Effective communication is essential to success in any multi-person endeavor. For business organizations, it could be the difference between remaining stagnant and making progress. There’s an endless list on how effective communication can help you shift the needle on an organization’s performance.

Customers aren’t quite fond of your company’s latest product design? Effective communication will solve that. Employees aren’t cool with the new retirement policy? Effective communication can fix that. New employees aren’t getting the hang of your company’s culture? Effective communication can also fix that!

As long as the right information is transmitted in a timely manner across relevant departments within an organization, the room for growth and progress is endless.

But where does an intranet fit in all of these?

It is at the center of it all. It is an immensely powerful communication tool. Below, we’ll be sharing six ways an intranet can facilitate effective communication.

1. Regular and timely Communication 

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to stay abreast of what’s been going on in the company?

“All employees should download the company’s new app; it is recommended that everyone registers for…; don’t use the lift, it’s faulty”

 If you’ve been communicating through email, you’ll probably agree that there’s a great chance that you might not get the information above on time. However, as long as employees are hooked onto their organization’s intranet throughout their working hours, they’ll likely get the information while its still news.

Of course, it’s not just about timely communication, it’s also about the constant flow of it. Setting up an intranet ensures that all of a company’s employees are constantly fed with relevant announcements, upcoming activities, proposed changes and industry news.

2. Two-way Communication

More often than not, information only tends to flow downward in an organization’s hierarchy. Employees who are lower down the power ranking — some of whom are at the forefront of implementing a company’s goals — rarely ever get the chance to engage with company executives and decision makers. Lower ranked employees are often not very comfortable with offering their opinions to their superiors — even when asked to do so.

 These employees are usually the core of an organization’s day to day operation and their limited communication with shot-callers means critical information and feedback that would have been utilized in decision making is neglected. How do you break this communication barrier between this set of employees and shot-callers? Intranet!

An intranet provides a communication channel where even the lowest ranked employees can engage in intellectual interactions with shot-callers. An intranet brings all employees close to each other in a way that enhances both a top-down and a down-top flow of information.

Introverted employees would rather type a suggestion on a company’s latest intranet than say it out loud in a physical meeting. This means previously uncomfortable employees can now comment on a news post, give feedback through surveys, and give thumbs up to  ideas they think would work out well. 

3. Communication with all 

An organization’s overall success is a joint effort of all employees. This can only be achieved by proper synergy. But how do you ensure synergy when you have remote workers or a huge team? An intranet might be the best solution for your company. 

Not only does it bring all your employees on board, but it also bypasses the limitations of physical distance ensuring all employees receive communication first hand. In turn, remote employees feel part of the company. When employees feel important and beneficial, they are more productive ultimately spurring growth.

4. Communicating Changes

Change is inevitable. However, when employees do not have enough time to prepare and adjust to planned changes, trouble brews. Often times, employees would say they are not aware that policies or goals have changed. This is a failure in communication and could be quite detrimental to a company’s progress.  Even if they have the best intentions and are not giving mere excuses, you might fail to hit deadlines. An intranet can eliminate such awkward situations by communicating changes well ahead of time.

5. Social Networking

As counterintuitive as it may sound, work is not all about work. It’s also an opportunity to experience life, learn, interact and grow. An intranet can help push those non-work agendas that are necessary in a work place but are usually frowned at when practiced in the open.

Remember when your employees got that stern look for discussing birthdays over budget planning? Maybe a little private message over the company’s intranet would have solved that. How about that colleague Mr. Jane just can’t seem to connect with because he has not had the opportunity to reach out? An intranet can help as well.

With a lot on the plate, it’s easy for employees to forget important events in the lives of their colleagues. But with an intranet, that is water under the bridge. They can get notifications of upcoming events like anniversaries, birthdays, and other important events. Sending a goodwill message to your colleagues is a great way to build relationships that will, in turn, foster collaboration.

Those non-work agendas are important as well. The can help keep your employees smiling and happy. And statistics show that happy employees make better companies.

6. Performance metrics

One of the most important question in any organization is “how are we doing?” What is happening in sales? How popular are our products on social media? Are we doing as expected in human development and employee training? How are we doing in our social responsibilities?  An intranet gives an organization’s employees live stats on how the company is doing in a lot of areas and whether or not there’s need for adjustment.

It is not just the organization as a whole, individual employees can also get a field of how they’re performing individually. This helps employees know when to hit the brakes and when to hit the gas. Of course, it can also spur healthy competition by keeping employees informed about how their colleagues are doing.  

Poor communication can have bedeviling effects on any organization. Without effective  communication, businesses can see their productivity collapse and their sales figures nosedive. Employees will become disengaged, company goals will be left unmet and projects will likely fail at worrying rates. An intuitive intranet could be a plug for this — it represents an excellent way to encourage useful and timely communication among employees while also increasing employee engagement. An intranet can also greatly reinforce company culture by allowing employees to interact with each other and have access to information when they need it and in a way that suits their needs.

Conclusion

Effective communication ensures your company benefits from increased collaboration and problem-solving. Besides, it promotes transparency through open and honest communication, which is key to building a strong culture and trusting relationships with employees. Yet effective communication doesn’t happen by chance — using an intranet is one of the way to ensure it actually happens.