How can you use focus groups to improve internal communications for your company?

A redução de riscos ocupacionais e consequentemente acidentes do trabalho estão ligados à comunicação. Quando há um propósito definido e as pessoas certas envolvidas o caminho fica mais fácil. A comunicação estabelece o duplo sentido, no qual é possível passar informação e receber, o que é importante para definir novas ações de comunicação. Uma das estratégias para a comunicação eficaz e eficiente é emponderar as pessoas envolvidas com informação precisa, contextualizando, mostrando os impactos positivos e negativos daquilo que se pretende atingir.

Easily the most important component, but many a times misunderstood and misaligned. The objectives need to be few, simple, and achievable. If they aren’t, the rest of the steps will not bring any value.

Diversity in participant selection is crucial. Ensure that the group represents a wide range of departments, seniority levels, and backgrounds. This diversity brings varied perspectives, leading to a more comprehensive understanding of the internal communication landscape. While it's important to have a structured approach with set questions and topics, it’s equally important to allow for organic discussion. Often, the most valuable insights come from spontaneous conversations that deviate slightly from the script.

Rather than calling them 'focus groups', a term I believe to be narrowing and exclusive, I believe we need to reframe the purpose of these gatherings and call them something like "Connection Sessions" for example. This way we are allowing that all important space for internal teams and individuals to prioritise connection first. How can we be focused when we're not feeling connected to the group? When we feel we belong, our mindset changes...we go into these sessions/groups with a mindset of curiosity, as supposed to one of pressure and "quick fix". The ultimate intention and goal is for individuals and teams to be more efficient and effective internally. This cannot happen if we have not created connection. Create space for that first.

Para melhorar a comunicação interna, o uso de grupos focais é fundamental. Pessoas de interesse em comum e que gerem engajamentos de nicho têm grande valia na composição do ambiente corporativo, na cultura organizacional e na construção de bem estar com foco em GENTE. Principal é entender as demandas peculiares dessas pessoas e inseri-las com empatia na narrativa da empresa, respeitando diversidade e humanidade.

The make-up of the group is vital. It must be representational and it must be suited to the outcomes that you are looking for. You don't want any particular part of your organisation to be overrepresented. You will always have those "usual suspects" volunteers who are keen to take part in anything. You may need some of them, but be selective. I have created internal Focus Groups for clients in banking, food, aerospace and healthcare and I have learned new things from each group. Perhaps the biggest lesson in ensuring full representation is to include managers in the group. If your entire group is from the "shopfloor" the results you get will be very different than from a group that has a healthy mix of all sectors of your organisation.

Can’t say this enough, if you are not going down the route of intrapreneurs/influencers (the fastest way to take the pulse of a new idea among early adopters), you need to focus group a RANDOMIZED sample. It is so easy to generate this list from the most basic workforce data. Then check for potential biases, and that you have a diverse range (some extremes, but some less extreme) opinions.

It’s important to choose your focus group’s participants outside of your typical “go getters”. It’s important to understand that some individuals you manage or supervise are valuable contributors and resources to your organization - but some need encouragement to participate outside of the normal realms of their daily work. Effective leadership guides their workers to become leaders themselves in a way that is tactful rather than a forced interaction.

I would love to stress the diversity argument from the article before: ✅ Diverse groups identify challenges, uncover opportunities, and offer a holistic view of the subject. ✅ Diversity is more then gender, it includes race, mind, age, sexual orientation, educational background, etc. ✅ Thus the external validity of findings is enhanced, making them more applicable to the target audience.

It is important to select a diverse group of participants for your focus groups. This will help you get a well-rounded perspective on your communication strategy. When selecting participants, consider factors such as job title, department, tenure with the company, and location.

To maintain and specify the output answers and avoid to be away from the information or the way of thinking from your team as it will be very helpful to be think specify issue

Ne pas hésiter non plus à poser les questions "qui fâchent" sur sa propre entreprise pour comprendre ce qui fonctionne ou ne fonctionne pas, apprendre, et rester ouvert et authentique. Si le but est d'obtenir une opinion claire et précise, autant l'être soi-même dès le départ.

By engaging employees in discussions, you can gather valuable feedback on existing communication strategies, channels, and tools. This helps in understanding what is working well and what needs improvement.

