Doesn’t it make sense for the Internal Communications function to take on the role of protecting employees from internal spam and managing communication overload?  So why isn’t it happening?

The lack of case studies, best practice writings, combined with the number of Communicators who’ve told me that they struggle to get employee’s attention due to internal overload, makes me think no one’s doing it.  Very few seem to be taking action beyond gatekeeping email distribution lists, consolidating the news and publishing an email etiquette guide that nobody reads.  

I’d also wager that most internal communications departments focus primarily on  what comes out of their department and don’t get around to investigating communications overload. They often have low visibility and/or influence over what hits employees from other departments, divisions, segments, etc. Few have the big picture on whether communications overload is occuring and to what extent.

They don’t know: 

• What’s scheduled to be broadcast to employees (from ALL areas – HR, Sales, CorpComms, Execs, Depts, Regions, etc.)?
• What’s the employee experiencing in terms of comms overload?
• Is the content consistent across the organization?
• How much is quality information and how much is internal spam/unnecessary noise?
• Are messages being communicated in a way that is easy to process? 

I thought I’d better remind myself of what the core Internal Comms function is all about (have I got it wrong? Maybe it’s function is more limited than I imagine.) So I pulled out my copy of Shel Holtz’s book Corporate Conversations and ran across Chapter 10, “Managing Communications Overload”. 

An entire chapter on establishing a “message mission control” and what can be done to change the messaging culture inside a company!  He gives some good ideas on how to manage this kind of ongoing project.

Shel also gives me an answer as to why it’s not being addressed (p.181) : “Management doesn’t think it is worthwhile. Managing how employees pass messages among themselves is seen as off-radar, something that simply happens. Targeting resources…to help employees message effectively is just busy work and doesn’t grow the bottom line.”

Is this still the reason today, in your opinion? What do you see in your own organization?

Or maybe I’m wrong and Internal Communications IS starting to act as “Message Mission Control”.  Let me know.