Internal Communication Plan Template for 2025: Crafting Strategies for Hybrid and Deskless Teams

An effective internal communication plan sets the foundation of every business. It can help improve different aspects of your business by enabling you to share critical data and information with employees and other stakeholders. 

This is particularly true for remote or hybrid teams, as internal communication keeps these workers informed, involved, and inspired no matter where they are in the world.

Nonetheless, a growing number of companies struggle to stay up with the constantly changing nature of work and lack internal communication procedures to assist their staff in a distant hybrid work environment. Additionally, 90% of company executives attest to having personally felt the consequences of inadequate communication at work.

This is why it’s critical to have a clear and concise internal communications plan in place before onboarding a hybrid and deskless workforce. This will ensure that everyone is on the same page and that new employees feel supported from day one.

To help you navigate this better, we’re sharing a secure internal communication plan template with various strategies for strengthening communication for hybrid or deskless teams. Read on!

What Is an Internal Communication Plan?

An internal communication plan template is a strategic business plan that covers the important information or messages that need to be conveyed to employees and also details how the messages will be distributed, including channels that will be used.

Like any strategic business plan, an internal communication plan should also include measurable goals as it is all about the employees and how they receive the needed information to conduct their work. 

An effective internal communication plan discloses information and includes various key elements, such as the organization’s objectives, mission, and values.

Importance of Internal Communication Plan for Hybrid Teams

We are living in a digital world where hybrid models and geographically dispersed teams mean internal communication frameworks must become stronger. Data also suggests that almost 80% of global employees are deskless, requiring data-driven communications to present information with customization.

The importance of collaboration is particularly complex in hybrid or deskless teams as the employees are geographically distributed. Research also shows that 74% of employees think they lack important information from their organization mainly because of inefficient internal communications systems. 

A robust and secure internal communication platform helps navigate this challenge by connecting and streamlining project workflows. A recent study also found that 85% of data breaches involve a human element, with inadequate internal communication systems being a common risk factor.

In such a case, a well-drafted internal communication plan helps keep everyone informed, engaged, and connected so that the platforms can easily tackle the communication issues that businesses are currently dealing with.

Strategies to Create an Internal Communication Plan Template

Here are some of the top  strategies you can employ to create a robust internal communication plan for virtual or deskless teams-

1. Summarize the Situation

First and foremost, it is must to offer a complete situation overview and what’s prompting the need for strong internal communications. Some things that can help here include mapping the current situation, considering the specific business needs, and talking to key stakeholders.
For instance, some of the things you can include here are:

• Is there any shift in organizational priorities due to the marketplace or industry?
• What are the reasons for low employee engagement scores?
• Is there a launch of new products or services?
• Are you initiating a new employee initiative that you wish to keep them informed about?

2. Define your Target Audience

Building a strong internal communications plan always begins with knowing your audience well. Without this, you won’t be able to create the kind of targeted messaging that will create an impact.

For internal communications plans, you can consider your audience to be your employees. Likewise, within your audience, think about aspects such as their demographics, personalities, and contact preferences.

When defining your audience, you also need to keep in mind that not everyone is alike, and your communication plan needs to consider the fact that you’ll need to use different channels and communication styles to cater to everyone.

3. Set Clear Communication Goals

An effective internal communications plan requires a clear and transparent goal to steer you in the right direction. Keeping a relevant SMART (Smart, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-specific) goal gives you a proper target to aim for, along with metrics you can use to measure your progress.

Here are the things you can look at when trying to work on your communication objectives-

• Business objectives and mission statement 
• What are the existing challenges, and what deliverables can help improve them? 
• Other wider supporting goals too, such as how to make everyone feel seen and heard
• Ways to make your internal communications more inclusive.

4. Create a Proper Schedule

Another important aspect of building an effective communications strategy and plan for any department is creating a proper schedule with the following elements:

• Message Format: What will your internal communication plan look like? The format here of your message will primarily depend on what you’ve used previously and what has worked. For instance, an email, a PDF, or an internal chat messenger
• Message Timeline: This includes the message timeline of when your internal communication plan will begin and end. While your plan timeline may vary depending on the project, you need to always have a start and end date to ensure you can effectively measure your performance as well as progress.
• Distribution: Distribution means how you will share your message. For instance, if you’re sharing information about a new product, you have various channels to choose from, including ads and social media.

5. Tailor Messages

In today’s digital workplace, it’s essential to tailor your messages to different audience segments. What works for one group may not resonate with another, so it’s important to consider their unique needs when crafting your message.

For example, an organization-wide email should be clear and concise, as readers may only have limited time. For more detailed messages, keep them concise while directing readers to additional resources or channels for further information. The key is to customize your message based on what each audience needs to know.

Internal Communication Plan Template

Here is an internal communication plan template you can use for business success-

To Wrap Up

An internal communications plan is necessary for remote or hybrid work environments, and the necessity has only grown with the evolving workplace dynamics and employee demands.

A strong internal communication plan helps align strategies with business needs and keeps employees informed about organizational goals.

If you are looking for an internal communication plan that focuses on real-time messaging capabilities, integration, and mobile device accessibility, The Employee App offers a preferred solution.

With our team of professional consultants and experts in employee experience, we ensure that we build a robust internal communication plan for all your organizational needs.

FAQs

What should an internal communication plan include?

An effective internal communication plan should include the details of who your audiences are, what information you’ll communicate to each set of audiences, which channels you’ll use, and how often you’ll communicate with them.

What kind of questions should an internal communications plan answer?

Some of the questions that an internal communication plan should answer include-

• What do you wish the outcome of your communication to be?
• Who will be your audience(s)?
• How will your communication support your organization’s strategy?

What is the importance of an internal communication plan template?

A well-crafted internal communication plan helps keep your employees informed of both current initiatives and future plans. It also shows each member of the organization how they fit in with the plans and the importance of their contribution.