down what you want them to do in clear, small tasks and make sure they’re listening.
• Share your expectations via a knowledge base accessible to both desk-based and deskless workers.

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2. Create a safe environment that encourages open and honest communication

The more your employees feel safe to speak out, the more ideas they share and the more productive they become.

Let your workers speak openly — even about political and social issues.

Political and social topics have intense power over people. PwC shares that 65% of employees discuss social and political issues at work. And the benefits of these discussions outweigh the cons:

Encouraging sensitive conversations in the workplace isn’t easy. Just make sure they happen in a safe, no-judgment environment.

Practice active listening. Ask questions to show your employees you understand their opinions or ideas.

Say something like, “What I heard you say is… Is that correct?” That shows you want to understand their point of view. It also enables them to clarify if you misunderstood what they said.

Doing that creates a work environment where your employees feel it’s okay to speak up. And that promotes empathy and openness.

The safer the space for communication, the more collaborative your workers become.

3. Use an employee mobile app to transform the workplace experience

Millennials are a huge part of the workforce now, and their smartphones have come with them. So let employees use the devices already part of their daily lives to make work and collaboration better.

Invest in an all-in-one mobile-first app to encourage communication on all levels and foster an environment of teamwork and engagement. You can even use the app to streamline projects or launch surveys and polls.

The platform you choose will depend on whether you are managing desk-based employees in the office or frontline and remote workers (most of today’s employee apps such as Slack, are designed for desk-bound office workers).

Frontline employees need an app that will go beyond providing traditional top-down communications and will empower staff to have engaging interactions with any member of the company, regardless of where they are working from.

Blink is a mobile employee app which enables frontline workers to connect and collaborate when they’re on the move by combining workplace messaging with access to all the information they need in one place. This opens up two-way conversations, empowers everyone to share feedback, and means company-wide announcements are never missed.

Analyze the results periodically after implementing the collaboration tool of your choice.

How many employees use the tool? What do they engage with most? When do they log in? Do they participate in your published polls or lose it in a cluttered feed?

Make changes to improve the system, reduce workplace communication errors, and increase employee collaboration.

Are your employees missing crucial work-related info? Make sure you pin it to the top of the newsfeed or send a push notification to everyone involved in the project.

Also, instead of deploying tools to frontline workers, deploy tools with them. Involve some of your employees as core project members. Use their experiences and insights to design solutions that’ll support them and their workmates.

You’ll have projects that deliver benefits sooner with less risk, and you’ll face less resistance to change.

4. Have regular team-building activities to solidify relationships

Deskless workers have more time constraints than desk-based workers. They often work part-time or night shifts and spend most of their workday away from screens and the office team.

Schedule time for fun team-building activities. You can even just play football or basketball.

These activities help build new relationships and mend the broken ones. It helps if your employees see each other as people, not job titles.

Team-building activities also motivate new hires (especially the millennials) to gel with employees who are older.

To make the team-building activities even more effective, make sure the games are fun and employees learn the skills they need.

You can have a short conversation at the end of each game. That’ll help each team know what it did well and where it showed weakness. It’ll also help the employees understand what they must work on for better collaboration.

Have your employees create goals to work on as individuals and in collaborative teams. They’ll learn communication and problem-solving skills and how to overcome conflict.

5. Reward team collaboration as you do individual success

“You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have an impact on a life.” — Zig Ziglar.

This quote hits right at the heart of employee recognition. Everyone wants to be recognized and rewarded when they do a great job (even you).

Reward individuals where necessary but don’t forget to acknowledge the team’s success.

It’s not always possible to notice every achievement. But look for opportunities to reward your frontline workers. Send them a thank you message and let them know their efforts and hard work matter.

Did you have a successful project?

Invite your staff to your favorite pizza joint (people like to be fed).

Say hats off to the best-performing employees (bonus points if you take a hat with you).

Recognize individual and group achievements using an employee feed: upload photos and videos of their best work. Share stories of frontline workers to help your employees connect.

Doing this boosts their productivity and creates a positive team culture.

It’ll also instill loyalty that reduces employee turnover. Gallup shares that employees are 56% less likely to seek job opportunities when recognition hits the mark.

Here are some tips to help you show appreciation to your frontline workers:

• Consider arranging a pizza party every month and invite a different group to the stage to acknowledge them.
• Celebrate birthdays and ask everyone to add their compliments to a jar.
• Note what you like about an employee and forward that feedback when you get a chance.
• Choose an employee app with an easy to use colleague recognition feature — It will encourage a culture of appreciation.

