Get real-world examples of effective internal communication that you can put to use at your company.
Deanna deBara,
Internal communication helps companies deliver the messaging they need to support their team, get information out to their organization, and move their companies forward. But surprisingly, not many companies have a structured approach to their internal comms; in fact, only 29% of organizations surveyed reported having an overarching internal communication strategy.
If you want to set your organization apart, you need effective internal communication. But what, exactly, does that look like?
Let’s take a look at different types of internal communication examples, including why they work—and how to make them work at your own company:
Successful internal communication offers a variety of benefits, both to employees and the organization, including:
Ready to see effective internal communication in action? Let’s take a look at some internal communication examples—and how companies are using internal communication to support their employees and their organization:
As a remote company, teambuilding.com, a company that runs team building events for clients like Apple, Amazon, Google, and Johnson & Johnson, recognized the importance of making their team members feel seen, heard, and celebrated.
“In fully remote companies such as ours, employees can feel disconnected from peers and can feel like their work goes unseen and receives less visibility compared to in-office environments,” says Michael Alexis, CEO of teambuilding.com. “We tackled both of these problems simultaneously by creating a peer-to-peer praise channel on Slack called #you-are-awesome.”
In teambuilding.com’s #you-are-awesome Slack channel, team members can acknowledge their colleagues and celebrate their contributions at any time—whether that’s by saying “thanks!” for help on a challenging project, shouting out when a coworker goes above and beyond in their work, or recognizing a colleague’s work anniversary.
“The approach democratizes employee appreciation because anyone can post and anyone can be celebrated at any time,” says Alexis.
Type of internal communication: Peer-to-peer communication
Why this works: Employees want to be recognized for their contributions. But leadership isn’t always privy to the day-to-day efforts each team member makes. So, by giving team members (who work more closely throughout the day) the ability to celebrate their peers, that employee recognition happens more frequently—and often feels more personal.
“While leaders had to stoke the conversation when the channel was first created, once momentum picked up, employees naturally maintained the practice,” says Alexis. “Colleagues follow each other's examples and regularly post shout outs…[and] because the channel is not reliant on managers to do all the complimenting, employees receive much more frequent acknowledgement.”
And leveraging peer-to-peer communication to recognize, acknowledge, and celebrate employees? It works. “This approach 10x-ed our employee recognition efforts,” says Alexis.
How to make this type of internal communication work at your company: Create a platform that allows team members to regularly celebrate other employees—for example, a dedicated Slack channel, part of your company’s intranet, or specific time during all-hands meetings for gratitude.
Australia-based furniture company Koala wanted to foster better connections during new hires’ (who they’ve dubbed “joeys”) first weeks with the company. With team members both in-office and remote, they needed to be intentional about driving that connection.
So, the People & Culture team leveraged Pyn's library of employee communications to send automated messages during employees' onboarding journeys, including with onboarding buddies. Netta Efron, Koala’s Global Director, People and Culture says, "The communications in the library are so well written and we feel it's so aligned with the things that we want and are important to us. It just makes communicating with the entire team so easy."
Alexis Wood, Global Senior Manager, Culture & Engagement adds how the buddy system has made a difference, “With our current hybrid work model, it's even more critical to create opportunities for connection. That's where our Pyn buddy system comes in — every joey gets matched up with a cool Koala in the business who can help them level up and enrich their experience.”
Type of internal communication: New hire communication
Why this works: Transitioning to a new company can feel nerve-wracking—and that can be especially true for remote workers, who don’t get the opportunity to meet and interact with their coworkers in person. Setting up a buddy system gives new hires a built-in support and “work friend” as they navigate the onboarding process and settle into their new role—which can help make the experience feel more exciting vs. nerve-wracking.
In addition, assigning a new hire as a buddy to an existing team member spreads out the responsibility for new hire communication. Instead of HR being responsible for all new hire communication, that responsibility is distributed to existing team members on a 1-to-1 basis—which helps prevent overwhelm for existing team members and creates a more personalized experience for new hires.
How to make this type of internal communication work at your company: Train your existing team members on how to support new hires through the onboarding process (including what communication needs to happen and when). Then, when you hire new people, assign them as a buddy to one of your trained team members—and regularly check in with both to see how they’re doing throughout the process.
The onboarding process sets the tone for a new hire’s experience with the company and can help the company retain talent over the long-term. It’s especially important for remote employees who may not have the same opportunities to ask questions and/or attend in-person trainings as an employee working in an office would.
