TJ Walker argues that organizations too often focus external marketing while neglecting internal communication. He recommends frequent, concise recorded video updates (daily or weekly, even 60 seconds) in addition to occasional live meetings, stressing conversational delivery, repetition of key messages, and inclusivity across time zones to boost engagement and cohesion.
Chapters
So how can you use communication more effectively? Not for your customers in the outside world, but for your own employees, your prospects, let's not forget them. Too many organizations spend all their time, energy and money on ads for customers, communication, social media posts just to attract more and more customers. Meanwhile, your own employees don't know what in the heck is going on. You need to be communicating on a daily basis with your employees, with your prospective employees, so they know what your vision is. Where are you? What should they be excited about? What should they be telling other people about that's going on in your organization? It doesn't matter if you have one employee, one freelancer, or if you have 20, 50, 100 or, or a thousand, or 10,000 or a million. You need constant communication. It's very difficult to actually over communicate. Anytime you think you're even close to over communicating, chances are a lot of employees just didn't get it. They missed that email. They didn't see that town hall. They were preoccupied because they had a crisis at home. So if you're going to make a mistake, err on the side of over communication. Now, the single biggest recommendation I have for you that you might not be doing that cost nothing that most people don't do is this. If it's your organization or you're the manager of a group, make a video at least once a week, maybe even once a day. Doesn't have to be long. It could be 60 seconds long. But just give people quick updates. It's so much more powerful than a memo, email once a month or quarterly reports. It also frankly, takes a lot less time. Now you may be thinking, oh, what are you talking about, T.J. a video. I've got to have a big setup. I got to have a script. Teleprompter. I got it right here. No, it doesn't have to be fancy. This is not an ad for the Super Bowl. You don't have to have perfect lighting and a fancy microphone and accent lights. Just talk to people. You could do it on your cell phone while you, I mean, you could in theory be driving and just capture it on your cell phone and let your employees, let your vendors, let the people on your inside world know what's going on. They want to feel like they're on the inside. They don't want to read about what's going on in their own company in the Wall Street Journal or the local business page and be blindsided. That's going to make them feel alienated. That's going to create an us versus them mentality in your organization. So when you're speaking to people, it's simply more powerful when you speak and they can hear your voice and see you. So much more communication takes place than just the printed word or the text on a screen. They can get a sense of what's really important. They can get the emotional impact of what you're talking about. And all you have to do is hit record. You can do it on your cell phone, you can do it on your webcam, and then send it to your employees. Now, it may be three employees and all of you are in the same room. There's something about just reflecting on what you want people to know. Maybe it's Friday at the end of the week and everyone else has gone home and you just want to reflect on the successes of the week and what's coming up next. There's nothing wrong with you making a video and sharing it, even if it's to three people in the room. Now, of course, the three people in the room, ideally you're sharing and talking out loud and people can hear you regularly anyway. But for so many organizations these days, people are working virtually. Even if it's a two person business, you're not in the same room. Therefore, it's a great way to connect with people, especially if there's a lot of different time zones. Because yes, live communication is best. The problem with live communication is if you're 12 time zones away and you're asking someone to get up in the middle of the night or 5am Their time, they may be half asleep. The other issue with live communication, and I'm certainly a big fan of live communication, in terms of keeping your staff, your team members up to date of what you're doing, is it's very easy. For something that seemed like it would take five minutes to turn into an hour, there is a time and place for that. Ideally, you have both. You have live meetings, live town halls, live sessions with your employees. Doesn't matter how big you are. Steve Jobs did it regularly with thousands and thousands and thousands of employees. Let them ask questions. So you want some communication that's live and give and take. But there's also a role for making a simple video. Could be 45 seconds long, could be 5 minutes long. Don't edit it, don't worry about it, or a stumble. Just treat it like a conversation where you called up one employee and said, hey, let me give you a quick update on what's happened today or in the last week. And you just talk, record it and share it, push it out. Let people see it. Of course they can email questions, of course they can write or call you if there's real confusion. But if you know, okay, once a week, every Thursday morning, I'm going to send a short video talking about what's happened this week, what's going to happen next week to our entire organization. It's going to get faster and easier every single week you do it and a lot of people will appreciate it and it will build a cohesiveness to your organization because people will know what you're thinking. They won't feel blindsided, they will feel included. They will feel like they are on the inside and more part of a family, even if it's a really large organization. Do not be afraid to repeat yourself. Important messages need to be repeated. Telling a message once doesn't matter if it's a small child, your 14 year old teenager living at home, or a major investor who is a genius with a PhD from MIT. It doesn't matter. Very few people instantly get a message hearing it once. So do not be afraid to repeat your important messages again and again. There may be some messages you want to repeat once a week, even once a day. Don't be afraid to repeat it, but make it conversational. Don't read in a generic way. And remember, safety is our number one priority that's going to go in one ear and out the other. Make it conversational. Give people a sense of this is what is important. Here's why I'm sharing it with you. Here's why I think you need to know. Here's why this has an impact on you. Really communicate things and look at it through the lens of why is this important to these employees? Not simply this is what it is. Take it or leave it. If you do this on a regular basis, your organization will be a happier organization and it will be a more productive organization. Let communication be a huge asset of your company, not a liability.
