Internal Communications - what on earth?

My name is Tony and I'm an internal communicator.  There, I've admitted it to myself and to you, dear reader.  Cue warm applause, murmurs of approval, pats on the back and perhaps a personal sense of relief.  After all, identifying your specialism is half the battle, isn't it?  The other half as I see it is defining exactly what an internal communicator is and explaining why the job is important.

For despite the preponderance and visibility of internal communications teams in business around the globe, many people still don't have much idea of what internal comms functions do.  For a field of endeavour that, among other things, does so much in explaining the vision, strategy, challenges, successes (and disappointments) of a business, internal comms has been surprisingly poor at defining itself to the audiences it engages with.  Perhaps it is due to the quiet modesty exhibited by most internal comms professionals... but I doubt it.

So it was great to learn that a team of internal communications experts - Rachel Allen, Abi Signorelli, David Ferrabee, Liam FitzPatrick, Wedge and Lee Smith - took the bull by the horns and formed a comms 'flash mob' to set about correcting that state of affairs.  They have published an up to date page on Wikipedia which everyone can read here.  It explains what internal communications is and what internal communicators do.  The page remains work in progress and other communicators have joined in, helping to populate it with additional useful information.

Thanks to the efforts of all those contributors, the process of demystifying internal communications has taken an overdue step forward - and I feel like my specialism has more of an identity.  Internal communications will remain a niche business area, but the people who read that Wikipedia page will now be able to see just how broad the expertise in a comms function really is and recognise the value internal comms expertise can add to a business.  Yes, that's right, value.

Far from being a cost centre that derives no revenue for the business, an internal communications function is actually a value centre that undertakes activity which adds to the bottom line.

With the recession biting deep in many sectors of the UK economy, businesses with internal comms functions are learning just how valuable they can be in facilitating engagement between management and their teams.  I will wager that businesses that use internal communication professionals to share management's direction and objectives, and explain what is expected of their teams, are the ones that will come out of the recession in better shape for their people having clearly understood and delivered what was required.

That's an important part of what internal communicators do.  The work can be challenging and there can be obstacles to overcome.  But the buzz you can get when you see a business succeed because you have helped management and people to understand each other and work together... it can be highly addictive.  So when I say 'my name is Tony and I'm an internal communicator', I don't feel embarrassment or shame, I can feel a sense of pride. By the way, welcome to my blog!