How internal communication differs between the private and public sectors

Do internal communication and engagement differ in the public sector from the private sector?

Yes, unequivocally. Here are two reasons:

1. Resourcing

Increasingly, private companies recognize that internal communication and employee engagement are foundational requirements for performance. Want to drive sales? Enhance customer focus? Innovate? All these strategic business imperatives depend on the way employees connect, communicate and collaborate.

The mission-critical importance of internal communication and engagement has become entrenched in business best practices. Although this recognition does not always translate to action, the internal communication function tends to be better resourced with staff and financial resources in the private sector than in the public sector.

Public organizations tend to lag, lacking the proper platform to spark significant commitment to internal communication through appropriate resourcing. Too often, internal communication remains the poor cousin of external communication.

This dynamic often sets up a stubborn self-fulfilling prophecy: Public organizations often fail to see the value of internal communication and engagement (because the function is starved of the vital resources it needs to perform), and the under-resourcing/underperforming pattern tends to be self-perpetuating.