Final thoughts: 5 ways to improve collaboration among employees in 2022

Highly successful organizations have a well-oiled, collaborative workforce. But even the best employees need the right tools to work well together.

Find an employee app that’s easy to use for the less tech-savvy workers to promote team collaboration.

Remember when the humble pager was the cutting edge of healthcare tech?

Well, things have moved on… Healthcare systems worldwide are embracing new technology like never before.

This is — in part — due to the challenges facing the healthcare sector. An ageing population with complex healthcare needs. A shortage of healthcare staff. And patients who expect the same ease, convenience, and digital access they enjoy when completing other life admin tasks.

Technology is one of the only ways to do more with less. It’s a way to improve patient care and reduce recruitment challenges. It’s also a way to reduce costs. According to McKinsey, health systems that invest in digital and analytics capabilities now could cut costs by $200 billion to $360 billion.

So, where are things up to in 2025? Today, nearly 90% of health system executives say that digital and AI transformation is a high or top priority for their organization. And many facilities are already seeing benefits from the digitization of healthcare.

Want to join them? Let’s get you up to speed with what the digital transformation of healthcare looks like and how to get your next digital project off the ground.

What is digital transformation for healthcare?

Digital transformation for healthcare means using technology — like AI, cloud computing, and data analytics — to improve patient care and streamline processes.

In your healthcare organization, that might look like any of the following:

• Using telemedicine to see more patients and triage for in-person care
• Using electronic health records (EHR) to share patient information and provide joined-up care across departments
• Using wearables to monitor patients remotely, in real-time — providing “hospital at home” care or supporting patients with chronic conditions
• Using AI technology to complete routine admin tasks
• Using data analytics and AI to spot health trends and make early diagnoses
• Using robotic systems to improve surgical precision
• Using employee apps and intranet platforms to improve communication among healthcare staff  

The benefits of digital transformation for healthcare

Digital transformation can help you create the kind of organization that keeps pace with the pressures facing the healthcare industry in 2025.

Yes, it takes effort — new systems, new ways of working, the odd bump in the road. But the payoff is huge. Here’s what you can expect:

Better patient care

Digitizing processes keeps services consistent, cuts clinical errors, and improves documentation. It also supports healthcare providers to deliver personalized care plans, predict potential health risks, and tailor treatments to each patient. The result? Improved patient safety and better clinical outcomes.

Easy access to key services

Digital transformation for healthcare means patients often get to see a healthcare provider sooner. People who would struggle to make it to an in-person appointment can speak to a physician over a phone or video call. Patients can also view medical records and test results straight from their smartphones. This helps them take a more active role in their healthcare, which means better adherence to treatment plans.

More connected teams

Getting information to busy frontline workers isn’t easy. But with tech tools, you can establish communication channels for essential updates, knowledge sharing, and even co-worker camaraderie. Healthcare communication becomes more effective, and employees feel more supported — by the organization and each other.  

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Data-driven decision making

When you use digital systems, you collect and store a huge amount of data. You can use this data to fine-tune your own systems and processes. You can also use it to make data-driven decisions about patient care.

Streamlined admin

Coordinating work schedules, scheduling appointments, transcribing patient notes. When you use AI and automation for admin tasks, you reduce the workload of your frontline staff and give them more time to spend with patients.

Productivity and collaboration

Electronic health records (EHRs) enable teams and departments across your organization — and others — to securely access patient information. This means less duplication of work and a joined-up approach to patient care.

Better employee engagement

Closing the digital gap in healthcare makes frontline work less frustrating and more efficient. With frontline-friendly tools, employees can access critical information and contribute to decision-making processes. This spells higher rates of healthcare employee engagement, which — in turn — leads to better productivity, less time off sick, and better healthcare staff retention.

Reduced costs

By making healthcare more efficient, improving patient outcomes, and reducing employee churn, healthcare organizations can reduce their costs. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), eliminating inefficiencies in healthcare systems would save $1 trillion in the United States alone every year.

