How can you meet the expectations of internal communication stakeholders?

Foster two-way communication: Encourage feedback and engagement from stakeholders by creating opportunities for two-way communication. Allow them to voice their opinions and concerns, and actively listen and respond to their feedback using various digital/microsoft tools available As stakeholder expectations can evolve over time, conduct periodic reviews of the communication plan to ensure it remains aligned with their changing needs. Consistent communication, active listening, and ongoing collaboration with stakeholders are key to meeting their expectations and building strong internal communication channels.

The key thing is to look at stakeholders in at least three dimensions: * What they do - roles, key activities * Where they are - demographics, geography, attitudes * Who they are - what level of importance do they bring? Who can accelerate your initiatives, and who can blow them up?

To meet the expectations of internal communication stakeholders, it's essential to start with a clear understanding of their needs. For example, if your employees are looking for more transparent leadership communication, create a monthly CEO email update that addresses key company updates and includes a Q&A section for their questions and concerns. This shows you're responsive and committed to keeping them informed. Putting a comprehensive communication strategy in place, keeping your messaging consistent, selecting appropriate channels, and then measuring for results are all important components of it.

A clear understanding of the internal stakeholders, their different wants and needs and the most effective ways to communicate with them is the 1st step to meeting their expectations. That’s why a good starting point for any internal communication professional should be an internal communication audit: identifying all used communication channels, their efficacy, and who falls into each category. This step gives a solid foundation to move forward with any internal communication strategy

Internal communications is an emerging field and many companies have started to realize its potentials. In order to have a successful internal comms, it is important to define the audience and communications objectives. Comms teams should brainstorm on framing guidelines and scope of internal comms in order to gain maximum traction. While providing platform to various stakeholders, comms teams should ensure that their responses are aligned with the organization's purpose and do not attract any controversy. There is often an overlap between HR and PR teams while driving initiatives for internal audience. They should work hand in hand, define KPIs, output and measurement metrics for such campaigns. This way they can avoid the conflict.

I’ve found a really good way to clarify internal communication objectives is to ask what you want your audience to KNOW, how you want them to FEEL, and what you want them to DO. Having clear answers will guide every strategy and tactic you choose.

The single best thing to do is to identify what your organization's objectives and outcome are, and then create specific metrics that align progress towards those outcomes with specific communication campaigns and initiatives. These metrics give you the ability to prove your value.

Understand your stakeholder's goals and objectives and then ensure that they align to the broader organisational vision, mission, values and strategy. Find out what they want to achieve, how you can help them achieve their objectives, and importantly, what success looks like.

What is the goal? We should start by identifying what we want to achieve and create a solid plan on how we will achieve that. Anytime a new request comes in, we can measure it up against our goal and take action if it will move the plan forward towards it.

Channel is hugely important: in industries that typically rely on manufacturing, people often operate without a PC. If you want to successfully engage with manufacturing staff, personal devices or offline tools are critical in the mix.

The best way to meet the expectations of your internal stakeholders for any form of activity or engagement is to see them as partners. Partners want to be heard , partners want to be informed , partners need to feel they belong . By engaging with your internal stakeholders every step of the way , you empower them to act as influencers or ambassadors who will be willing to see your campaign or any activity succeed .

Talk to everybody, especially leaders, about what you have put out. Take candid feedback and identify areas of change/improvement.

Setting clear expectations is essential. There will be competing priorities and deadlines from different stakeholders. So you won't be able to keep everyone happy all of the time. Build trust, manage expectations so they understand your approach.

Let your key stakeholders know, regularly, what your plan is and what you're prioritising. There's always more that you could be communicating, but managers and other stakeholders are looking for whatever's top of their mind right now. You can't always keep everyone happy, but you can keep them informed and give them a chance to advocate for something to be brought forward or given more prominence (and/or for something else to be deprioritised).

I have found listening and being open to learn along the way to be meaningful in improving internal communication. Often times, a challenge especially in misaligned communication has led to peer-to-peer benchmarking and online courses to enhance the internal communication process.

You’re going to fail at this. That’s the reality. You aren’t a machine and people are complex. Here’s what you can do - get a little bit better every day. Get better at knowing your stakeholders. Get better at knowing their priorities. Get better at coaching your stakeholders. Get better at serving your audience. Get better at learning what works in your world.

Don't be afraid to say no! If you don't think that something a stakeholder is asking for will work or is aligned to the company and internal communication strategy, say so and make an alternative suggestion that will be more effective, if there is one. Whilst this might feel counterproductive in terms of meeting stakeholder expectations, over time you'll achieve greater respect from your stakeholders.

You will always fail if the goal is to meet each individual's expectations. As the communications lead, you should define expectations by setting and socializing your org-aligned goals, defining channels and how they are used, and being consistent and transparent in your decision-making. Don't fall into the trap of sending out stuff to meet expectations. Instead, add value by demonstrating your comms expertise.

Look at stakeholders as individuals as well as groups. Take a serious look at internal/informal influence and how key influencers are connections between key stakeholder groups. Recognize that stakeholder groups consist of people, and that people can behave unpredictably.

I think The Crisis Communication Plan is very important: Have a well-defined crisis communication plan in place. If a crisis occurs, and it will occur, you need to communicate effectively and promptly to manage the situation. Stakeholders will appreciate a coordinated response during challenging times.