Missing the Point and 5 Things That Will Get Your Internal Comms Back on Target
Editor’s note: This article was first published in Strategic, the global platform for communication leadership, featuring Strategic Magazine and Strategic Training. Learn more at https://strategic.global/.
What’s the point of internal communication? The biggest logical error in internal communication is assuming its purpose is to “inform and engage all employees.” In my experience, internal communication is most effective when it prioritizes fewer rather than more employees.
That’s not what’s intuitive. It’s not what we’re taught, but it’s what works.
Here are 5 Ways To Do This:
- Drive Executive Alignment and Accountability
Leadership teams disagree. When they make decisions, those disagreements live on in the ambiguous language they use to communicate those decisions.
The most valuable thing a communicator can do is craft messaging that makes intent clear and minimizes ambiguity.
Better yet: collect input from each leader and secure their individual approval, making them personally accountable for both the decision and their alignment with it.
In merger and acquisitions (M&A) work and change programs, I’ve found that getting leaders to agree on clearly worded decisions can be as powerful as communicating those decisions afterward. Especially when the wording explicitly prioritizes organizational objectives in order of importance.
- Clarify Priorities
Misalignment kills productivity. It happens when different teams pursue conflicting priorities.
Operations says, “safety first.” Finance demands “cost reduction.” Sales insists “the customer comes first.” Engineering won’t “cut corners.” The Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) declares “the engagement survey must lead the intranet tomorrow, no matter what.”
If internal communication isn’t continuously clarifying the relative importance of organizational priorities, we’re adding to the chaos instead of solving it.
- Measure Traction, Not Sentiment
There’s an entire industry built around asking employees how they feel about things. My favorite absurdity: “On a scale of one to 10, how well do you feel you understand the company’s strategy?”
Here’s a radical idea let’s find out what employees actually know about strategy and priorities. Ask them directly: “What are the top three priorities facing your organization?” or “What are the four elements of the company strategy?”
You can ask these as open questions and use AI to categorize responses. Or create multiple-choice questions with wrong answers to measure comprehension rates.
Shockingly few companies do this. Even fewer communication professionals measure whether people remember the words and themes they’re constantly producing and distributing.
- Identify and Focus on Internal Influencers
For over a decade, research has shown that a small percentage of people drive the vast majority of workplace conversations. Whether it’s “the 3%” driving 90% of conversations or some other ratio, every organization has informal influencers who consume information, draw conclusions, and share insights with colleagues who trust them more than intranet articles.
Yet few enterprises identify these influencers, communicate with them appropriately, or involve them in ways that reduce information overload for everyone else.
- Practice Simple Segmentation
The famous American World War II general George S. Patton once said people need to “lead, follow, or get out of the way.”
In so doing, Patton accidentally created a perfect communication segmentation model.
Leaders need comprehensive information. Followers need to know what’s expected and why. Those who need to “get out of the way” need enough context to stay confident that disruptions will be handled competently.
The goal, make sure each group is doing what they need to do and aren’t doing what we don’t need them to do. Leaders can lead, followers can follow, and those who don’t need to do either avoid getting in the way.
Why These 5 Matter Now
Internal communication is under financial pressure like never before. When budgets shrink and every function faces scrutiny, “we published 200 intranet articles and organized the management conference this quarter” won’t save us.
Focusing on broad employee awareness beyond what people can act on misses the point. Trying to improve sentiment without measuring whether people understand priorities misses the point.
Being seen as a function that consistently misses the point doesn’t do us any favors.
These five approaches shift us from broadcast to strategy. When we help organizations think, decide, and act more effectively — when we focus on fewer people with more precision — we create measurable impact with less noise.
That’s how internal communication earns its place at the strategic table and justifies its budget. Not by doing more, but by doing what matters most. Anything else misses the point and the target.