Fostering Inclusion Through Internal Communications

By Laura Powers

As an agency that assists clients with internal and external communications, we believe in practicing what we preach. So when we recently discussed tactics and tools that we use within our own day-to-day operations, we knew that our readers could benefit from these valuable communications ideas, too.

At Furia Rubel, we employ many tactics and practices that enhance our internal office communications. They include:

• Email aliases that allow small groups to communicate quickly about client work.
• The cloud-based team collaboration messaging platform Slack, where we have set up separate channels for discussions regarding each client.
• Regular status meetings every four to six weeks.
• Lunch-and-learn meetings where we present brief educational presentations to our team.
• Daily stand-up meetings to discuss immediate projects and needs.

However, I think the most important thing about our internal communications approach is that it almost always involves all team members, from the most junior to the most senior. Even though most businesses benefit from an internal hierarchy, we have seen the benefits of including the whole team in daily communications:

• It fosters a sense of ownership with regard to the company and our clients.
• It allows every team member to contribute her own perspective and experience.
• It cultivates a work environment of support and trust.
• It provides all team members with the ability to speak intelligently about most of our services, processes and client work.

The regular sharing of information across all positions and responsibilities ensures that all Furia Rubel team members are able to learn from each other and also enables us to provide better service to our clients.

What internal communications processes do you use? Let us know in the comments.