Internal Communications

What the Internal Communications team does

Our small team have a proven track record of turning complicated business messaging into engaging content that is easily understood and relevant to the people you want to reach.

We’re here to help connect you to our vision and values by building trust and understanding with every colleague. Our job is to know what it’s like to work here. We understand the differences, the challenges, and the successes and we use this knowledge, together with our professional experience and insights, to advise senior leaders to engage with you, and to listen and learn.

Delivering the big picture

Giving everyone who works here a clear view of how their role relates to the council’s vision and objectives.

Recognising our common purpose

Showing how colleagues in different service areas and departments are all part of the same endeavour, working together with a common purpose.

Providing practical solutions

Translating business strategies into meaningful content that helps and inspires you in your day-to-day role.

Supporting change and transformation

Making a change in your teams or service? We can help keep your workforce updated and support the changes you are making

Celebrating Success

Creating an environment in the workplace that practices recognition and rewards good employees and improves morale. When employees are happy, they perform better, and even attendance improves.

How we create effective internal communications

Designing and implementing employee communication plans for key strategic projects

If you want to provide information or ask people to do something differently that supports longer term or strategic projects, then a Communications Plan is essential to helping you achieve your objectives.

The earlier you involve us, the greater impact we can have. There’s always a lot going on here at the Council and we can work out how best to reach the people you need to in the right way and at the right time. Get in touch with the team at the beginning of your project rather than the end and see the impact we can have.

Supporting managers to provide quality communication to their teams

Communications is everyone’s responsibility, and managers have a vital role in keeping their teams informed and engaged. We’re here to provide advice and guidance on communication best practice, including our brand guidelines and tone of voice.

Providing opportunities, clear timelines, and deadlines for information to be included in our newsletters, social media channels, meetings, and events

We have a range of channels and publications to help tell your story or share information with colleagues from across the council and we can advise on the best channels to reach your target audience.

Measuring the impact of communications activity

By measuring the impact of our communications, we can help inform future campaigns and ensure we are meeting our objectives. We have a range of analytic tools available to us that can tell us who received your information. The best way to find out how well your messages have been received is to ask your target audience, and as well as a bi-annual all staff communications survey, we also have an annual pulse survey, which we use to inform and improve our communications moving forward.

Our internal news cycle

Regular latest news articles and staff stories published direct to website

On average this will be around two to five new stories each week. We no longer produce monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly newsletters given issues including accessibility, timing, resource, and data.

Take 5, our short weekly roundup

Published via Gov Delivery email and Yammer every Friday before 12noon with a headline, lead, image and link to the article on our latest staff news or staff stories webpages. Signposting iText for frontline staff and email via Glow to teaching staff.

Chief Exec blog as and when required

Published direct to staff stories with signposting email, iText & Glow.

Signposting emails to managers (ad hoc)

Managers’ briefings proposal to move to dedicated gov delivery email channel with contributions from key stakeholders HR & OD, Health & Safety, ERP Business World Employee Services, Payroll, ICT and Comms (2022).

Signposting emails to networked employees (known as the ‘everyone’ group)

‘All networked employee’ council messages signposting to further information online.

Our channels

There are a range of channels we use to tell stories or share information with colleagues. We have the insights and experience to advise on those best suited to reach your target audience and achieve your objectives.

Staff Info webpages on Renfrewshire.gov.uk

An online hub on our public facing Renfrewshire Council website with the latest news, updates, messages, and blogs from colleagues across the council. Accessible by anyone on any device at any time. Best for reaching all employees and a single source of truth.

Take 5 email roundup

Weekly headlines email to colleagues using the Gov Delivery platform. This signposts to latest staff news, stories, updates, and insights on Staff Info section of website. Currently for corporate network users but shared with schools network via Glow.

Chief Executive’s blog

Update from Alan Russell sharing news and insight about his role, council priorities and future ways of working published online in Staff Stories, emailed to corporate network and shared with schools via Glow.

Manager Briefings

Ad hoc emails to our line manager audience across the corporate and school networks. Great for advance notice of changes, updates and new initiatives with a proposed new format in development.

Glow

A platform used by Children’s Services to share information, emails, access systems, websites and other third-party platforms.

iText (SMS) messages

SMS delivery tool for issuing short, succinct messages to colleagues in Building Services, Care @ Home and Soft Facilities Management, on either their personal or work mobiles – usually signposting to a webpage with more information.

RenTalks

Series of virtual learning sessions and an opportunity to share key insights and council objectives/priorities with colleagues from across the council. Recorded, so staff who can’t attend can submit questions in advance and watch at their convenience.

Microsoft 365: Outlook, Teams & Communities (formerly known as Yammer)

Microsoft Teams allows you to choose who, why and when to collaborate with colleagues on the platform. Great for video calls, video presentations, webinars, project groups and much more. Communities enables co-workers to follow and link in with each other, sharing their ideas and achievements and useful for two-way communications, feedback and discussion.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a public facing platform connecting peers and colleagues from across the council, the public sector and beyond. Showcasing our employer brand, the work of our colleagues and our values in action. Best for blogs, thought leadership and building strong communities.

YouTube

We publish most of our videos to YouTube and can make them viewable by the public, by a specific distribution list or by those with access to an unlisted link. Short, clear messaging delivered by well-known colleagues and local people are by far the most popular.

Printed materials

Our in-house design team can produce posters and printed collateral to support campaigns – particularly useful in depots and areas with limited access to digital networks 

Intranet

The Intranet will be closed down as part of our project to develop a new Renfrewshire.gov.uk. All colleagues will be able to find the information they need straight from their own device and using popular search engines like Google. Our staff info pages are a move in that direction.

Got a story?

We’d love to hear from you! If you have a story to tell or something interesting to share, we are all ears. Make a request and one of the team will be in touch.