Podcast: Measuring Internal Comms at fast-growing companies

Jonathan Davies

22 mins read

Table of Contents

How do you organize a remote get-together when you don’t know any stakeholders? Where does Slack fit into the Internal Comms channel mix? And how do you actually measure the business effects of Internal Comms?

We're continuing our binge-learning efforts by taking inspiration from fast-growing companies, and this episode is a special one.

Miriam Boulia, TransferWise’s Internal Communications Manager tackled all three questions with smarts and wit – and her insights lead to an episode that is a must-listen for any Internal Communicator out there.

The Internal Communications Podcast - Episode 16 from Happeo on Vimeo

Jonathan Davies: Alright, welcome. We're back with another episode of the Internal Communications podcast and today...well, I always say that I have a special treat for you, but today I really, really do have a special treat for you – in the form of Miriam who works at TransferWise, which is one of, probably the most well known fast-growing companies right now, particularly for British expats. Miriam's built up a career in Internal Communications and thrives in fast-paced environments.

Miriam Boulia: Hi, I'm very happy to be here. Thank you for having me. Great introduction! I'm Miriam. I work at Transferwise. I joined them in the middle of a pandemic. I've actually never set foot in the office. I've been working from home. Which has had its own challenges, but it's also given me a really good insight into how things work as I've kind of started, my role as more of an outsider looking in.

Managing Internal Comms remotely

Jonathan Davies: That’s pretty amazing. First off, Internal Communicators need to be really visible in their company. You're not physically visible. What have you been doing to make yourself digitally visible?

Miriam Boulia: When I started, I had a look on our HR System and started to get an understanding of the structure of the company and how different teams, where they sat and how they were run. I started reaching out to key stakeholders in the business to introduce myself and introduce the concept of Internal Communications.

I managed it and approached it in a very much two-way way in terms of what I can provide you with what you're going to get out of it, but also what I can get out of it and slowly and steadily, my manager has also been promoting myself within the business.

I was tasked with managing a major Internal Communications project called mission days. I was thrown in at the deep end. It's a twice-year-event where we fly, pre-COVID, all of our employees to three locations around the world, but this time it was fully remote.

Jonathan Davies: To be fair, a lot of Internal Communicators have never organized a big remote event before. How did you help people tweak their message in a way that they would accept your tweaks?

Miriam Boulia: TransferWise is, day-to-day, a feedback driven company. I made sure I liaised with various presenters and speakers that were going to speak at the event, got to know them, and set up 15-minute calls with them. I could introduce myself and present my Internal-Comms philosophy so that they could understand what the direction was.

How TransferWise decided to engage with Internal Comms

Jonathan Davies: When it came to TransferWise, they decided they needed an Internal Communicator. Why did they decide that?

Miriam Boulia: They realized how Internal Communications could have a direct effect on employee engagement and therefore reduced attrition. However, there was no real strategy and no understanding of audiences. They needed someone to help them connect employees to our mission.

Jonathan Davies: That's a very good business problem for an Internal Communicator to tackle.

Slack's role in employee communications

Jonathan Davies: You mentioned everyone loves Slack, which we do too. What are the problems encountered with using only Slack?

Miriam Boulia: The challenge is that there’s a lot of noise. Some parts of the business cannot constantly follow Slack. There’s no real strategy in using it for Internal Communications. This can create confusion for areas of the business that do not have the time to follow everything.

Measuring Internal Communications

Miriam Boulia: I think that there's so much more that us as Internal Communicators can do in areas to improve the way we communicate. At my previous role, I analyzed data from an employee engagement survey to see how Internal Communications could help drive engagement, thus increasing retention.

Improving retention through Internal Comms

Miriam Boulia: I've devised a 12-month engagement plan used to connect leadership teams directly to employees. We saw huge increases in engagement and communication during the pandemic, leading to more collaboration between teams.

Jonathan Davies: The first step was identifying the business problem of high turnover and using data to understand its causes.

Miriam Boulia: The key is understanding your data—it’s about continuously improving and finding ways to effectively engage employees. Even if you don’t see immediate results, it’s about finding what works for your company.

Jonathan Davies: I think you’re the future of Internal Communications. Thank you for sharing that with our audience.