Internal communication

Updated in May 2021

The purpose of internal communication is to inform and engage employees in a way that motivates staff to maximise their performance and deliver the business strategy most effectively.

Creating exceptional internal communications across government will transform our approach to the practice and provide an exemplar beyond government and the public sector. Internal communication is about bringing employees together and it has never been more critical to organisational success.

On this page:

About internal communication
Our standards
Learning and resources

About internal communication

The nature and complexity of government and public service, and the diversity of our colleagues and their work, demands that we are exceptional in how we practise internal communication. We continually seek to ensure we are on top of our game in our professional approach and in the quality and capability of our practitioners.

Russell Grossman, Director of Communications, Office of Rail and Road and GCS Head of Profession for Internal Communications said:

“Internal Communications’ function is to help leaders in your Department or Agency inform and engage employees, in a way which motivates staff to maximise their performance and deliver the business strategy most effectively. It is not about ‘sending out stuff’.”

Definition

We use the terms as follow:

Internal communication: the discipline, as described in the Government Functional Standard GovS 011: Communication, and the overarching view of how a company communicates.
Internal communications: the channels, tools and tactics.

IC Space

To ensure our approach to professional excellence is integrated across all disciplines in GCS, we have merged the content of the government’s Internal Communication (IC) Space website, with the GCS website.

You can access internal communication guidance and best practices in this section.

Internal communication can help build trust, motivate, create shared identity and increase engagement.

Individual communication preferences and an increasingly mobile workforce further complicate workplace communication, but good internal communication can really help employees perform their jobs well.

Our standards

Internal communication is part of the Government Communication Functional Standard – Government Communication Functional Standard GovS0.11. This sets the expectations for the management and practice of government communications.

Internal Communications Standard Operating Model

The Standard Operating Model sets out the overall vision, role and remit for internal communications. These should help you develop and shape your internal communications function in the way it runs and the people that make it all happen.

With the Internal Communications Standard Operating Model diagram (large image, PNG, 1 page, 163KB), we want to inspire and engage colleagues to build brilliant, high-performing organisations.

The aim is:

to improve our organisations’ performance externally, creating proud advocates for our work
to make our organisations work better internally, creating ambassadors
for our culture

By doing the following:

creating advocates: we prioritise engaging people in the purpose and impact of our organisation.
partnering with leaders: we partner with and advise our senior leaders
creatively innovating: we engage people creatively through innovative means
driving change: we drive engagement in the change narrative
engaging 3 ways: we foster insight-driven three-ways communication

Learning and resources

Start learning at your own pace and build the skills you need, using our curriculum. You can also engage with our internal communication blogs and resources.