How HR and Internal Communications Can Work Together Strategically

The respective disciplines of Internal Communication (IC) and Human Resources (HR) have many commonalities.

At the heart of our shared purpose is nurturing, guiding and informing employees so they can thrive in their roles. The lenses we look through may be different, but what unites us is helping our employees have a successful and fulfilling experience in the organization.

The role of Internal Communications

As professional communicators, it’s our business to know our business. This not only means what the business priorities are and what’s top of mind for leaders and employees alike but also having excellent relationships in every single area of the company.

IC is a business function because we enable a business to function. Poor communication inhibits organizational success and employees waste time, money and effort searching for credible, accurate and reliable information to help them do their jobs.

To enhance our effectiveness, we need to build strong internal networks that facilitate meaningful communication within the organization. This involves understanding and addressing the diverse needs and realities of the workforce, other than developing communication strategies that allow every employee’s voice to be heard and valued.

Overall, the purpose of internal communication isn’t telling people what to do but to create a shared understanding and meaning, so our employees can align their efforts to the organization’s purpose and goals.

The relationship between IC and HR

Breakdowns in relationships between IC and HR functions can occur for several reasons. The most common is a lack of clarity around roles and responsibilities inside an organization.

Tension occurs when it’s not clear who is focusing on areas such as:

• employee surveys
• employee value proposition
• employer branding
• employee networks
• employee experience
• people managers’ skillsets
• employee engagement.

An exercise which I’ve used with clients to help companies decipher who is responsible is to map out the respective disciplines as a Venn diagram. Create two circles on a piece of paper or in a new document on your computer. Make them overlap in the middle.

Label one as IC and one as HR. Review the topics I’ve just outlined. Is it clear who ‘owns’ what in your organization? If so, put them in the correlating circle. Or if you think both functions are responsible, write those topics in the gap created where the two circles overlap.

If you have additional topics to add, capture those too.

Once you have a diagram full of topics, consider ones where it’s not clear who is responsible. Who do you think owns them, or who should own them?

Whether you’re reading this as an IC or HR professional, this is a conversation you need to have with your respective counterparts. Having everything mapped out enables you to have conversations. Both functions should be invited to contribute, discuss and make decisions.

The outcome of that exercise is clearer communication on both sides. You’ll be able to see where your professional worlds complement and enhance each other. You’ll also be able to see what has fallen through the cracks and is not a focus area for either function.

Tip: If you have a lot of topics in the middle of the diagram, they each need to be discussed. Are they there because you’re not sure who owns them? Or because there’s a sense of ‘someone must be looking at this’ in your company? Use this exercise to create transparency and make informed decisions.

Once you have completed this exercise, use it as a learning discussion with your team. Share what you did, the process you went through and what decisions you’ve made as result of thinking it all through.

Chances are if you were unclear and felt uncertain about roles, remits and responsibilities, that is shared by the wider team.

You may even decide to create an employee-facing version and perhaps highlight it on your section of an intranet (internal website). If IC and HR teams were confused about who owns what, it’s likely employees will be too.

People managers as communicators

One key area both IC and HR need to pay a lot of attention to is communication. We rely on people managers, or line managers, to be effective communicators.

This is especially important during times of change. In this case, the IC team would usually be equipping and empowering managers to create relevancy for their team members. The communication gap between IC and HR teams can lead to confusion about people managers' responsibilities and doubts about their readiness for certain discussions, resulting in wasted time.

Two common scenarios I've identified within organizations involve:

• Training courses as part of an internal Learning & Development offering, which an IC team had no knowledge of and had been trying to source externally
• People manager focused presentations on communication by an HR team, which their IC team had no knowledge or input into.

Both of those situations could have been avoided if there was a strong and strategic relationship between the IC and HR functions. This means having regular conversations, sharing high-level plans and respecting each other’s disciplines.

After all, we have a shared purpose of nurturing, guiding and informing employees, so they can thrive in their roles.