5 corporate communication trends all bosses need to be aware of

For several years, corporate communications was all about drafting speeches for your CEO, distributing communication material at the office, and creating content for the internal newsletter. However, the definition of corporate communication and what it stands for is fast changing. Today, the manner in which organizations keep their employees informed and engaged is evolving rapidly. To communicate their message more clearly, and to avoid any misperceptions, many companies have begun to adopt new and inspiring corporate communications tools.

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Here's a list of five trends that should guide internal communications strategy in today's corporate world:

Treat your employees like your end-consumers

Does your company heavily invest in consumer experience, but conveniently ignore members of its own workforce? If so, your company needs to start focusing on communicating with its employees and pay attention to their well-being. If reading your newsletter or browsing your intranet feels like you've stepped 10 years back in time, you should inform the top management of your company and help them do a better job at keeping their employees informed and engaged.

Reduce internal spam emails

On average, it takes an employee approximately a minute to get back to work after he/she has been distracted by an email notification. You cannot stop spam messages that your employees receive from external sources, but you can reduce internal spam mails that don't do anything to increase their awareness and engagement. More and more companies are beginning to use corporate screensavers and company apps to deliver important messages to their staff without distracting them from their work.

Communication that goes all ways

Gone are the days when communication was restricted to top-down or bottom-up. Most communication models today encourage peer-to-peer contact as well. It has been proven that giving every employee a voice can drive innovation and help identify best practices. A team member who feels like their opinion is heard and valued is more likely to stay at the company longer and accomplish better business than someone who feels constantly overlooked and unheard.

Go social

As explained in the previous point, peer-to-peer communication rules the roost at most organizations, with top-down communication completely out of the picture. This means corporate announcements through newsletters is now a thing of the past. Face-to-face communication with staff members is happening more often to inform employees about important messages. However, since face-to-face isn't always feasible, organizations are turning to social media to start conversations with their employees.

Gamification

Gamification adds fun and life to otherwise boring things by applying one or more elements of gameplay. From including leader boards to completion bars, introducing game elements in the workplace not only increases performance and productivity, it also enhances employee satisfaction tremendously. It is one of the latest and most exciting trends companies need to include in their communication model.

Your employees are people and not statistics. If your corporate communications model understands this fact, then rest assured, your company is going to be at the forefront when it comes to transparency and ethical behaviour.

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