How 5 Different Enterprise Companies Communicate Internally

More than ever, communication underpins everything that organizations do. With the rise of remote and hybrid work, and the expansion of non-desk based work, reaching every worker is a challenge for many comms teams.

So, how do big-name companies manage to balance their comms with other organizational strategies? Is it down to the use of the best internal communication tools, or are there other strategies?

We took a look at five companies with sturdy internal communication strategies to see what we could learn.

Amazon

Long-winded messages often go unread or ignored according to an article in the NY Times. For employees this is often because it takes too long to digest and decipher these comms - so what can you do? To reconcile this, the most effective way to enhance your company messaging is to make your messages as concise as possible, with no unnecessary information cluttering your announcement. 

To see how effective this internal comms tip is, let’s look to Amazon. Amazon's employees use highly targeted, bite-sized information to communicate at the workplace. The company strives to keep meetings to a minimum and avoids overwhelming workers with data and leaving them to connect the dots on their own. 

In regards to wider-reaching presentations and information that can’t be conveyed in bite-sized formats, the company tasks employees with creating six-page narrative memos to convey their message thoughtfully. The company has banned long-winded email chains, PowerPoint, and other slides for presentations.

Key takeaways from Amazon's internal communication model:

• Avoid wordy texts and instead lean into an employee's processing fluency, where audiences are able to process familiar information faster. 
• Meetings should be used sparingly, and serve a purpose. Many meetings could be an email, but for big announcements businesses should schedule regular town hall meetings to get all their points across.
• Presentations should be designed to engage - skip the tedious slideshows: Encourage your employees to communicate in a method where they can share their thoughts instead of traditional methods (e.g., mass email, slideshow presentations).

Netflix

Like other organizations with digital internal communication systems, Netflix has taken steps to keep theirs as simple as possible. For example: for communication between board members and management, discussions occur in brief online memos. This allows people to ask quick questions, get answers and share ideas promptly; most importantly, it is clear when and where questions should be asked instead of leaving space for missed or lost communication.

Important lessons you can pick from this communication model are:

• Go out of the way to make organizational communication as easy as possible for everyone, from directors, managers, board members and junior employees.
• A central space and policy for ideas, questions or concerns make it less likely for them to fall through the cracks and easier for following up.

3M

3M believes an effective way to encourage workplace innovation is when employees get ample time to collaborate and share ideas. The company has implemented a '15% Culture' to encourage its workforce to use 15% of their day to pursue fresh ideas and collaborate with colleagues. 

3M has consistently invested in modern internal communication tools that allow employees to enhance their productively in collaborative projects. For instance, 3M currently uses ScreenCloud's digital signage to broadcast information across locations globally.

The key takeaways of this employee communication model include the following:

• Encourage collaboration among employees to stoke innovation within the workplace.
• Tools, including digital signage, can enhance your workplace collaboration and communication.

Starbucks

Starbucks treats its employees as its first line of brand ambassadors and primary dealers in customer service. The company has encouraged apps as communication tools to guarantee that all employees are on the same page regarding the brand's products, offerings and core values. 

Digitization can help the staff and customers too: 95% of restaurant supervisors report that restaurant technology improves business efficiency; while 73% of diners agree that restaurant technology improves their experience. Here are a few lessons to pick from this communication model:

• Employees who understand and believe in the company's mission, vision, and product offerings are motivated to achieve company goals.
• Keeping all levels of employees in the loop is important to solidifying both the employee and customer experience.

Virgin Trains

Virgin Trains implemented an online platform that created another communication line between employees and managers. The platform can be accessed from anywhere through personal phones and comes with a range of apps with curated content making it easier for the workforce to stay connected and engaged regardless of their position, age, or language. 

Key takeaways from Virgin's internal communication model include:

• Integrating platforms that your employees are familiar with allows deskless and remote employees to stay connected.
• Consider all types of working environments of your employees (e.g., in-office, frontline, asynchronous) to choose the platform best for everyone, not just a select few.

In Summary

Whether it's global workforce communication or internal comms, a grounded system is the secret to a well-functioning workforce that puts you ahead of the competition. Improving your internal comms and employee experience could result in an increase of up to 45% in profits.

Enhancing your internal communication can bring a windfall of benefits from improved productivity happier workforce to cost reduction and employee retention, and even eliminating instances of shadow IT in your organization. By choosing what parts of internal comms models relate to your team, you can take one step closer to achieving a healthy and profitable workplace.

About ScreenCloud

ScreenCloud offers industry leading digital signage, designed to unify your internal communication strategy. Whether that's sharing business bulletins, live streaming your all-hands meeting across multiple locations, displaying data in your dispatch center, or sharing your promotional content to customers in your high street locations - ScreenCloud is designed to centrally manage all your content.

With effortless software integrations, top-tier security and best-in-class professional support, there's a reason why ScreenCloud is the choice of global enterprise organizations.

Sign up for a free demo and see what your organization can achieve with digital signage.