Chad Sultana, founder of remote marketing agency Chad Sultana: Marketing Consulting, recognized the need for an effective onboarding program for his distributed workforce. “Effective onboarding communication is essential for integrating new hires into a remote team, ensuring they feel welcomed and well-informed,” says Sultana—and their solution to creating that onboarding experience for new hires? An onboarding webinar series.
As employees work their way through the series, they have the opportunity to learn about various aspects of the company, interact with different team leaders, and get the insights and instruction they need to effectively jump into their new role.
Type of internal communication: New hire communication
Why this works: An onboarding webinar series compiles all of the information a new hire needs to know about their role, the company, and the leadership team—and presents that information in an organized, easy-to-digest way. “This series provides comprehensive insights into our operations, culture, and expectations, making the onboarding process smooth and informative for new team members,” says Sultana.
Plus, while recording an onboarding series requires work on the back end, once it’s recorded, it actually minimizes the work associated with onboarding—as HR can direct new hires to the webinar series (and make themselves available for any questions that come up) vs. managers, leaders, and HR representatives having to train new employees in real time.
How to make this type of internal communication work at your company: Document everything new hires need to know to be effectively onboarded to your company—for example, policies and procedures they need to be trained on and leaders they need to meet with, and roles and responsibilities within the company. Then, create videos for each element—and turn those videos into an onboarding series to share with new hires. With automated employee onboarding from Pyn, you could even schedule delivery of specific onboarding webinar videos to new employees.
Internal communication can play a huge role in the employee experience; when communication is effective, organized, and personalized, employees have a positive experience—while on the flip side, disorganized, inaccurate, or disingenuous communication can damper an employee’s experience with the company.
This can be especially true when a company is shifting their culture—for example, from in-person to remote. When online automotive marketplace TrueCar shifted from an in-person to a remote workplace, they knew they needed to prioritize communication that would keep their distributed team happy and engaged.
And one of the ways they did that? By automating messaging around key employee milestones, like birthdays and anniversaries using Pyn. “Pyn has allowed us to set it and forget it,” says Liz Eisenberg, Senior Manager, Employee Engagement & Experience at TrueCar. “That's the greatest part of these automations—that we can let it do its thing,” adds Anna Kim, Employee Experience.
Type of internal communication: Culture communication
Why this works: Employees want to be recognized; they want to feel like they are important to their organization—which can often be a challenge when they don’t get face time with their coworkers or leadership.
Recognizing important milestones in the employee’s journey, both personal (like a birthday) and professional (like a work anniversary) shows employees that the company cares about them and their contributions, which can increase engagement and improve overall employee experience. And by automating the messaging (as TrueCar did with Pyn), you can ensure none of those important milestones slip through the cracks.
How to make this type of internal communication work at your company: Keep a record of important dates, like birthdays and work anniversaries—and send personalized messages on those days to ensure your employees feel seen, recognized, and appreciated. Or use Pyn to automate the entire process.
A big part of successful internal communication is ensuring everyone is on the same page. In order to do that in a way that’s engaging and inclusive, boutique retained executive search firm Sheer Velocity implemented a weekly team huddle.
“Every Monday morning, we gathered the entire team for a brief meeting to discuss goals, priorities, and updates for the week,” says Jon Gordon, co-founder and Managing Partner of Sheer Velocity.
Type of communication: Leader-to-employee communication
Why this works: Getting a team together for a weekly huddle fosters effective communication in a number of ways.
For example, at Sheer Velocity, weekly huddles “provided a platform for everyone to be on the same page and aligned with company goals,” says Gordon. “It allowed for transparency and ensured that everyone understood the priorities for the week, eliminating any confusion or miscommunication.”
Team huddles can also foster strong connections between team members—which, in turn, leads to better collaboration and higher productivity. “The team huddle encouraged collaboration and boosted morale,” says Gordon. “It created a sense of unity and camaraderie among team members, promoting a positive and supportive work environment.”
Finally, team huddles give companies the opportunity to identify and address any problems within the team and/or within projects (for example, an upcoming deadline that the team might not hit)—and when you host a team huddle regularly (like Sheer Velocity, who hosts huddles weekly), you can address those problems before they get out of control. “The regular communication in the team huddle allowed for quick problem-solving and decision-making,” says Gordon. “If any issues or challenges arose, we addressed them collectively, brainstormed solutions, and made prompt decisions. This helped us stay agile and adapt to changes efficiently.”
