With a dynamic 22-year career, Candor Vice President Andrea Myers is an internal communications powerhouse. She’s guided global companies through reorganizations and relocations, led strategic employee engagement initiatives and helped major corporate teams develop diversity and inclusion frameworks. We sat down with Andrea to get the 411 on how employers can implement effective internal communication strategies to improve employees’ experience and meet their organizational goals.
Q: Why is prioritizing internal communications important?
A: Often, companies focus so much on the customer experience they forget about the employee experience — but employees create the customer experience. If your team is unmotivated, there’s a negative ripple effect on your customers and, ultimately, on your bottom line.
Q: What’s one mistake you’ve seen employers often make when communicating with their team? How can they avoid it?
A: A one-size-fits-all approach does not work when communicating with employees. Consider who really needs what information, when they need it and what format will reach them best. Will your plant floor employees respond best to paper flyers in the breakroom? Do your corporate employees prefer email? Taking a thoughtful approach to getting the right information to the right people — versus not saying anything or overwhelming them with unnecessary details — will build stronger internal communication.
Q: When an organization is undergoing change, what can leaders do to minimize employee uncertainty and distraction?
A: Engaging managers is the key to successfully navigating internal transitions. People managers arguably play the most important role in any organization on any given day, but even more so during times of change. Employees naturally look to their managers for cues on how to react and respond when there is uncertainty. Make sure your people leaders feel informed and understand what’s needed from them for the team to be successful. Consider offering change communication training to position them for maximum effectiveness.
Q: What’s a foolproof tactic employers can immediately implement to strengthen internal communication?
A: Conduct a communications audit. Take a close look at your internal communication channels and evaluate the frequency, audience, content and purpose of each. Don’t forget to consider the channels you may not control — like those of other departments that may send company-wide communication. With this data in hand, you can make strategic decisions to ensure everyone is getting the right amount of information and no one is being left out or overwhelmed.
Q: You’ve been in the PR/employee engagement space for over 20 years. What’s a piece of advice you’d give employers today you wouldn’t have given 20 years ago?
A: When I started my career, internal communication often only focused on telling employees only what they needed to know — here are your benefits, here’s a new policy, etc. Today, the best internal communicators recognize employees are a brand’s best advocate, and that strengthening trust with them through strategic communication maximizes the positive impact they can have in and outside the organization.
Andrea Myers
Andrea has more than 20 years of public relations experience, including expertise in employee and stakeholder engagement, change communications, executive visibility and relationship building. Andrea has supported clients at the local and global levels across a wide range of industries.
