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Q: IC in my company is simply unheard of and I am facing the challenge of introducing it. I have to provide management with an internal communication plan to support my approach.

It would be of great help to me if you could provide a template of an internal communication plan which will be a good starting point.

A: I can sympathize with the challenge you’ve got introducing internal communication into your company.

You asked if there were a template for an internal communication plan you could give to your management that would help support your approach. A good internal communication plan starts not with what we need to do, but why we need to do it. One of the key principles of internal communication is don’t just tell people the what, tell them the why. If employees don’t understand the problem you’re trying to solve, they won’t feel any ownership of the solution you’re proposing.

This may be the situation you’re facing with top management. Typically, we’d approach an internal communication strategy by identifying:

• What are the key business ambitions of the organization, and its strategic aspirations for the future?
• What, therefore, do employees need to think, feel and do in order to make those aspirations a reality?
• Where are employees now, and what needs to change in their current perceptions, attitudes, or access to basic information?
• What’s the role of the internal communication function in helping close the gap of what we want for the future, and what we’ve got today?
• What are the roles and responsibilities of leaders, managers, employees and communication professionals?
• What are the communication activities we're going to need – and who will be responsible for what?
• What’s the resource levels we need?

A good starting point may not necessarily be the internal communication plan, but looking at who you need to engage within the management team, and what their pressing concerns are. Why are you so keen to introduce internal communication – is this a personal passion, or do you see a clear need inside your organization? Is the organization facing a period of change, growth or challenge, which will require more from its people?

So you might want to start with a few questions to your management team:

• Why do they need to communicate with their people? – Why do they need to keep their people informed, involved and engaged? What’s the business problem to which better internal communication may be the solution?
• What do your people need to understand, how should they feel about the organization, and where can they get the information they need to do their jobs?
• Do you have employee attitude surveys you could use as data to help build your business case?
• Is your company growing, changing, shifting structure, strategy, product, markets etc

Good internal communication is a means to an end, not an end in itself. It’s vital to show the link between business problems and internal communication as a possible solution, than to persuade managers that internal communication is an end in itself.

Bill Quirke is one of the leading authorities on internal communication and the management of change. He is Managing Director of Synopsis, a specialist internal communication consultancy whose clients include British Airways, Vodafone, Intel, Shell, BBC, Diageo, UBS Group, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Rolls-Royce, Unilever and Whitbread. Prior to founding Synopsis, Bill was a Director of Burson–Marsteller, where he worked on global projects and led the European change communication practice.

Strategy and Planning Clinic