What is good corporate communication? Is it the words you use, the way you speak, or the message you want to convey? Enterprises of all sizes exchange information with internal and external audiences, but few have mastered the art of good corporate communication. Here we discuss the three key aspects to good corporate communication as well as ways to make it easier to get your message across.
Transparency
Transparency is one of the most important qualities of good corporate communication. Businesses that communicate successfully share both good and bad information internally and externally, increasing trust and authenticity.
Organizations with transparent communication are more collaborative and trustworthy workplaces, especially when communicators openly share information with employees across departments, according to research from Michigan State University. The study also suggests that transparent communication encourages others in an organization to communicate freely and share ideas.
Examples of transparent internal communication include:
- Telling employees about potential lay-offs or reductions in force (RIF) ahead of time.
- Providing accurate and detailed job descriptions to potential candidates during the recruitment process.
- Providing employees with fair and honest feedback in progress reports and performance reviews.
Examples of transparent external communication include:
- Sharing accurate financial information with stakeholders, such as audited reports, sales figures, and price levels.
- Informing partners about production or logistics-related bottlenecks that might impact supply chains.
- Telling customers about shipping delays, product sell-outs, or price increases.
- Communicating with suppliers about underperforming products.
Related Reading: What You Need To Host Internal Communication Training at Work
Clarity
Businesses that ask themselves, "What is good corporate communication?" might want to evaluate how they communicate with audiences. Explaining complex business-related concepts can be challenging, but managers should be as clear as possible when conveying any type of information. When you clearly convey internal information, for example, employees will better understand their responsibilities.
"With effective communication skills, you’re able to deliver clear expectations and objectives for your team," says Portland Community College. "This involves finding constructive ways to point out when something isn’t working as well as providing helpful feedback to get people back on track."
One of the best ways to improve clarity in communications is through video. Visuals can improve learning comprehension and memory recall, allowing viewers to digest complex concepts about your organization, products, services, or mission values. Research shows that people retain 65% of visual information three days after being exposed to it compared to only 10-20% of written or spoken information. Incorporating video into your business, therefore, can help audiences understand your message.
Viostream is a trustworthy enterprise-level platform that lets you host, store, manage, and analyze video content in the cloud. You can upload pre-recorded corporate videos and share them with users or broadcast live streams to audiences, helping you communicate effectively with different audiences. Start your free trial to learn how Viostream can answer the question "What is good corporate communication?"
Related Reading: How Businesses Use an Enterprise Video Streaming Solution
Listening
Communication should never be one-sided. Therefore, listening is another quality of good corporate communication. That's because successful communication involves two or more people who can exchange information and resolve problems. According to the University of New Mexico, active listening helps everyone involved in internal and external communication open up, solve conflicts, build trust, and avoid misunderstandings.
One of the best ways to promote good external corporate communication is to allow customers, clients, and partners to express their opinion about your organization. Even if feedback is negative, you can use this information to improve business processes and grow your enterprise. You might even want to collect feedback from external audiences via email, surveys, or social media.
Internal corporate communication should enable employees across departments to provide feedback without fear of judgment. Employees might want to raise issues about workplace safety, for example, or express their opinion about a specific project or workflow. One of the best ways to collect feedback from internal communications is via live streams, where you can present a topic and provide viewers with opportunities to share their views.
Viostream integrates with several third-party tools, allowing you to add surveys, polls, and live chat features to live streams. These features enable employees to ask questions and provide suggestions. By collecting feedback, you can increase employee engagement and become more aware of what is happening in your business.
Related Reading: Why Your Company Should Build an Internal Communications Video Strategy
In Conclusion
So, what is good corporate communication? Ultimately, it's about conveying and receiving information in a particular way that benefits your audience. Making communications transparent and clear will help build trust and engagement, while actively listening to people after they have received your message can result in a more successful exchange of information. Incorporating video into your corporate communication strategy can also result in better outcomes. With the right video platform, you can seamlessly communicate with internal and external audiences.
Viostream is an enterprise-level video platform that lets you communicate with teams, stakeholders, and the world. Features like secure live streaming, superior video quality, advanced analytics, branded video galleries, and BI integrations will streamline your corporate communication strategy. Start your free trial now and learn why you can trust Viostream to help you achieve good corporate communication in your workplace.
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