How to make this type of internal communication work at your company: Choose a time each week to bring your team together for a huddle where you talk about the week’s goals, priorities, and deadlines.
At Pyn, we host a weekly company-wide meeting. The agenda for the all-hands can change from week to week; for example, leadership may share insights into company performance or department leads may share project updates with the rest of the team. But one that Pyn prioritizes at our company-wide meeting each week? Gratitude.
At the end of the all-hands, team members are encouraged to share what they’re grateful for that week, both personal and professional. “Gratitude can range from sharing how I’m feeling in my personal life (like being grateful for a friend who took care of my dog while I was away) or in a work context, like when a team member has gone above and beyond on something or we’re celebrating a milestone or success” says Lexi Croswell, Head of Marketing at Pyn.
Type of internal communication: Culture communication
Why this works: Research shows that gratitude offers a huge variety of benefits, from decreased stress and anxiety to increased happiness and well-being. As such, creating intentional time and space for gratitude in the workplace can help employees feel happier and less stressed—which, in turn, can lead to increased engagement, productivity, and job satisfaction.
How to make this type of internal communication work at your company: Foster more opportunities for employees to share gratitude at work. For example, you might take a page out of Pyn’s book and carve out time to share gratitude in real time during weekly meetings—or, if your team mostly works asynchronously, you could create a chat channel for employees to share what they’re feeling grateful for on their own time.
In a perfect world, leaders would have time to connect with their entire team on a regular basis. But the truth is, leaders often don’t have the bandwidth or opportunity to regularly communicate with anyone but their direct reports—and, as such, need to find unique ways to foster communication between leadership and the rest of the organization.
And one of the unique ways fully remote company SelectSoftware Reviews found to connect their company leadership with their team? Video messages.
“Remote work demands innovative communication strategies, and video messages from leaders can be a powerful tool to maintain connection and clarity,” says SelectSoftware Reviews founder Phil Strazzulla. As such, “we implemented a weekly video message from our leadership to all team members. This included updates on company performance, team achievements, and future goals.”
Type of internal communication: Leader-to-employee communication
Why this works: When employees work remotely, it can be hard to feel connected with the company and leadership team. And while most leaders can’t meet with every team member on a regular basis, they can regularly record videos to be distributed across the organization. This can help foster a deeper connection between leadership and the team, generate buy-in, and boost engagement.
“This approach has been highly effective in keeping our remote team aligned and motivated,” says Strrazzulla. “It ensures transparency and fosters a sense of belonging and purpose among employees.”
How to make this type of internal communication work at your company: Choose a regular cadence (for example, weekly or bi-monthly) and then have leadership film videos sharing key information with team members (for example, company updates, policy changes, or goals) to distribute on that schedule. Depending on your company, you may opt to have one leader (like the CEO) film all videos—or rotate between different members of the leadership team (for example, having the CFO film an update video on company finances or the CHRO give updates on changes to your PTO policy).
With a growing population of managers, MongoDB’s Learning & Development team set up a new program for onboarding new managers, supporting them through their promotion, and helping them develop the skills needed to be great managers.
They used Pyn to add automated messaging for new managers to their training program. “Pyn allows us to have a truly automated program, delivering core learning opportunities to people the moment they are promoted to manager,” says Anne O'Gara, Senior Manager of Learning & Development at MongoDB.
Type of internal communication: Peer-to-peer communication
Why this works: Using automated messages to complement in-person or virtual training sessions creates a well rounded program for new managers.
Anne shares, “Managers aren’t missing content because it takes too long to sit through an on-demand course. Pyn helps us quickly set expectations for managers—and prompts their manager to focus on how that person’s responsibility has expanded and that they need to provide them with support.”
In addition to increasing managers’ exposure to key messaging, Pyn has also helped save Anne and Kelly Bouzi, MongoDB’s Learning & Development Specialist, significant time in developing, scheduling, and pushing out messaging.
“A lot of Anne and I's work is making sure that all of our learning experiences are accessible and automated,” says Kelly. “By automating support for new managers we don't have to think about it constantly. It just runs and that helps a lot.”
How to make this type of internal communication work at your company: You can use Pyn to automate many types of internal communications, like manager, onboarding, or milestones. For supporting new managers, it helps to support your in-person or virtual training sessions with ongoing, timely support that reinforces new concepts you want your managers to know.