Solution
Internal customers are the people/departments within a firm that purchase services from the people professionals in that organisation (Taylor & Woodhams, 2022). They are also defined as any member of a given organisation who requires assistance from another member in the organisation to fulfill his/her responsibilities. They include executives, administrative personnel, employees, and managers (Strategic Minds, 2022). The needs of these customers may be identified with the help of several tools:
Stakeholder analysis
To understand the needs of any given group, it is first important to know who the members of that group are. Stakeholder analysis identifies the various units and individuals that form a company’s internal stakeholders. With this knowledge, people professionals can evaluate how much power, influence, knowledge and information these stakeholders have and the information they require from the company. The results of such an evaluation guides people professionals in developing and implementing activities/strategies of obtaining the specific needs of each group or individual, either through surveys, pulse checks, individual interviews and focus groups (Taylor & Woodhams, 2022). Once the needs have been identified, appropriate strategies of responding to them can be formulated.
Communication channels
The rationale behind consulting and engaging internal customers is that dealing with someone who is not willing to listen can be very frustrating. Access to effective communication channels makes internal customers ready to share their needs and concerns. Platforms such as instant messaging, Slack, and conferencing tools are all useful in fostering a communicative culture that encourages internal customers to talk to one another and make their needs known (Balkhi, 2020).
Segmentation
Organisational members may be segmented according to the teams they belong to or the roles and functions they play. This helps to better understand the specific needs of each segment and respond appropriately.
Collecting feedback
Other than having in place effective communication, regular collection of feedback from employees is a great way of identifying their needs and responding to them. To gather feedback, people professionals may hold hall meetings wherein employees raise any concerns; they may also make use of survey forms to gather information several times within a year (Balkhi, 2020).
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