Many businesses focus on communicating externally; with customers, investors, clients, and the media. As a result of this, effective communicate internally can be overlooked. Effective communication with your staff is essential. It allows you to run projects more smoothly, have a clear idea of morale, and make your team feel valued. 

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1. Be clear and concise. Avoid overwriting and using too much technical jargon. This causes confusion and misunderstanding. Keep your communication simple with clearly outlined expectations. 

2. Set the tone at the top. Your company’s senior leaders will set the tone of communication. These people ought to be both visible and accessible. This creates an understanding that there is a correlation between employee communication and achieving your organizations’ goals. 

3. Understand your employees. You might have to communicate with different audiences in a slightly different way. Consider surveying your employee base on a regular basis so you can find out if they are getting the information that they need from you. 

4. Use many channels. Many people need to see or hear a message a few different times, in different ways, to be able to understand it entirely. Send out your messages electronically, via email, in meetings, or use SMS for internal business communication.  Make sure the message is consistent across all the channels that you use. 

5. Notify employees first. When you’re sending out communications, speak to your internal people first. Your staff should never be surprised by, or learn company news from, a media report. They need to hear things from you first. 

6. Match actions with words. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. If you don’t, you can undermine your credibility and your employees with have less trust in you. They will be less likely to believe you or take communications from you seriously. 

7. Emphasize face-to-face communication. Most people are very tech-savvy these days, but human interaction is still often the best way to go. Most employees want to hear news and information from their direct supervisors. Train your managers on how to communicate effectively and provide them with the right tools to succeed. If managers are being asked to explain a complicated change, such as a change to the pension plan, provide them with talking points and resources to help them. 

8. Train often. It is very important for a company to offer its employees training on a continuous basis. Training keeps everyone up to speed and helps your team to continue to develop. 

9. Communicate regularly. Be strategic and systematic. You can create a calendar of editorial tasks with regular dates for sending out communications to your employees, whether that is a regular newsletter, emails, or a team meeting. 

10. Measure effectiveness.Set objectives for your communications and asses whether you are successfully meeting those goals. Ask your team if the company has communicated its strategy with them effectively. Ask if they understand how their day-to-day activities help the organization to meet its goals?