Challenges of digital transformation for healthcare (and how to overcome them)

Healthcare hasn’t been first in line when it comes to digital transformation. Legacy systems and paper processes are still a frustrating feature of life on the healthcare frontlines. So what’s standing in the way? The following key obstacles are often to blame:

• Too many tools. Nearly 79% of NHS doctors say that the number of different systems in use is a significant barrier to the digitization of healthcare.
• Data security worries. Patient privacy is non-negotiable. If staff and patients don’t trust the tech, they won’t use it.
• Skill gaps. Not everyone has the tech knowledge they need to pick up new systems.
• Resistance to change. When there’s barely a spare second in the day, the last thing healthcare providers need is another new process to master.  

The good news? Healthcare organizations across the globe are successfully overcoming these challenges. Here are some ideas for how to follow suit.

Provide staff training

The best technology is easy and intuitive to use. But you can’t just throw a manual at people and hope for the best. Instead, deliver bite-sized training sessions and hands-on demos. Assign digital ambassadors within your organization — people who can lead the way and offer advice on new tech tools. When staff feel confident about digital processes, they’re much more likely to embrace them.

Choose interoperable systems

If systems don’t talk to each other, your teams spend a heap of time hopping between them. That means duplicated work, multiple sets of login details, and confusion about what lives where. Centralized hubs and single sign-on solutions keep everything in one place, with integrations ensuring that information passes seamlessly across all the digital tools you use.

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Be transparent about system security

HIPAA-compliant security measures, multi-factor authentication, and clear data policies keep sensitive information secure. You can share details of these security measures with staff and patients to reassure them that you have solid safeguards in place.

Communicate the “why”

Both staff and patients are resistant to change when they don’t see the point of it. Craft change communications that explain why new tools matter, what benefits they’ll bring, and how they make life easier for everyone. When there’s a clear and consistent narrative, you’re more likely to get the buy-in of end users.

How to build a digital transformation strategy for your healthcare organization

No two healthcare organizations look the same. Different teams, different patients, different pressures. So every digital transformation strategy looks a little different, too.

That being said, there are some core pillars you can put in place to give yourself the best chance of success. Here’s where to start:

1. Get everyone on the same page

Before you dive into new shiny tools, take stock. Where are you, digitally, right now? Where do you want to be in one, three, or five years? Set clear objectives and agree on organization-wide priorities by talking to all stakeholders — from your senior leadership team to your doctors, your nurses, your admin staff, and your patients.

2. Dive into the specifics

Time to ask the hard questions. Where are your processes failing patients or slowing down staff? Is it paper-based scheduling? Clunky EHR systems? A disconnected workforce? The more precise you are about your barriers — whether they’re technical, process-driven, or cultural — the better your digital solutions will be.

3. Build a budget

While the digitization of healthcare is cost-effective in the long run, it doesn’t come cheap. And it doesn’t tend to happen all at once. So build your budget in stages. Allocate or secure funds for each phase, build in a buffer, and plan for training and support — not just tech spend. Too many strategies fail because organizations invest in tools, but not in the people who use them.

4. Craft a roadmap

Put your challenges, objectives, and budget into a roadmap. Outline what is being implemented and who will take responsibility for each part of the process. Break your transformation down into key actions, metrics, and milestones to keep your initiative on track.

5. Find the right tools

Using your roadmap as guidance, you can start looking for digital technologies. Test tools before you invest. Look for partners who are with you for the long haul. Seek out tools that integrate with the other workplace software you currently use. And think long term — will this solution still fit your needs years from now?

6. Plan your implementation

You’ve chosen your digital solution. Now it’s time for the launch. Without a plan, even the best tools can flop. So start with a pilot group to iron out any issues before you roll out to the rest of the organization. Map out training sessions and your communications campaign. And don’t forget to set up support — whether that’s a help desk, digital ambassadors, or user-friendly how-to guides.  

7. Collect feedback

Every phase of your digital transformation strategy is a chance to learn something new. So ask all stakeholders what they thought of the process and what they think of the end product. Using this feedback — and data on tech tool usage — you can tweak your solutions to better meet end-user needs. You can also develop better strategies for your next digital initiative.

Read more: How to build a digital transformation roadmap.

An example of digital transformation in healthcare: the NHS 10 Year Health Plan

The NHS is a huge healthcare organization with big plans for digital transformation. In the organization’s own words:

“We’re using technology to help health and care professionals communicate better and enable people to access the care they need quickly and easily, when it suits them.”

A roadmap for digital transformation in healthcare is laid out in the NHS’s 10 Year Health Plan for England. This is a great resource if you’re looking for inspiration for your own digital initiatives. Why not take a look?

