You know the drill. An important update goes out. A week later, someone asks a question that was answered in the update. Someone else has missed a deadline because they didn’t know about it. And another person has been following an old process because they never saw the new one.
Cue the frustrated response: ‘We sent an email about that!’
But sending information and communicating it effectively are two different things.
Your employees are likely receiving information from all directions. Email, Teams or Slack, meetings, newsletters, intranet updates and conversations with managers. When there’s so much to keep up with, important messages can easily be misunderstood or missed altogether.
So, let’s look at some internal communication best practices that can help your messages get read, understood and acted on.
Start with who needs to know – and why
Before you write an internal message, get clear on its purpose.
What does this particular group of employees need to know? Why do they need to know it? And, importantly, what do you want them to do with the information?
Sending every update to everyone might seem like the safest option, but irrelevant communication quickly becomes background noise. Audience segmentation helps you give people the information that relates to their role, location, responsibilities or work environment.
This is particularly important for remote and hybrid teams. An announcement made in the office kitchen might reach six people. A decision made during a meeting might reach 20. If others need that information too, make sure it appears somewhere they can access it.
Don’t make people hunt for the point
We see this problem all the time in workplace writing: the information people need most is buried halfway down the page.
For effective internal communication, put the key message early. Use descriptive headings to help people scan. Keep sentences relatively short and use plain English.
And make the required action obvious.
If employees need to complete a form by Friday, tell them. If a process is changing from Monday, make that clear. If you’re sharing company news that requires no action at all, let them know that too.
The easier your internal messages are to understand, the less time employees and managers spend clarifying them later.
Make sure it still sounds like a human wrote it
AI can help you draft an internal update in seconds. But if you’re copying and pasting the output without much editing, there’s a good chance your employees will know.
Long introductions, generic corporate language, unnecessary repetition and an overly polished tone can make a simple update feel like hard work.
And when employees start recognising the familiar signs of AI-generated communication, they will be more inclined to skim it.
Use AI to help you write, by all means. But apply your own judgement before you hit send. Cut anything your reader doesn’t need. Bring the key message forward. Replace vague language with specifics. And read it back: does it sound like something you or your organisation would genuinely say?
Choose your channel as carefully as your words
A quick Slack message is easy. That doesn’t make it the right internal communication tool for every situation.
Think about the urgency and complexity of the message, as well as whether employees need an opportunity to discuss it.
Email works well for information that people may need to refer to again. Instant messaging can suit quick questions and timely updates. Meetings are useful when you need discussion, collaboration or a decision. An internal newsletter can bundle lower-priority company news into one predictable communication. Intranets and knowledge platforms give employees somewhere to find reference information later.
For sensitive, difficult or complicated communication, a conversation may be far more useful than another long email.
Using multiple communication channels can help, but duplication has its own problems. If the same update appears in email, Teams, the intranet and three meetings, you may be adding to the information overload you’re trying to reduce.
Give people less to keep up with
A strong internal communication strategy needs some restraint.
Communication overload can take a real toll on the working day. Look at how much information your employees receive, how often they receive it and how much of it genuinely applies to them. Unnecessary CCs, oversized emails, repeated reminders and indiscriminate company-wide updates all compete for attention.
A predictable rhythm can also make internal communications easier to manage. Perhaps company news belongs in a fortnightly newsletter. Team priorities are covered in a weekly meeting. Urgent operational issues have their own agreed channel.
When people know where to look for different types of information, they have a better chance of finding the important stuff when they need it.
Give employees a way to respond
Some internal communications only need to convey information. Others need a genuine two-way conversation.
Employees may have questions you hadn’t anticipated. A new process may create problems for one team that weren’t obvious when it was developed. Managers may need more context before they can explain a change to their people.
Build opportunities for employee feedback into your internal communication plan. That could happen through meetings, surveys, Q&As or conversations with managers.
Then close the feedback loop. If employees have taken the time to provide input, tell them what you heard and what happens next. If something can’t change, explain that too.
Managers are particularly important here. They often have to translate broad organisational messages into what they mean for an individual team. Give them enough context to answer questions rather than asking them to forward a message they barely understand themselves.
Quickfire FAQs about internal communication
Why do employees miss important internal communications?
Often, it comes down to volume, relevance and clarity. Employees may be receiving too many messages, information they don’t need or updates where the key point is buried.
The channel matters too – an important message can easily disappear in a busy inbox or chat thread.
How can you reduce information overload at work?
Send information only to the people who need it. Cut unnecessary CCs and repeated messages, give communication channels a clear purpose and bundle lower-priority updates where possible.
Make your most important messages easy to identify.
What’s the best channel for internal communication?
It depends on the message. Email suits information people may need to refer to later. Instant messaging works well for quick updates. Meetings are useful when discussion or decisions are required. Sensitive or complex information may be better handled through a conversation.
How can you encourage two-way communication with employees?
Give employees opportunities to ask questions, raise concerns and provide feedback. Managers can create space for discussion within their teams. When you ask for employee feedback, close the loop by explaining what you heard and what happens next.
Ready to build stronger internal communication habits?
You can have a well-planned internal communication strategy and still lose people in the message itself.
That’s why the communication skills of the people who write and deliver your updates matter. They need to understand their audience, prioritise information, write clearly and choose the right way to deliver their message.
CSA’s Business Writing Essentials training gives teams practical techniques for making everyday workplace communication clearer, shorter and easier to act on.
And if team dynamics are part of the challenge, learn more about our course, Creating a Cohesive Team.