Mener la conversation, mais rester en retrait et à l'écoute surtout, sans monopoliser le sujet. Je pense qu'il est intéressant de laisser la possibilité aux participants de revenir sur leurs propos plus tard si la conversation les a fait réfléchir en dehors de la séance de discussion.

During your FGD, it’s also important for moderators to do the following: - build rapport with the participants - assure the participants of the confidentiality of the session so that they can be comfortable in sharing their honest insights and opinions - repeat, in your own words, the statements of your participants to ensure that your understanding of what they said is correct and to also help the note-taker record the insights properly.

Focus groups can be a source of creativity and innovation. Employees can brainstorm and propose new ideas for improving internal communication, such as implementing new technologies, establishing regular feedback sessions, or creating more interactive communication platforms.

Analyze Results: Analyze the feedback collected during the focus groups. Look for common themes, patterns, and specific issues raised by participants. Categorize the feedback into actionable insights that can inform improvements to internal communication strategies. Identify Strengths and Weaknesses: Determine both the strengths and weaknesses of your current internal communication practices. Acknowledge areas where the company is doing well and celebrate those successes, while also identifying opportunities for enhancement.

After implementing new communication strategies, you can use focus groups to assess their effectiveness. Gathering feedback from employees helps in understanding the impact of the changes and making further adjustments if necessary.

A análise de dados é essencial para entender se o propósito foi atingido. Muitas vezes os dados obtidos podem trazer informações adicionais e que podem auxiliar ainda mais em comunicações específicas. A análise dos dados permite sair do meio de comunicação e enxergar de fora, para então retornar para uma comunicação mais assertiva.

La communication ,c'est l'expression , les gestes. Vu l'évolution des réseaux sociaux ,la communication doit être focalisée sur la véracité

Las acciones se irán ajustando, en función del análisis y conclusiones obtenidas con el grupo focal (la escucha), en un ciclo sucesivo de perfeccionamiento y evaluación. Una buena escucha de nuestro grupo focal (obtención de puntos clave), determinará una buena implementación de acciones ajustadas, que volverán a ser medidas y evaluadas periódicamente para comprobar si han dado los resultado previstos en nuestros objetivos, y para continuar ajustándolas en el futuro con nuevos análisis de grupo focal.

Estabelecer área piloto, de acordo com o projeto, permite avaliar os impactos e tornar a comunicação mais eficaz quando espandida para as demais áreas, desde que seja representativa do todo.

Focus group discussions are one of the most effective ways to garner primary data for an audience profile assessment. While conducting a focus groups focus on understanding how the audience behaves around certain behavioural patterns, who influences their behaviours and how their information seeking behaviours are.

Another day, another weird AI generated article. This time subject Communications. As usual, the Section prompts are vague/generic statements. These one may be a little more odd than usual. Focus groups to improve internal communications for a company? This is seriously so specific we are excluding external communications and non-companies? Approaches to focus groups are really so different in these contexts? Seems like junk. Anyway, I tend to view focus groups as fancy random opinion polling. I think they worked well for designing TV commercials in the 1990s, but I am not sure what else. I guess do it if you want. But I would just go full on viral internet crowdsourcing. Once again, I still don't buy all the hype. Oh well.

Update your participants about your findings and analysis. Also, when possible, involve willing participants when creating your action plans to help ensure that you’re addressing any concerns they’ve raised accordingly. Making the employees an active part of the process also improves morale and people’s sense of belonging.

Focus groups can enhance internal communications by providing a platform for diverse employees to voice feedback and ideas. They help assess the effectiveness of current communication methods and identify areas for improvement. Open discussions in these groups reveal underlying issues, employee sentiments, and practical suggestions for better communication. This feedback allows for the tailoring of communication strategies to employee needs, promoting a more inclusive and transparent workplace culture. Involving employees in developing communication approaches also boosts engagement and aligns them with organizational goals, making focus groups a valuable tool for refining internal communications.

I agree wholeheartedly with Nicole. After completing your findings, you must publish your them. Whether you have used just one, or more focus groups, you must given them a timetable of how you intend to use the findings. Supermarkets do this. You'll often see "You said, we did" posters. The final action to take is to demonstrate to the whole organisation how you have listened to the focus group and how you are incorporating their ideas into your plans. This is vital, especially if you are involving employees in change management. When the group, and other employees, see that you have not only listened to them, but used their ideas to alter your plans - they will have much greater ownership of that change.