Communicators shape, protect and transmit brand narratives externally. They also disseminate engaging and sometimes vital content internally. It stands to reason that communicators should be good at communicating within their own departments, right? Not always, as internal communications can be a vexing issue.
Prior to PR News’ Media Relations Conference in Washington, D.C., in Dec. 2018, PRNEWS and partner PublicRelay hosted a roundtable for communications leaders. One question discussed was how communicators disseminate messages to their teams.
In the brief video below, Jennifer Mastin Giglio, VP of communications for the Washington Nationals Baseball Club, says an open-door policy is key to keeping her 6-person team informed. “Staff knowing they can” go between offices “have conversations…and work things out face-to-face is extremely important,” she says.
In addition, regular check-ins, meetings, texting and “good, old-fashioned phone calls” are necessary, too.
Every Major League Baseball team plays half its 162-game schedule on the road. This means Nationals communicators are out of the office for lengthy periods. Daily, mid-morning check-ins are key at those times, she says.
Seth Arenstein is editor of PRNEWS. Follow him: @skarenstein