Is your message falling on deaf ears?

In this overly connected world, it's becoming increasingly difficult for organizations to get their key messages across to important stakeholders, whether it's employees, customers, vendors, partners or even stockholders.

The reason is simple. As companies grow, their communication programs become a patchwork of solutions. At critical junctures in every organization, new programs are launched to fill perceived gaps in the communication process. This may include brochures, department meetings, videos, Intranets, weekly email digests – the list goes on.

Unfortunately, few organizations take the time to assess this Rubik's cube of complex channels to see if they are still valuable. Instead, the powers that be tend to add even more layers of communications to cover up the remaining holes.

This layering has become even more prominent with the advent of the web, Intranets and email. There's a tendancy to rely on these channels to shoot out up-to-date information without ever questioning whether the information is needed by the recipients. And even if there is a need, no one questions the immediacy of that need.

Small wonder why most organization stakeholders are so overwhelmed by "important communications" that they simply tune them out or miss out on them entirely.

We hear what you're saying. But it's just email. How much can a couple extra emails hurt?

Say an organization has 1,000 employees who make an average of $15 per hour. Each employee receives 200 emails a week at work, roughly 40 a day (ridiculously low, we know). Some of it is just spam, others are deleted simply because they're viewed as irrelevant by that employee, even if it comes from inside.

Assuming that 25% of email is spam, and that it takes 15 seconds to read and delete one spam email, that adds up to 104 hours to an employee's workload. The total economic impact to the company is $1.56 million a year in lost productivity.

You can use the same methodology using 100 employees at $10 an hour. The economic impact then is still a staggering $104,000 annually.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. Losses can rack up in existing programs too, from Intranets with a bevvy of features no one uses but yet have to be maintained to print pieces that duplicate what's available online – from employee manuals to memos to newsletters. An archaic communication program can cost a company thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars every year.

But there's more to the story. If important organizational messages are not reaching the correct audience through the right channel, the intangible costs could be even greater. Few managers understand that fully 80 percent of all organizational communication is conducted through informal channels, whether it occurs around the water cooler or in online chat areas. This informal looping of information can resemble the old rumors game one played in grade school, where the teacher whispers the message at the front of the room and everyone laughs at how it sounds when the last student repeats it.

Not understanding how this process works in your organization can render that formal 20% you do have control over ineffectual.

All is not lost. If your organization has never examined its communication processes since the development of the Internet, Intranet and email, perhaps it's long overdue. A top to bottom assessment and survey of your practices will help you know what is working and what isn't working in terms of internal and external communications. And it will help you realign your channels to match your audiences' needs for information.

A communication audit, combined with a solid realignment plan, can send your organization on the road to recovery, clarity and stronger bottom line.

If you'd like more information about strategic communication assessment and realignment, give CommuniCreations a call today at (877) 895-2848, ext. 1 or email us at ccreate@comstation.com