Internal communicators often have to balance between doing what is easy and what is the right thing to do for the business. Often the latter isn’t the most popular decision since it goes against the grain and antagonizes stakeholders.
Amy, the internal communicator from Indi Company handled the company e-zine  – Reach and she got requests for posting articles from the offices across the globe. The weekly e-zine pooled in content themes based on relevance to the company, importance to staff etc. Julie from the Learning team had sent in a request for including the launch of a training program and Amy didn’t carry it. Here is a conversation between the two as they talk about why the article didn’t find space.
Julie: Amy, I have a concern. I was surprised to see that my article didn’t feature in last week’s Reach.
Amy: You are right. I didn’t get carried since it wasn’t as per the content guidelines we follow.
Julie: Has that changed? I had shared a similar training launch note earlier – didn’t we carry it then?
Amy: Yes, it has changed a bit but not entirely. We have a new masthead and we have divided our sections by business units. That said, we evaluate the article based on relevance, the audience it will reach and the impact the story makes.
Julie: My training program is very important to the organization. A tenth of our staff attend it and then they join projects.
Amy: That is excellent Julie. However, the story can be strengthened if we know how our trained staff are making an impact to our clients’ work.
Julie: Hmm…you mean, how we impact the bottom line?
Amy: That also. Broadly, how have they improved the experience of our clients and their customers? Do you have testimonials from clients to demonstrate impact?
Julie: I liked the recommendations but I am not happy about your justification for not including my article.
Amy is confused. Was she in the business of making stakeholders happy? Or was she supposed to help them be more effective with their communication?
What do you think? Share your thoughts here.
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