The Future of Internal Communication Skills

Over the last couple of months, we have conducted a lot of great industry research, we have got feedback from over 1,000 internal communicators plus some of the best thought leaders in the industry.

We have pulled together some of the key findings into an infographic to help put a shape on where we see the future of internal communications. Some of the topics we covered are IC Trends, Communication Skills, Technology, Channels, and Tools.

We also highlight the top 10 ‘wish list’ of the metrics IC teams would love to see in the future.

Trends

A snapshot of the internal communication skills highlights that the average ratio of internal communicators to employees within an organization is 1 per 500 to 1000. 3 in every 4 internal communicators say their IC strategy is aligned with their business strategy. A quarter of all IC departments say they will increase their budgets in 2014 and the biggest issue for communication skill facing them is leadership communications. IC professionals also believe that smarter employee engagement leads to stronger business results.

Channels

Interestingly, the intranet is the most used channel in IC, but email is actually the most effective. The future of IC channels places the focus firmly on internal social networking tools and an intranet with 1 in 2 companies planning to invest in both of these equally. Not surprisingly, print newsletters are dying out and the most unused tool with more than 50% of companies not using them anymore. How are your team's communication skills set up to take advantage of these new channels?

Evolution

The landscape of IC is continuously evolving and the trends towards ‘Bring Your Own Device’ (BYOD) has risen out of a need for companies to be accessible at all times with the use of mobile applications and devices. Where once the ‘Out of Office’ email meant an employee was not contactable, now smartphones and tablets allow a constant flow of communication. Indeed, half of the employers are predicted to require their employees to supply their own device for work purposes by 2017 according to the Gartner Bring Your Own Device: The Facts and the Future report. The biggest challenges in internal communication skills are acknowledged as the volume of communications, gaining employee buy-in and general employee engagement respectively.

Measurement

This infographic also takes into account that an IC professional cannot successfully implement an IC strategy without including a benchmarking system for measuring the success of any campaign. The top 5 highest rating goals for IC teams are highlighted and not surprisingly 76% rate employee engagement as the number 1 goal. The future for IC teams revolves around finding new ways to measure the effectiveness of campaigns as more than 2 in 3 communicators are not satisfied with their current methods. This infographic highlights the top 10 ‘wish list’ for IC teams in terms of metrics that they would love to see in the future.