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From the Experts: The State of Internal Communications
In this week’s episode of America Back to Work, S2Verify co-founder and chief strategy officer, Arnette Heintze, sits down with Mike Klein, an internal and social communication consultant with an interest in enabling communication leaders who are aiming to make a difference in their organizations and communities.
Based in Iceland, Klein’s specific areas of interest include measurement, influence, segmentation, and leadership. In 2021, he founded the #WeLeadComms program to recognize initiative, courage, and leadership in the communication professions. He plays the role of a “super-connector” within the communication industry, sharing profiles of communication leaders through the #WeLeadComms initiative, and facilitating mutually beneficial introductions.
Klein is also the author of “From Lincoln to LinkedIn, the 55 Minute Guide to Social Communication,” a manual for mobilizing peer-to-peer communication in communities and organizations.
According to Klein, the internal communications function has changed very little in the past 25 years.
“Messaging is top-down. It’s about relationships between managers and employees. Relationships between employees and employees. Relationships between employees and customers,” he says in his conversation with Heintze. “While the mechanics and technology have changed, the foundation has stayed the same.”
However, one change that Klein would like to see is how organizations prioritize internal communications. Sometimes internal communications sits in marketing, other times in HR. In fact, most companies use it as an “administrative convenience” for getting HR messages out.
Internal communications should be treated as its own department with a direct line to the CEO (and directly tied to company priorities). After all, “it has its own rules, practices, metrics,” says Klein.
But, until internal communications moves out of HR, he has some tips for how HR pros can better collaborate with internal communications to ensure that the company gets maximum value from its internal communication strategy.
Get access to those tips and so much more (including projections for how AI will affect internal communications and recommendations for hiring internal comms talent) by listening to this week’s episode wherever you get your podcasts.