Are you working in an organisation with 500 or fewer employees?

If so, you’re part of the 99.8% of UK businesses that fall into that category. Yet so much of the conversation about internal communication still focuses on large organisations with dedicated teams, multiple channels, and big budgets.

That’s why it was refreshing to see a new report from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR): The Inside Story – Investigating Internal Communication in Organisations with Fewer than 500 Employees.

It’s the first study in years to look solely at how internal communication works in smaller organisations, and what it reveals is both encouraging and challenging.

Communication matters, whatever your size

The research confirms what many of us already know: internal communication is just as critical to smaller organisations as it is to large corporates with 8 in 10 of the organisations surveyed saying they have someone responsible for internal communication, though it’s often part-time or squeezed in alongside other responsibilities. And for those without any IC support, the reason is simple: they can’t afford it. 

Even when a communicator is hired, there’s rarely budget for the tools, platforms, or training needed to make the role effective. The result? Many practitioners in smaller organisations are doing vital work without the investment required to do the role effectively.

Communicators are tactical rather than strategic

It’s no surprise then those internal communicators said a lot of their activity is largely tactical rather than strategic. Many communicators said they simply don’t have time to develop a strategy. One quote stood out “Our internal communication is very reactive and doesn’t align with building our culture” I have a lot of empathy with that point of view, when you’re the only communicator in a smaller organisation it’s easy to get caught in the cycle of being reactive and getting stuff done. 

You don’t have time not to be strategic

However, I’d also argue you don’t have time not to be strategic. Without a strategy you risk doing a lot but achieving very little for the business.  

A strategy is a clear, intentional plan that connects what the organisation is trying to achieve with the actions needed to get there.

The good news is that developing an internal comms strategy doesn’t have to mean months of planning or producing a long document that no one will ever read. You don’t need a big team or budget to be strategic. You just need to be deliberate about what you’re communicating, why, and what outcome you want.

I’d suggest you keep simple, so that it can be a genuinely useful working document. In fact, it can be as straightforward as a building strategy-on-a-page — (or a SOAP, as I like to call it!) 

Five steps to building a simple communication strategy

1. Outline what is your organisation trying to achieve.

Start with the business goal or challenge. What’s the problem, opportunity or shift the organisation is dealing with? Capture it in one or two sentences. 

2. How can communication help?

Be explicit about the role communication plays. Are you building understanding? Helping leaders navigate change? Shifting behaviours? 

3. Write your objectives to identify what success looks like. 

Objectives should define the specific outcomes you want your communication to achieve they should be smart.

4. Identify your key audiences.

This could include leaders, line managers and non-desk-based employees, Identify priority audiences and write down what you want them to know feel or do.  

5. Tactics and activity.  

What is the simplest, most effective way to reach your audiences? What channels do you have available and what will you use?

When you bring these elements together on a single page, you get a strategy that is practical, focused, and easy for leaders to understand and support. That’s the heart of any good internal communication strategy, whether you’re reaching 50 people or 50,000.