Happier teams and healthier patients? It all starts with digital solutions

Digital solutions are transforming the way healthcare is delivered. They’re helping organizations to reduce admin, connect employees, and deliver better patient care.

As we’ve seen, digital transformation for healthcare isn’t without its challenges. You need rock-solid security, interoperable systems, and the buy-in of patients and healthcare staff to achieve digital success.

But in 2025, finding ways to overcome these obstacles is vital. Digital transformation is here to stay. AI is taking us in new directions. And healthcare systems need to make use of these tools if they’re to thrive under increasing pressure.

Blink. And explore digital solutions for your healthcare organization.

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13 ways to quickly improve internal communications

Internal communications joins the dots. It connects every member of an organization and helps keep everyone up to speed. But it’s not without its challenges.

Comms leaders have to quiet the noise while amplifying key messages. They need to share updates consistently. And find tech tools that make communication engaging for employees. 

In frontline organizations, there are additional communication challenges to tackle.

Frontline teams often work disparately. Employees can’t rely on in-person meetings for the latest updates. Nor do they have access to a desktop computer or even a company email address.

Finding reliable ways to reach these employees – that go beyond a messy noticeboard – is vital for business success.

With these challenges in mind, we’re going to look at the ways comms leaders can quickly and effectively improve internal communications. Let’s dive right in.

Why is it important to improve your internal comms?

Poor internal communication harms your business and its bottom line. When leaders, teams, and individuals fail to communicate well, every area of operations is affected.

Poor communication also has an effect on employees. Staff want to feel part of the organization they work for, and the first step to achieving that is keeping them in the loop.  

Ultimately, when you improve internal communication, you:

• Boost workplace trust. Over 40% of workers say that poor communication is reducing the trust they have in leadership and their teams. This is making them more stressed and less loyal to their organization.
  
  
• Engage employees. Informed employees are 2.8 times more likely to be engaged. Employee engagement is linked to higher productivity, profitability, and employee retention rates.
  
  
• Get better at what you do. When you improve internal communication, you improve decision-making, teamwork, and collaboration. Everyone pulls in the same direction, which spells bigger and better business results.

The benefit of good internal communication in frontline organizations is even more pronounced.

Safety concerns. Equipment failures. Product or service updates. A shift you need to cover. Inclement weather. These critical communications need to travel between frontline staff and managers quickly and reliably. It’s how you limit downtime and ensure the very best customer service.

But if your communication culture, communication skills, or communication tools are lacking, you’ll find it hard to connect the various teams that make up your organization.

13 ideas to quickly improve internal communication

With so much to be gained from good internal communications, time is of the essence. Every day you continue doing things the old way, you’re missing out.

So here are some internal communication ideas that you can put in place quickly, for maximum impact. Weave these ideas into your internal communication strategy and start making improvements right away.

1. Start with the leadership team

Leaders set the tone of an organization. So if your leadership team isn’t sold on your bid to improve internal communication, your employees won’t be either.

It’s up to leaders to drive comms throughout the company. It’s also on them to engage with comms. That way, employees see that your internal communication channels are a valued resource for people at all levels – and they’re much more likely to engage with them, too.

To prove to your workforce that it isn’t one rule for them – and another for their managers – get the leadership team on board right at the start. Involve leaders in the launch of your internal communications plan and encourage them to be positive promoters of it.

2. Ask questions & launch surveys

To avoid time-consuming missteps, get employee insight early on in the process. Employee input informs your strategy and improves your chances of getting things right the first time.

You can get input by asking informal questions and launching surveys. Find out what employees want from internal communications – and what aspects of current comms they struggle with.

With Blink’s super-app, you can launch surveys that reach your whole workforce. A user-friendly interface makes it easy for employees to respond. And a clear dashboard helps you to draw conclusions from their answers.

Surveys help you make informed internal communication decisions. But there’s another benefit, too. By involving employees in this part of the process, you set an important precedent.

You show employees that you value their input – and that their voices are heard. This raises trust in the process. It also helps employees see what they stand to gain by engaging with internal communications going forward. 

3. Streamline your communication channels

Well-established companies often have history with lots of different internal communication tools. In frontline organizations, there tends to be a mix of tech solutions and old-school communication channels – like posters and notice boards.

If you’ve inherited a complicated system of communication channels, it’s worth stepping back and assessing their impact on company communication.  

Is a noticeboard crammed with memos an efficient and reliable way to communicate with your teams? Are multiple communication channels helping you to clarify the message – or are they muddying it?

