By Filipe Andrade
Establishing corporate communications, whether internal or external, is by itself a huge challenge; when well executed, it makes all the difference to an organization. When it doesn’t, it can have a tremendously negative impact.Creating integrated communications, by integrating both internal and external communications, forming a synergy between them, is a separate challenge. The result of an integrated communication, however, is substantially higher than any result from them separately.
To understand how to do internal and external communication in an integrated way, we need to first understand the specifications for each one of these ways of communicating in an organization.
Internal communications are commonly understood as a process of exchanges between the employees of an organization, involving all the team in the communicative process and the informative contents, whether vertically or horizontally. There are several internal communication tools and many ways to use this type of communication in a strategic way. The important thing is that this communication needs to be taken seriously, and even more importantly, it needs to be considered as strategically relevant by managers.
External communications on the other hand, has an even more institutionalized and hierarchical character. This because, in these cases, there is a second filter inside the organization – not everything that’s relevant to the internal public is relevant to the external. And, unlike internal communications, which aims to integrate the team, the external aims to bring the organization to public attention, to be seen and recognized as such. This communication often happens through the work of the press office.
Integrated communication goes beyond. “[…]It presupposes not only a productive dialogue, but a joint planning. The decision-making process, which should include other instances of the company or entity apart from those specifically related to the communication/marketing, must be shared, even if there is a boss, a superintendent, or a general director to whom everybody reports to”, as argued by authors Cláudio Silva, Flávia Schroeder, Luciana Costa, Mariana Cumming and Ticiana Diniz, in the article ‘Comunicação Integrada como Ferramenta de Gestão’ (‘Integrated Communication as a Management Tool’).
The result of the integrated communication is a company image that is much more aligned, more global — as the authors mentioned above point out –, highlighting each sector of the corporation, its activities and specifications. And, even if it’s something new in the market, this is not just an option, but a necessity and a distinction in an organization. A trend that points to the future.
If your company needs help developing a way to work with communication in an integrated manner, please contact the specialists at Race Communications. We’d be happy to help!
