Strategic Alignment: The True Purpose Of Internal Communication?

Unlike other departments, the purpose and responsibilities of the internal communication (IC) function tend to vary between organizations. Even within a company, you’ll receive very different answers when you ask different people about the purpose of internal communication.

The thing is, there’s not really one universally agreed-upon north star for IC, so it’s not much of a surprise that we’re often quite a misunderstood function. But this can become a real problem, leading to inevitable ‘scope creep’ and minor breakdowns every time somebody asks, “...so what is it that you actually do?”.  

You could drive yourself loopy by reading all of the different ‘definitions’ of IC, none of which really get to the heart of why we’re here and what we do. The Institute of Internal Communication simply states that the purpose of IC is to enable members of the group to understand each other. An article in Forbes a few years ago claimed that our main purpose is to present transparent communications that employees can easily digest, while providing strategic leadership to the CEO. And the Government Communication Service in the UK states that IC’s main purpose is to inform and engage employees to increase motivation and performance.

And while semi-frequent identity crises may well be an occupational hazard of working in IC, the latest research from Gallagher shows that the majority of internal communicators are aligned on one common purpose – strategic alignment.

When asked to identify and rank the purpose of IC within their business, Gallagher’s respondents placed ‘strategic alignment’ firmly at the top of the list, followed by ‘culture and belonging’ at number two.

So, let’s explore what ‘strategic alignment’ actually means in the world of internal comms and consider the ways that we can make it a top priority.

What does ‘strategic alignment’ mean for internal communicators?

In the report, strategic alignment is described as the process of “creating clarity around company purpose and vision”.

Thinking of strategic alignment as the main purpose of the IC function encourages us to take a much more joined-up view of the content we’re communicating and the initiatives we’re building our comms plans around.

As Simon Rutter explained in one of his blog posts a couple of years back, “...internal communications is the process of communicating with your employees to ensure they understand your business strategy and their role in delivering it. If you do this effectively, your people will know what they need to do and, crucially, why they’re doing it”.

And considering the broader business context adds even more weight to the argument. Purpose-driven organizations consistently outperform those that don’t focus on the bigger picture, with a 30% increase in innovation rates and employees who are 64% more satisfied with their work. Employees who feel aligned with their organization’s strategy and have a sense of purpose in their work are more engaged, motivated, and creative.

How to create clarity around company strategy

Clearly articulating the organization’s strategy, vision and mission should form a core part of any IC strategy.

In practice, this means developing a joined-up internal narrative that positions the company’s strategy as the central ‘why’ behind all business activities.

Don’t be afraid to sound repetitive – reinforce ‘the context’ of the business at every given opportunity – at the beginning of each Town Hall, as part of a CEO update, as a recurring reminder in your Manager Hub on the intranet. Build your content strategy around your company strategy, ensuring day-to-day messaging is aligned with the bigger picture to clearly demonstrate to employees how everything fits together.

Genuine strategic alignment is all about weaving strategy into your everyday messaging, showing how everything you’re communicating and every business activity is part of the wider context. It’s not about putting ‘company strategy’ in a separate box that is only talked about in isolation.

As internal communicators, a key part of our job is to translate this kind of core messaging into language that is meaningful for each different group of employees, so think about the ways you can segment messaging to make sure ‘the why’ is clear for everyone.

Team leaders and people managers play an important role in localizing information about the company’s strategy, so consider creating things like manager briefing packs and talking points, and cascade information that will help them build a solid understanding of how their teams fit with the bigger picture.