The Basics of Internal Communications

The Basics of Internal Communications
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The word communication is derived from the Latin verb communicare, meaning “to share” or “to make common.” Ski area leaders should keep this in mind; we must make the knowledge we have common so our team members are informed and empowered to perform their jobs to the best of their ability. 

Successfully operating a resort is a team effort, of course. Like any team sport, constant and clear internal communication is needed to ensure everyone is on the same page. It enables frontline staff to answer guest questions with confidence, eliminates ambiguity, and instills trust.  So, how do you decide who needs to know what and when?

Here are some tips and tools to help you ask the right questions before sending internal communications and some rules to guide your internal correspondence, especially email (because no one wants a frenzy of “reply all” responses filling their inbox).

The AIM

I coach the teams I manage to AIM before they communicate. AIM stands for audience, intent, and message. Setting an AIM forces you to answer the “five W’s”—who, what, where, when, and why—and to determine the “how” of a message. 

Audience: Who will benefit from this knowledge? Who will you be communicating with? Think about your primary audience as well as your secondary and tertiary audiences. 

What does that mean? Consider, for example, who might need information about an event that will shut down a popular trail. Guests will ask about this, so frontline departments like guest services and lift ops would be your primary audience, as well as ski patrol. Ski school may be the secondary audience as it could impact where they take students. The tertiary audience would be other staffers who will not be directly impacted by the event but would benefit from information about it. 

Will comms to each of these audiences about the event include the same details? Not necessarily—that’s where intent and message come in.

Intent: Why are you communicating? What do you want accomplished via the message? Your outreach might be informational, or it might be centered on an ask. Be mindful of the timeliness—where is your information needed, and by when?

Message: What information do you need to share? Is it crafted in a way that your chosen audience(s) can and will understand? Take a moment to consider the medium, too. The method of communication impacts the message. 

The way in which we communicate—both the delivery method and language—varies depending on who we are communicating with. 

For example: We naturally adopt more formal language when communicating with superiors, just as we tend to be more casual with peers with whom we have a stronger rapport. Our relationships at work also direct our preferred form of communication, e.g., you might email a question to a colleague in a different department, whereas you might text a close peer within your department. 

 

The Art of Email

Many of us rely on written communication as our primary method for sharing information. A recent study from Perply found that while email is overwhelmingly the preferred form of work communication, nearly 90 percent of survey respondents also said email led to miscommunication at work. So, how can we make our written communications more effective within our teams and across departments?

When I onboard new team members, I like to reintroduce email etiquette (i.e., netiquette). Revisiting the basics of netiquette reduces departmental miscommunications, outlines expectations, and equips team members with the tools to appropriately direct their questions. 

The basics of netiquette focus on email composition. We start simple, treating the “compose new message” email function as any other work-related form by working through the open fields in a blank email with intent.

I know this may seem basic, but a refresher never hurts. 

To: Consider who your message is for (not who you want to read the email). When I’m addressed in the “To” field, I understand that I’m being asked for a response, an action, or my consideration, and likewise for someone addressed in the “To” field when I send an email.

Before you fill in “To,” ask: Who is needed to perform the task or make the decision?

CC: My first job in the ski industry was setting up skis in the rental shop. Back in the early 2000s, guests filled out a three-layered form. The top sheet went into our rental files, the yellow carbon copy was given to the guest, and the pink carbon copy was incorporated into our cash out. With emails, the “CC” field literally stands for “carbon copy.” When I am CC’d, I understand that I am being given the information as a courtesy or FYI. I may choose to respond, but my action is not required. 

Before you CC, ask: Who should be informed?

BCC: This is your “blind carbon copy,” meaning the folks included in your “To” and “CC” fields cannot see those that have been BCC’d. I like to use this function when I send out a mass email because it protects my contact list and keeps the email thread decluttered by avoiding a big group REPLY ALL. 

For more direct communication, I would advise BCC’ing with caution. From an etiquette standpoint, BCC’ing someone on an email thread can be perceived as an electronic tattletale. 

Before you BCC, ask: For what reason? To protect your contacts? To prevent mass reply alls? As an FYI? 

Subject: Your subject line is how you get your message noticed, and it tells your reader what your email is about. For example, at Banff Sunshine Village, we are building a new lift. As part of our communications strategy, we share progress reports with both our internal and external stakeholders. The subject line for an internal email might read, “Super Angel Progress Report September 2024.” The subject line is factual, and the content of the email is clear. Externally, the subject line would be written to inspire guests to act, e.g., “Banff’s New Heated Lift, Super Angel, Scheduled to Fly November 2024.” 

Before you fill in the subject line, ask: What will get the attention of the reader and inform them of what the message is about? What will make the reader open the message? 

Message: According to various studies, the average worker sends 25-40 emails a day and receives a whopping 66-121. We all suffer from email fatigue—the sheer volume can become overwhelming. I check my inbox often to keep up.

Because of that, I tend read a lot of my messages on the go (TrueList estimates that nearly 55 percent of all emails are opened on a mobile device). As many of us do, though, when an email is long, I’ll flag it with the intent of returning to it later. However, research shows that the average email response occurs within 15 hours. After 72 hours, the likelihood of a response diminishes at an accelerated rate. 

We also do not have long to get our readers’ attention. The average attention span someone has for a written headline is 1.5 seconds, according to Litmus. Once the email is opened, Hubspot says we have between 10 seconds to a minute to communicate what we need. 

For these reasons, effective communication must marry brevity and necessary details. 

To strike the right balance:

  • Keep your messages fact-focused.
  • Write in a logical, easy-to-follow, A-Z style.
  • Write for scanability, e.g., play with your formatting and BOLD key points.
  • Revisit AIM:
  • Why are you sending the message? 
  • What should be understood from this email? 
  • Did you include enough details / background / context for your audience? 
  • If there is an ask, have you made it and any associated deadlines clear? 

Before sending your message, ask: Is my ask / intent clear?

 

Facts First

Facts are armor if you find yourself in a situation where communication is required but the situation is delicate and/or the information is evolving. Let’s use the example of “Popular Lift” going down for an initially undiagnosed mechanical issue. 

Folks across various departments need to be made aware of the issue before the unofficial resort-wide rumor mill spins its own tale. With that in mind, your first internal email to all staff might look something like this:

Subject: MEMO: Popular Lift Down

Message: Lift maintenance is on site at Popular Lift. The lift is currently closed as maintenance works to understand the issue. Once diagnosed, we will communicate an expected return-to-service date. Stay tuned for updates. 

 

As information becomes available:

Subject: MEMO: Popular Lift Update

Message: Lift maintenance has diagnosed the issue with Popular Lift. There is a break in the gearbox. The manufacturer has been contacted and a replacement part has been ordered. Once the part arrives, we will communicate an expected return to service date.

 

Subject: MEMO: Popular Lift Update

Message: The required part has arrived. Lift maintenance is now working to replace the broken part. Once replaced, they will perform a series of tests before reopening the lift to the public. 

Subject: MEMO: Popular Lift Now Reopened

Message: All tests have been performed. The Popular Lift is now back in service. 

 

To avoid miscommunications via the childhood game of telephone, relay information of interest and importance through direct communication, which can include resort-wide broadcasts, all staff emails, and tasking supervisors with adding key resort communication points to their morning meetings.

 

Share For Success

If we communicate with best practices like setting AIM, answering the five W’s, and following basic netiquette, the quality of information we share and receive will improve. It is critical to get the right information to the right people at the right time so our teams are equipped to communicate facts to our guests. Shared knowledge allows us to work toward a shared goal.