Why plain language is important for internal communications, too!

Plain language is often characterized as a tool or lens to use by organizations with communities. But staff at organizations are part of our communities, too!  

Common challenges

How do communication breakdowns happen in social sectors? Here are some common challenges we find. Have you experienced any of these challenges? 

Challenge	Example
Community concerns don’t always get elevated or make it to the people with decision making abilities	Our team has discussed at length that we need to make the reception area more welcoming and accessible for community members, but it is unclear who can greenlight the budget request for these changes.
Departments or programs are siloed from each other	Our program expanded the eligibility for our housing program last year. We shared information with partner organizations but didn’t share the information with our own staff who serve eligible community members.
Unclear messaging is common	Our internal newsletter is hard to read so organizational information doesn’t get shared as well as it could.
Leaving out the “why”	Even though we found a different revenue stream for a project that had been defunded, some of the parameters were different and we didn’t discuss how that would affect things until we were well into planning.

Here are more benefits for making clear communication the norm: 

Keeping morale up: if communication doesn’t feel transparent or decision making isn’t clear, it can affect the work environment negatively 

Increasing effectiveness: ineffective communication means wasting precious resources through lost time or staff energy 

Being trustworthy: to gain trust, we must be trustworthy, and this includes how we share information and who is included (and who is not!) 

Keeping accessibility front and center: staff may not feel comfortable disclosing accessibility needs directly – and building in accessibility often benefits everyone 

Simple tips for improving internal communications  

Cross program collaboration	Examples
We include necessary background knowledge when communicating with anyone outside of our immediate team or program	The requirements for the program we serve are quite complicated, so we included an overview of who is eligible on our internal staff website.
We have methods in place to communicate about program changes, successes, and needs across the organization such as an intranet portal, program overview, or e-newsletter.	We started a biweekly agency newsletter. All staff managers know the upcoming submission deadlines and how to share updates with the newsletter coordinator.

Communication strategies	Examples
We use templates when helpful to ensure consistency and thoroughness.	When we have announcements for our communications team, we use the same format every time to make sure we don’t forget anything.
We have clear ways to “close the loop” with other teams.	To follow through on action items, we use checklists everyone can access to see where we are in a process.

Training and support	Examples
All staff have a foundational understanding of accessibility and plain language and why it is essential for all roles, including support staff such as human resources, finance, and communications.	Our finance director didn’t understand why we wanted plain language training until we showcased how plain language could help staff members better complete finance requests more efficiently.
We make sure staff have tools to do their jobs effectively.	I made the case to purchase software that would allow me to make sure our reports are screen reader accessible.

Reflecting on your work

• How do you model effective communication inside your organization? 

• What is easy win you can implement to improve internal communications? 

• Think about a communication process you want to improve that involves others. What are some examples that you can use to make the case that improving the process will help the program, participants, or staff? 

© April 2025 Literacy Works

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