7 bad internal comms habits — and how to break them

There’s a lot that rides on effective internal communications.

Get comms right and you improve collaboration, employee engagement, and the employee experience. But get comms wrong and employees are likely to switch off from the company intranet — making it much harder for you to land critical messages.

A surprising number of organizations miss the mark. While 77% of leaders think the comms they share give employees the context they need to do their jobs well, only 46% of employees agree.

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To ensure your comms are as good as they need to be, check that you’ve not fallen into one of these bad internal communication habits.

And if you have, don’t worry! There are strategies to break those bad habits so you can improve employee communications and engagement at your organization.

7 bad internal comms habits and how to break them

Bad habit #1: Posting inconsistently

When it comes to internal communications, the only thing worse than not posting at all is posting once… and never again.

Internal comms inconsistency can confuse expectations, misdirect attention, and ultimately result in you losing your most important audience — your employees. People may stop checking on the intranet because they’re used to seeing nothing but tumbleweed. So when you do have an important message to share, there’s no one there to see it.

Break the habit: Figure out the cadence that best fits the needs of your organization. Then, make sure there’s new content on the company intranet on a regular basis.

Don’t overlook the power of a daily or weekly update: A whopping 85% of employees said they’re most motivated when management offers regular updates on company news.

For many, creating a content calendar and writing posts in bulk will help maintain consistency. Sound like you? Try using a scheduling tool. Some modern internal communications platforms may even have this scheduling functionality built in. This way, you can then create and schedule posts in advance, choosing to publish them at a time when your teams are most likely to need and read them.

Bad habit #2: Saying too much

We’ve seen plenty of internal communications messages that try to say too much all at once. They cover one topic in overwhelming depth — or cover a multitude of topics in one post.

If this sounds familiar, it’s a habit you need to break. When you cram too much information into your messages, you risk confusing employees. You bury your central message and encourage your workforce to skim or ignore future comms.

Break the habit: Before you start writing any message, get clear on the most important point you want to convey. Lead with this key message, putting it at the top of your post and adding supporting details underneath.

If you need to share lots of information, try splitting your content into smaller, more digestible chunks. You can then create a post around each part of the news or announcement, publishing a logical series of posts that are less likely to overwhelm employees.

Bad habit #3: Limiting yourself to text only

Your employees are used to seeing a wealth of interactive, visual content in the technology they use in their personal lives. Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok know exactly what keeps users scrolling and wanting more: short-form, highly visual, and personalized content.

If you lead with text-based messages at work, you’re unlikely to catch their eye — or contribute to a positive intranet experience.

‍Break the habit: Hook your audience from the get go by making your internal comms channels feel like a social media experience. Incorporate visuals like short-form videos, polls, photos, and graphics. 

This dynamic and engaging content is more likely to grab the attention of your audience and keep them returning to your platform.

Bad habit #4: Using the wrong channels or platforms

It should be easy for employees to find the information they’re looking for on your intranet. But if you don’t have a strategy for what goes where, they’re going to struggle to find what they need, when they need it.

A poorly governed channel strategy can damage not just the employee experience, but key operational metrics like productivity: Employees spend nearly 20% of their work week looking for internal information or tracking down colleagues who can help with specific tasks.

Break the habit: As the saying goes, “location, location, location!” Consider the format of your employee communications and which channel or platform suits each format best.

For example, it makes sense for an evergreen resource — like a policy or FAQ document — to live on your company intranet, in a resource hub. A short-form update, relevant only in the moment, is better suited to your news feed. And a message hyper-relevant to a specific group of employees can find the right home in the appropriate digital community.

Bad habit #5: Taking a one-comms-fits-all approach

Send all employees all the messages and you’ll overload them with information — some of it completely irrelevant to them and their role. Employees who grow used to receiving non-personalized internal communications are more likely to skim or ignore critical information.

‍Break the habit: Ensure that every message is relevant to the employee who receives it.

Pick communication tools that allow you to segment your audience, ideally by team, role, tenure, and location. Then select the relevant audience for each post and resource.

You can also use different communication channels — like a closed team chat or an employee community — to ensure specific information cuts through.

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Bad habit #6: Sourcing ideas only from the C-suite

Your business leaders are a great resource for content ideas. But they’re busy people. So if you rely solely on the C-suite, you may find it hard to generate enough content. Plus, by sourcing only one side of the corporate story, making it difficult to tell a well-rounded story that can resonate with any employee.

Break the habit: Get content ideas from your business leaders, by all means. But also involve employees across all levels in the content creation process.

You can do this with the help of an internal communications platform that facilitates two-way communication. Employees can comment on posts, amplifying their impact. You can also identify employee ambassadors and ask them to create employee-generated content.

This approach makes content creation easier for your comms team and — because you’re giving your workforce a voice — improves employee engagement, too.

Bad habit #7: Not getting feedback regularly

Let’s say you’ve successfully done it — you quit all the bad comms habits on this list up until now. Well done! But that doesn’t necessarily mean messages are getting through to your employees.

Without regular employee feedback, you can’t know for sure how employees feel about your internal communications. And that means it’s still a challenge to ensure any changes to your employees communications strategy are meaningful improvements.

Break the habit: Regularly launch employee surveys and polls to gauge how employees feel about your internal communications. Ask them about every detail: cadence, content, channels, opportunities for two-way interaction.

Also, use intranet analytics to identify your best-performing content. When you see what’s working well in terms of effectiveness and employee engagement, you can build more of that into your content schedule.

Not only will your employee comms thrive, your employees will, too: Workers who feel their voice is heard are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work.

Break bad communication habits and supercharge your comms

These bad communication habits stop messages from getting through. They also lead employees to lose interest in your communication channels, making it even harder for your comms team to be successful moving forward.

But like any bad habit, the ones on this list can be broken, and with the right adjustments, you can prevent bad habits from forming again. Make just a few simple tweaks — like democratizing content creation, posting more consistently, and seeking employee feedback — and you can get company comms back on the right track.

You’ll also build a more informed, connected, and collaborative organization — which is good for business and good for the employee experience, too.

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