How to improve internal communications in organisations with multiple cultures and languages
You know what fascinates us? How three clients can be in such vastly different industries, yet share a common thread that runs through our work with all of them. And that’s the challenge of connecting with a global workforce that spans geographies, languages, cultures and even levels of literacy.
Right now, we’re working on this with companies in pharmaceuticals, mining, and tech. But the internal communications challenge is similar for any huge, international organisation.
How do you engage a workforce that is both diverse and dispersed? How do you deliver the same message in an attention-grabbing way – and so that everyone understands it?
It’s all in the prep
First, you need to understand your audience. Grill them, study them, get inside their heads (in the nicest possible way, of course). Do they work remotely, are they often on the road? What resources do they have, what routines do they follow? And what’s their environment? Is it noisy? Is there a phone signal or reliable internet connection? Do they use tablets or desktops, phones or pens and paper? And how are their language skills?
Put yourself in the shoes of an individual person – right down to the finer details of their job role. People working in mines at Anglo American don’t have pens or paper on site, for example. They’re not going to complete a quick worksheet before they head into a mine or scribble on sticky notes to share their thoughts. Sounds obvious when we state it like that, doesn’t it? But often it’s not, until we do this kind of drilling-down. And it’s these details that make a critical difference in ensuring your comms are accessible and inclusive.
Think also about the kind of people you’re communicating with. How do they like to receive information? Do they have analytical, logical minds and a need for depth, detail and supplementary materials? Are they always on the go, flitting between channels, preferring their comms in snappy, bite-sized chunks? And how can you make sure you reach them all in a way that has impact?
One more thing to flag up at the prep stage. When you’re bouncing ideas around for names for a programme or strategic themes, run them past translators in your key countries before developing a full strategy. It’s helpful if you set up networks with representatives from every country – and test all materials with them before launching, so you can be sure they resonate across every part of the organisation and at every level.
Keep it simple
1. Line up your line managers
These are your direct route to the people, especially in environments that make comms tricky. Seriously – we love sophisticated, dazzling, experiential engagement activities. But it’s more critical to invest in giving line managers the skills, training and resources to be able to deliver communications effectively. This gives them confidence to tailor messages for their team – using their expert knowledge of the team and the setting where they work.
2. Make clarity your queen
Use short sentences and simple language, avoiding any jargon or acronyms. Beautiful prose is worthless if the message is lost on some employees. And avoid colloquialisms – they don’t always translate and can cause confusion. (Although you might want to build potential into your programme for local leaders to adapt the messaging accordingly.) Simplicity in written communication is also quicker and simpler – and more budget-friendly – to translate into other languages for use around the world.
3. Take it back to basics
Step back and relook at what you want to achieve. Start by crafting messaging for a colleague who has all the communication resources and channels to hand. Then think about the most remote or hard-to-reach colleague in your organisation – and simplify the comms to make it work for them. The key is to do that without losing the essence of what you want every colleague to think, feel, or do as a result – so you still reach those key outcomes.
4. Get creative
If your audience doesn’t have pens, technology or other resources available, what can you – or your crack team of line managers – do with the voice, gestures, and interactions to make communication more interesting? How can you encourage meaningful conversation, despite a lack of comms tools? Could you find out from the horse’s mouth what the various challenges are, with a survey or focus groups involving team members and line managers?
Where words fail, music speaks
Wise words by The Little Mermaid author. He’s not the only one to have said something along those lines in years gone by. In fact, much has been said about the power of music to affect people’s emotions and connect different groups of otherwise unrelated individuals. And hundreds of scientific studies have shown how music affects us physiologically. It can stimulate dopamine-release, change our heart rate – and generally transform how we feel. So, when it comes to selecting music to play as part of an internal communications message – a LOT of thought should go into making the right selection.
Dunbar’s work’s showed how performing music generates a natural ‘high’ and increases community bonding. Apply that to the workplace and we can see how a group of employees with different languages, cultures and literacy levels can engage with one another through music – whether that’s creating a beat with stamping, hands clapping, humming or even playing instruments.
We’ve applied this science across a number of client projects. We worked with one manufacturer on their annual ‘happiness day’ to inspire employees around the world to each submit different parts of a popular song – all edited together to create an engaging and shareable music video. We worked with another to create a project focused on safety and values – over two weeks a handful of employees rehearsed warm-up dances, then more than 1,000 of their colleagues united with them in a dramatic, musical celebration of the company’s values and safety programme.