Less is usually more. So streamlining your comms channels is a great way to improve internal communication. Employees are much more likely to engage with a single source of reliable info.  

That’s exactly what happened at Domino’s. The pizza delivery company was using word of mouth, posters, and WhatsApp groups to communicate with its frontline. But by switching to Blink, Domino’s put all internal communication in one place and now everyone gets the same need-to-know updates.

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4. Personalize your comms

Think of all the marketing emails that land in your inbox every day. The ones that personalize their message stand out. They’re much more likely to resonate. The rest is like white noise. It becomes very easy to ignore stuff that doesn’t feel relevant to you. 

The same goes for company comms. When you make your message more relevant to your audience, they sit up and take notice. When employees are inundated with comms that have nothing to do with their role, they tend to start ignoring the noise - and before you know it even the most relevant and critical messages are missed. 

You can quickly make a change by segmenting your audience. Divide your organization by department, team, location, and stage in the employee life cycle.

Then, craft personalized comms. And only send mass communications when they really are relevant to the whole organization. Intentional, personalized communication is much harder to ignore.

5. Run company-wide stand ups

A standup meeting is a short but regular opportunity for teams to share progress and identify blockers. It’s a way to get everyone on the same page and clarify what they should be doing.

A company-wide standup is the easiest way to communicate your current priorities and action plan to everyone. But you can also run stand ups within teams, departments, or locations.

Of course, if you’re a frontline organization, getting everyone together for this type of meeting isn’t always practical. Employees work different shifts and in different locations, or maybe even work on the road.

But don’t dismiss the idea of company stand ups outright. Create stand ups for different shift swaps, or locations, or smaller groups of people. And for the times you can’t be together in real life, tech can help.

Employees can join a meeting via video conference. Or you can record your company-wide stand ups and post them as video content to your primary internal communication channel.

6. Implement an employee app

In today’s technological world, you can find incredible tools designed to improve internal communication, fast.

An employee app is a great example. It works well because you meet employees where they already spend their time – on their smartphones. And because it incorporates features that employees are familiar with, like instant messaging, group chats, and a newsfeed.

Take Stagecoach, a UK-based bus company. When Stagecoach implemented an employee app, 84% of their workforce started using it within just one week. Because they chose a communication tool that employees could use intuitively, they got better and faster uptake.

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An employee app also streamlines your employee communications because employees can access everything via a single, user-friendly interface. And it provides channels for both top-down and bottom-up comms. Anyone can read and share information.

Blink’s employee app ticks all these boxes. Designed for frontline organizations, it helps bridge the gap between your frontline and desk-based teams. 

7. Reward & recognize your employees

Another way to quickly improve internal communication is by rewarding and recognizing employees. Shout out those employees who hit their goals or reach a personal milestone. Highlight the times when a member of staff goes above and beyond.

A culture of recognition helps to build engagement. It also boosts morale and encourages other employees to do their best work.

Using internal communication channels in this positive way encourages employees to communicate more frequently, too. When an employee feels acknowledged, they’re more likely to acknowledge others, share successes, and communicate constructively with peers.

You can put the wheels in motion by encouraging managers to send regular messages of acknowledgment. But to amplify the effect, go further. 

Build recognition into your internal comms strategy by using Blink’s recognition feature. Via the app, you can send messages of public praise with the power to inspire everyone.

8. Conduct regular 121 meetings 

If your managers only run 121 meetings with employees once or twice a year, this is an area ripe for improvement.

A lot can happen over the space of a year or six months. Internal communication might be missed or misinterpreted. Regular 121s are an opportunity to realign goals and understanding.

Regular 121s help you to:

• Build a personal connection with employees
• Address concerns in real-time
• Improve employee engagement

It also makes the act of discussion and feedback more familiar. Employees get used to sitting down and sharing their work experiences with managers. So managers are much more likely to get candid (and therefore useful) insight from their staff.  

Advise your managers on how often they should conduct 121s. Monthly, bi-weekly, or even weekly sessions create an open feedback loop.

Also, remember that a public communication forum can never replace 121s. While employees are often happy to share some ideas publicly, they also need the opportunity to share their thoughts privately and confidentially.

9. Encourage content creation

Leave content creation to management and you run into two key problems:

1. Your internal communication is unengaging because there’s lots of top-down communication but not enough bottom-up or peer-to-peer communication.

