Talk It Up: The Importance of Internal Communication

Could a person ask any individual on your team about the current state of your business and get an accurate answer? Could they tell them your company’s mission and vision for the future? How about recent wins that will have a major impact on your organization?

It is vital that your team knows the key things happening in your business. That can range from daily priorities to company-wide goals and their status. It’s important to ask yourself: How are you telling your team what is going on in your business - sales, marketing, administration? Like any great relationship, communication is key. 

Here are some of the tools we use here at The Squad to make sure everyone is on the same page:

Slack

Here at The Squad, we communicate with each other every day through a platform called Slack. We are remote two days a week, so we rely on platforms that allow us to communicate our priorities and anything that may come up throughout the day. On Slack, we utilize different channels for specific topics. These channels include #SquadLife, where we can share what is going on in our personal lives, #Squadbinge, where we can talk about the latest movie we watched, #MeetingsandHappenings, to communicate what is going on in our day, and many more to help keep our communication source of truth organized. We also use this tool to communicate what is happening in the business. Most of the time, we are giving details of upcoming events we have. Team members are able to look back on the message to know what to expect and where to be. 

Google Calendar

In line with staying on the same page, our team uses Google Calendar to have eyes on the whole agency. Whether we are trying to schedule a meeting with multiple team members or trying to see if a team member is free, we are able to do so through shared calendars. This helps our team not overbook as well as keep everyone in the know as to who is in our office.

Internal Meetings

Communication doesn’t just happen through messages, but also through team meetings. We like to meet at least twice a month to either give updates about the business (Squddle) or to learn from our colleagues (Squad U). At Squddle, we used a slide deck to go over several things: updates in different parents of the business - administration, sales, leadership, and operations, any birthdays or anniversaries for the month, wins of the month, and recognizing one team member for outstanding work - Squad Star. We take a break from our normal day-to-day, look back at the month we’ve had, and look forward to the next.

With our monthly meetings, we send out newsletters to get our team engaged. We use a fun newspaper template that goes over our monthly core values, an update from the owner of The Marketing Squad, what is for lunch, and the swag we are giving away. It also allows the team to nominate the Squad Star of the Month. Our process has inspired our clients to connect with their teams through an internal newsletter. 

With SquadU, a member of our team presents a learning opportunity for everyone. This can range from a variety of topics, from how SEO works to how to properly light a subject for a video shoot. This is an amazing opportunity to learn from your peers and add a new skill to your toolbelt. 

Annual Calendar

At the beginning of each year, our VP of Operations, Kevin, designs a Squad Calendar that goes over what our entire year has in store - team retreats, events, office closed, quarterly reviews. This calendar is a stable point for our business. It is hung up in our office, and team members use it when they are scheduling meetings or vacations. 

Internal communication is a huge part of making sure your team is on the same page. When we celebrate big wins, we want to make sure everyone is part of it. These tools have changed the game for us and have helped build our team into an effective unit. 

If you're interested in talking more about how you can improve your team's internal communication, we'd love to sit down and talk with you!