The role of technology
If we’re talking about transcending location, then we can’t not mention technology, can we?
The lockdown-led rise in remote working in 2020 forced the hand of technological innovation and experimentation. Zoom – the virtual meeting technology – for example, saw revenues skyrocket 300% in 2021 after the first year of the Covid 19 pandemic. Some businesses have even hosted parties and socials using tools such as Weve and Party.Space where employees can enter the metaverse and control their own avatars to socialise.
Naturally, the move to immerse ourselves in digital ‘spaces’ has accelerated. Overall, global spending on Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) headsets, software and services, including purchases by consumers, rose in 2020 to $12 billion, up 50% from 2019.
New technologies like AR and VR could make it easier to reach and engage remote employees in exciting ways. But – it’s important to flag here that access isn’t equal.
Even though consumers are buying more equipment like this, making it widespread in the workplace could end up creating a bigger divide within organisations. Not only in terms of varying access to fast internet connections, but also personal differences. Some will be keener than others to strap on a headset and plunge into a virtual world. Those with more interest in gaming might be more au fait with certain types of user interfaces and controls. And for many, digital devices are purely functional tools to get their jobs done, and they may not have an interest in exploring other developments. So if you’re introducing snazzy tech, think about whether anyone might be left out or put off.
Finally, employee apps are on the rise – especially when a workforce has limited access to email or a computer. Many employees have phones and data as part of their job in order to access company apps, so make the most of this on-the-go comms channel. It’s easy to operate and can deliver simple and engaging messages, such as gifs or access to social feeds.
A study from the University of Texas has shown why personalisation works. The data suggested personalisation gives us a sense of being in control. And it helps us feel like we’re under less pressure from information overload, because the message has already filtered out other options – sounds good to us. So when messages are tailored, the outcome, whether that’s an open rate or an engagement rate, is usually better. According to HubSpot, personalised calls to action perform 202% better than plain ones, for example.
Delivering personalised video communications en masse is something that’s possible now thanks to next-generation marketing tools. And it can serve a wonderful purpose of making complex messages much easier to digest. 90% of information the brain picks up is visual – and we process images 60,000 times faster than we process text. So the science backs up why we think videos and images are a great way to deliver internal comms, when languages and text are so much more process-heavy on our grey matter.
Equity through visuals
Across the world it’s estimated that 773 million adults lack basic literacy and numeracy skills – but it’s an issue that can sometimes be hidden. Video, graphics and simple infographics are also powerful communication methods for employees who don’t have good literacy skills. Something called the Picture Superiority Effect (PSE) helps support this. People will only remember 10% of what you say 72 hours later if you use words alone. Use a picture, however, and the figure rises to 35% – and for the full shebang with picture and words together, you can achieve a 65% recall.
This can be even more important when the topic is complex. For example, imagine an organisation needs to share detail around its new pension contributions or bonus scheme. It could share some straightforward percentage options. Or it could tell the individual how their current contributions – based on their current salary – are affected. How’s it done? First, you need a spreadsheet upload of data that’s specific to the individuals, and a pre-built animation. Next, the tech does all the hard work to personalise and simplify the message. Isn’t that a neat way to bring the comms back to individual realities?
Talking of visuals, consider the cultural power of colour. We often do – because the meaning can differ substantially. Red for example is a revered, lucky colour in Chinese culture, but might land differently when conveying safety messages in western cultures where red can be associated with fire, and, in the Middle East, danger. And while green has become a byword for sustainability, it symbolises pure bad luck for groups as disparate as stage actors and fishing communities.
BREAKING DOWN THE LANGUAGE BARRIERS
When there’s one message to communicate, it’s essential to consider the best way to do that. How will our audiences differ? What will help the message slice through a maelstrom of information to reach each person – and to connect with them the way we want it to?
We’ve offered a few ways for internal communications teams to rise to the challenge of communicating with employees across different languages and cultures. Technologies, delivery techniques, music – these can all elevate your communications and make them land with aplomb.
We’re social beings – and in general, people want to communicate and interact. So make it as simple as possible for them, and you’ll have a powerful way to connect your people, wherever and whoever they are.
Insights and Resources
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