How can you align your IC strategy with your organization's goals?

And what if the orgznisation's goals are to downsize, to divest, to relocate, to merge? Where do you find the sizzle and the zest in these lemons and sausages that are often thrown at us?

I'd see this as the second stage. First is understanding your organisation's business strategy. Sitting down with the CEO, the CFO, the strategy lead, the Chief people officer, DEI and belonging lead, marketing, CTO to understand the business goals, the big people and product moments. What excites them about the company? What excites them about the next 12 months and 3 to 5 years. Then you have the strategic big picture, the inspiring zest and critical moments that you need to communicate about.

Derive a topics matrix from your organization's goals and strategy Take your organization's goals and strategy and get down to the bottom of it by asking which fields of action help to reach them. When you identified them, create a topics matrix that reflects and catwgorizes these fields. Integrate the categories and topics in your IC strategy and use them to decide about communication requests.

Something I think really helps is bringing tne strategy to life with real examples of "what does this means for me?". Too often people struggle to connect to the strategy because they cannot see how their role aids the big picture. In IT or other technical roles they don't ask the question in the first place and when they do, the answer doesn't satisfy them. So, my tip is: understand it yourself so you can explain it and bring it to life with real scenarios and data for different role types in your organisation.

Think of your objectives as constellations in the night sky. Each one represents a specific goal, like guiding sailors across the sea. Make sure these constellations align with the North Star, which is your organization's strategic goal. When employees look up, they should see a clear path towards achieving the bigger picture.

OKRs for the management of IC (and any other departments) goals is perfect for this kind of need. And the use of this kind of framework is so simple: you have just to be specific and write down your objectives and key results with a data oriented approach.

A solid IC objective bridges organisational goals and employee actions. It's not about lofty ambitions, but linking communication to real-world outcomes. The ripple effect? Enhanced engagement, a unified vision, and a stride closer to the organisation's overarching aims.

In my current context, we decided to communicate on colleagues birthdays. With the help of the human resource department, we gather little information on the queen/king of the day and we use the opportunity to share their experience (especially for the older employees) as encouragement and inspiration for the younger colleagues. It is always heartwarming to see the pleasant surprise on their faces when they read the announcement in the group forum. Six months after we instituted this tactic, more and more colleagues read the information we share through the hospital's communication channels and participate in building strong relationships as well as achieving the hospital's goals.

Sprinkle creativity in your tactics; it's the spice in the engagement stew. Beyond informing, aim for sparking conversations and nurturing a culture where employees feel part of the narrative. It's about the 'how' in delivering the message as much as it is about the 'what'.

Strategy communications shouldn't really feel like a separate news stream, out there on its own. Once you've announced, raised awareness, and created interest in your strategy, all your news and comms should connect and align with your goals. Strategic goal themes should be embedded in the day-to-day to keep them front of mind, maintain focus, and enthuse employees to take action.

Consider your strategy as a classic novel. Each stakeholder is a different character, and you need to speak their language. For senior leaders, it's the language of numbers and results; for employees, it's the language of motivation and purpose. You're the author, weaving a compelling narrative that makes everyone want to turn the next page.

Crucial to communicating strategy is enabling all stakeholders to clearly understand their role in delivering the strategy. Regularly reinforcing the strategy and bringing it to life through stakeholder storytelling will make the strategy part of the every day rather than an untouchable and theoretical document that's referred to periodically at quarterly town halls. Making good use of leaders and stakeholders, such as managers, is also crucial for translating and embedding the strategy in different business functions.

Pitching your strategy isn't a one-off show; it's a series. Tailor the narrative for different stakeholder groups, highlighting how the strategy resonates with their goals. It's about sparking a two-way dialogue, carving a space for feedback to refine the roadmap.

it is necessary above all to establish the goals of internal communication so that they are simple and understandable for all partners, whether nothing or in external communication. it is about being able to present the goals of internal communication in such a way that all parties can identify with them, understand them and be able to participate in them

Peel back the layers of data to find the narrative of your impact. Beyond metrics, dive into the stories and reactions that form around your comms efforts. They often hold keys to resonating messages and channels. Remember, it's not just about reaching milestones, but learning and adapting with each stride.

Focus on Outcomes and Organizational Impact Too many communication professionals focus on outputs (the stuff they create) and outtakes (the consumption of the stuff, measured through clicks, hits, views, opens, reads, attendance) ...but to align to strategy we need to focus on outcomes (understanding and action driven by the information) and organizational impact (the result of the action on the business and bottom-line). When we are ready to take credit for our work to influence beliefs, decisions and behavior and be accountable for real results, our value grows exponentially.

Your employees aren't robots. Tailor your comms to resonate with them. Know their likes, dislikes and what makes them tick. Be their favorite spy, gathering intel to customize your messages effectively. Write a manifesto that's not just a piece of paper but a battle cry. Summarize your organization's goals in a way that gets your employees to rally behind them. Use a variety of communication channels. It's not just emails; it's videos, podcasts, memes - whatever gets their attention. Get leaders on board. They're your generals. Help them deliver your message with charisma and authenticity. If they're not actively involved and invested, it all falls apart.

Let me reframe this question. How can you NOT align your Internal Comms strategy with your organization's goals? The fact is, if it's NOT aligned then it's NOT a strategy.

GlasgowGPT perspective: 1. Start wi the big picture: Understand yer organization's goals. Get a solid grasp on where they're headin'. 2. Craft yer plan: Develop a strategy that supports those goals. Every message and channel should be connected. 3. Involve the troops: Engage them in the process. Seek their input and make 'em feel part of the journey. 4. Measure the impact: Regularly evaluate and assess the effectiveness of yer IC efforts. Adjust and refine as ye go. By alignin' yer IC strategy tightly wi yer organization's goals, ye'll be marchin' toward success like a true champ.