2. Managers find it hard to balance content creation alongside their usual workload. This means more managerial stress and/or less quality content.

There’s a quick and easy solution. Give everyone a turn at content creation. Use guidelines and templates if you think they’re needed. Then, let employees start threads, post blogs, upload videos, and recognize their peers.

In doing so, you strengthen your company network. Employees build new relationships. They find people with whom they have things in common. They chat about non-work-related topics.

This type of water cooler chat may seem irrelevant to your business objectives. But trust us when we say it’s hugely important to the quality of communication that takes place within your organization.

This is particularly true in frontline firms where workers don’t always get the opportunity for informal chats with co-workers.

When employees build trusting relationships with co-workers, they don’t just find it easier to chat about their latest vacation or the boxset they’re currently binging. They find it easier to communicate and collaborate on workplace topics, too.

10. Take a data-driven approach to internal communications

How do you measure the success of an internal communications initiative? You need reliable, accessible data you can track over time.

This is another reason why having the right communication tech is vital. Pick communication tools with analytics built in and it’s easy to view and act upon insights.

You can see which type of content your employees do and don’t interact with. You can see which posts get the most comments and likes. This helps you to hone your internal communication going forward.

Similarly, analytics functions help you to see the bigger impact that your communication strategy is having. Perhaps it’s helping you to reduce staff turnover or increase staff satisfaction.

When you have access to the data, it’s easy to demonstrate the value and effectiveness of internal communication improvements. You’ll also find it easier to make informed, targeted changes that make your initiative even more successful.

11. Be consistent

Good internal communication is all about consistency. You can’t promise employees a weekly update or a monthly webinar and then fail to deliver.

They’ll stop seeing your communication as reliable and trustworthy – and they’ll stop checking in for new content. This is the point at which the wheels fall off your strategy and you have a much harder job pushing that new initiative uphill. 

To show employees that your new internal communication strategy is here to stay, make sure it’s sustainable.

At the outset, you may like to err on the side of caution, only committing to a content schedule you know is manageable for the people delivering it. You can always add more items to your content calendar once it’s up and running.

Also, as we mentioned earlier, enlisting the support of employees in content creation helps to create an internal communications ecosystem that doesn’t rely on a handful of time-stretched managers. With all hands on deck, it’s much easier to create and post content consistently.

12. Be transparent

Internal communication is most successful when communication is transparent. That means:

• Including everyone in communications
• Creating an open connection between leadership and employees
• Clearly communicating business changes and decision-making processes
• Acknowledging both successes and mistakes

Transparent communication is important because it helps to build trust between all members of your organization. It prevents secondary channels of communication – in the form of rumors and speculation – from emerging. And it helps to boost employee engagement. 

If you don’t already have a culture of open communication, getting there is likely to take time. You need to develop communication skills throughout your organization and set new norms of behavior.

However, one of the things you can do to improve internal communication quickly is to involve employees in your internal communication strategy. Be open about the changes you’re trying to implement – and why.

When employees feel like part of the process, they’re much more likely to feel invested in its outcome.  

13. Report back on changes you are making

So you’re planning to make big changes to the way you communicate internally. Don’t forget to involve employees from the beginning and throughout the process.

After launching employee surveys and conducting 121s, communicate your findings. Let workers know what you’ve learned, what changes you plan to make, and what you hope to gain.

This shows that you’re committed to transparent communication, not just paying lip service. And that you’re putting employees at the center of decision-making.

Take this tack and employee engagement, morale, trust, and the success of your internal communication strategy all stand to benefit.

Final thoughts

Improving internal communications takes time and strategy. It’s a long-term commitment. But there are quick wins to be had.

Gather insights. Involve all members of your organization. Find the right tools. Start fostering a culture of open, honest communication, right now, today.

By doing so, you’ll create change in the here and now. And lay the groundwork for future internal comms improvements, too.

It’s well worth the investment, particularly for frontline organizations. With strong internal communication, you build teams who are more connected, informed, and engaged - which leads to widespread benefits for your employees, customers, and business.

Want to make internal communication a priority for 2024? Then put internal comms in the palm of every employee with Blink’s employee app.

Our mobile-first app supports two-way communication, critical messages, employee recognition, and workforce surveys. It also integrates with the business tools you already use. So employees can access all resources from one user-friendly interface.

Accessed via mobile or desktop and with speedy, sky-high adoption rates, Blink provides a quick and easy way to improve your internal communications in 2024.