TL;DR summary

• Most organizations have an internal communications strategy. Fewer have a reliable way to make sure it reaches every employee, particularly those without desk access.
• No single channel covers all internal communication needs. A strong internal communications plan combines top-down updates, two-way feedback mechanisms and local team communication.
• Consistency is harder to maintain when the process depends on manual updates. When screens pull content automatically from existing systems, the time spent on distribution drops and communications teams focus on content quality instead.
• Measuring internal communications success means connecting what you can measure — engagement survey results, turnover rates, participation in company events — to outcomes the business cares about.
• Digital screens reach the employees that intranets and email miss: frontline workers, shift-based teams and staff across multiple sites who never log into a company system during their working day.

Why do some workplaces feel full of energy?

Have you ever wondered why some workplaces are full of energy while others feel lifeless? I believe I know quite a bit about why that is. It’s an honor to write a series of articles in collaboration with PLAYipp on the area I, Anna Almberg, have dedicated my entire career to: internal communication.

Let me begin with a definition: what is internal communication, really?

“Internal communication is all communication within an organization that is united to achieve common goals. The purpose of internal communication is to create a shared direction and actionable momentum; decisions and priorities should lead to action. The result of truly effective internal communication is workplace happiness, engagement, ambassadorship, and strong branding. A well-functioning inside is reflected on the outside.”

With that said, internal communication truly matters. It’s the foundation for satisfaction, meaning, and community. In short, it’s crucial. After visiting hundreds of workplaces over nearly two decades, I still wonder: why isn’t it prioritized more?

Brands are most defined by the employees who embody them

Engaged employees carry a “sign” on their foreheads, showing pride in representing your organization. Internal and external communications are closely linked, as the external image is built from within.

This is why focusing on employees is more important than ever, ensuring they feel involved and proud. A brand isn’t what you say it is. It’s what your customers say it is. Customers and the world around you define your brand based on what you project.

Every employee has the potential to become an ambassador for the entire brand, and everything is determined in “moments of truth.” What does each employee say about you as an employer? Strong trust is built as much by employees’ attitudes as by conscious communication efforts. Employees who act in line with your brand and live up to its promises strengthen it with their actions every day. If you claim to be customer-focused, your employees need to deliver satisfaction. Internal communication significantly impacts customer experience and business outcomes.

Start by recognizing its importance

There are no shortcuts. Building a human, communicative organization is no quick fix. Prioritizing internal communication is a backbone for the organization that needs consistent focus over time.

It’s not enough to introduce a new channel or make a one-time effort to listen to employees. Every day should be dedicated to getting everyone aligned with your direction and ensuring they understand. Additionally, what’s more important at work than relationships? As a leader, you need to communicate openly and share yourself. Only when you earn employees’ trust can you truly lead them.

Similarly, strong team spirit within and across departments is essential for collaboration. Consider the cost of “us vs. them” mentalities, gossip, and talking about people instead of to them, in terms of lost productivity.

Some leadership teams I meet clearly don’t understand how critical communication with employees is to organizational success. It’s not just about informing but genuinely listening with curiosity and humility, recognizing that everyone—regardless of role or hierarchy—can learn from each other.

Communication is a synergy where one thought meets another, creating a new idea that neither could have conceived alone. Prioritizing internal communication fosters a culture where people feel safe to share new ideas and where everyone takes responsibility for the organization’s quality and growth.

Imagine how relieving it would be for leaders when it’s not just the leadership team driving the organization forward, but everyone pulling together. This is one of the many benefits of strong internal communication.

“So, what are you waiting for? Internal communication isn’t just an opportunity—it’s the key to workplaces brimming with energy.”
– Anna Almberg

Spread the message with digital screens

Want to create a workplace where employees are informed, engaged, and proud? Digital signage offers an effective tool to highlight important information, celebrate successes, and strengthen your culture—every day. Contact us at PLAYipp and see how your messages can inject new energy and pride throughout your organization!

PLAYipp on internal communications: turning principles into practice

Anna’s article makes the case for why internal communications matter. This section covers what that looks like in practice: the tools, channels and habits that help communications teams actually deliver on it.

The gap between strategy and reach

Most organizations have an internal communications strategy. Fewer have a reliable way to make sure that strategy reaches everyone. The challenge is rarely the quality of the content. It is the gap between what is published and who actually sees it.

Intranets reach the employees who log in. Email reaches the employees who read it. Team meetings reach the employees who attend. For organizations with frontline workers, shift-based teams, warehouse staff or multiple sites, a significant share of the workforce falls outside all three.

An effective internal communications strategy accounts for every audience, not just the desk-based majority. That means thinking about where different employees spend their time and building channels that reach them there, without requiring a login or a device.

Internal communication channels: matching the message to the medium

Different types of internal communication serve different purposes, and no single channel covers all of them. A strong internal communications plan typically combines several layers.

Top-down communications, company news, leadership updates, business goals and company strategy, need to reach the entire organization consistently. Screens in common areas, break rooms, canteens and production floors do work that email and intranets cannot. Content is visible to everyone who passes through, without any action required on their part.

Two-way communication and employee feedback, pulse surveys, suggestion channels, recognition programs, require a response mechanism. Screens support this by displaying survey results, showing actions taken in response and making it visible that employee opinions shape decisions.

Local and team-level communication, shift updates, team targets, local events, benefits from channels that can be managed at site level while staying consistent with the broader communications strategy. A digital signage platform lets central communications teams push company-wide content and set content guardrails, while giving local editors the ability to add information relevant to their specific teams.

Why internal communications teams need tools that do not depend on manual effort

Internal communication is not a one-time effort. It requires consistent delivery over time, and that consistency is much harder to maintain when the process relies on someone remembering to update each channel manually.

Organizations that sustain strong internal communication tend to share two characteristics: a clear owner (usually a communications manager or HR lead) and a system that keeps content current without a manual trigger for every update.

When screens pull content automatically from existing systems, an intranet, a Power BI dashboard, a shared calendar, the time spent on distribution drops significantly. The communications team focuses on strategy and content quality rather than logistics.

Measuring internal communications success

Demonstrating the impact of internal comms in a board presentation is difficult. Anna points to workplace happiness, engagement and ambassadorship as outcomes. All of those are real. Most of them are hard to quantify directly.

The most practical approach is to measure what is available and connect it to outcomes the business tracks. Employee engagement surveys run before and after a communications initiative give directional data. Turnover rates in teams with consistent communication versus those without tell a financial story. Participation rates in company events and recognition programs indicate whether employees feel connected to the organization’s goals.

How digital screens extend your internal communications strategy

Digital screens do not replace other internal communication channels. They reach the employees that other channels miss, at the moment those employees are most likely to absorb information.

A production floor worker starting their shift sees the day’s safety update, the team’s production target and a recognition callout for a colleague, all before they have opened a laptop or checked a phone. That is the practical version of what Anna describes: information reaching people where they are, building the shared direction and sense of community that an effective internal communications strategy is designed to create.

To understand how digital signage fits into your internal communications plan, talk to an expert toda, and we will walk through what that looks like for your organization.

Continue reading!

Anna has written four connected articles.
Read the next article to learn how you can develop internal communication step by step.