{"id":596432,"date":"2023-07-27T16:32:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T20:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joangarry.com\/?p=596432"},"modified":"2023-10-03T10:42:45","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T14:42:45","slug":"internal-communications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joangarry.com\/internal-communications\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop Pecking Me to Death!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a recent coaching session with a nonprofit executive director, my client and I were trying to analyze how she used her time. She was thinking through how to allocate more of her time focusing externally; meeting with current funders and prospective donors, and being more visible in the local press. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had her describe a day when she set aside a few hours to make sense of her email inbox. And very quickly, the time bandit revealed itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While purging some emails and answering others, she started to get \u2018slacked<\/a>.\u2019 (for some of you reading, it might be Microsoft Teams and not Slack)<\/em>. So she felt compelled to immediately answer the question posed in one of her 26 Slack channels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, a few of the emails she was addressing led her over to Asana<\/a>, the project management tool her organization uses to keep track of projects with multiple tasks owned by multiple team members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amidst all of this, my client received a text message from a board member who needed the password for the board portal. Somewhere in all of this my client\u2019s high school age son called her mobile to find out what was for dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bandit was clear. She was being pecked to death. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

IT\u2019S TIME TO STOP THE MADNESS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve all been on both sides of this. Perhaps you have a colleague who slacks to let you know that he sent you an email that requires a response, waits 15 minutes, and then shoots you a text to tell you that he slacked you to respond to the email he sent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or maybe you\u2019ve done this to your colleagues?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We must stop this madness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So many challenges inside an organization \u2014 from dropped balls (\u201cI just didn\u2019t have time\u201d) <\/em>to lack of trust (\u201cWhy was I not copied on that?\u201d) <\/em>stem from lousy internal communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best way to stop the madness is to create a set of internal communications best practices about the use of different platforms, and a protocol for their use. You can create these within a 45 minute staff or leadership team meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether you’re a nonprofit executive director, HR professional, or nonprofit staff leader, your time is precious. So because I want you all to devote the right amount of time to the right things, I\u2019ve created a free guide that you can download that will set you up to have this conversation well and improve your team\u2019s internal communication skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udc49\ud83d\udc49\ud83d\udc49 Download Template Here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

1. List All Forms of Communication <\/strong><\/p>\n

First of all, how do you decide what internal communication tool to use when you need to connect with a colleague or your boss or someone on your team? There are so many to choose from, right?<\/p>\n

At the <\/span>Nonprofit Leadership Lab<\/span><\/a> (have you checked out the Lab yet? You really should!), we use the following tools:<\/span><\/p>\n