Communication mythbusting - can internal comms communicate better?
Summary
Internal comms teams with generic writing and webinar-hosting skills are more an impediment to communication than an enabler. But even in the age of AI, there’s a case for more skilful internal comms teams.
A couple of times each year, I shut down my computer and head out into the wilderness to moonlight as a wildlife photographer. This time, I’m headed to Spiti Valley, in the high Himalayas, in search of the elusive snow leopard.
Somewhere at these heights I hope to find an elusive cat
But before I head away, I want to address another communication myth. In large companies, where roles become hyper-specialised, internal comms often take on an outsized role.
This leads to a common belief.
If we ask internal comms to shape our message, it will resonate better with our audience.
It’s difficult to counter this belief with extensive research since the conditions surrounding it can vary by context. Whether or not this belief holds depends on several factors.
The complexity of the message a team wants to communicate.
The variety of skills at the “internal comms” team’s disposal.
The team’s own communication skills.
Generally speaking, an internal comms team is effective only when it has a wide range of skills — video, podcasting, information design, writing, campaign development, etc. That’s when an internal comms team lends an edge to the messages from an average business, operations, sales, or technology team.
As it turns out, many internal comms teams have limited skills. They coordinate internal webinars and write decent English. Anyone can administer a Zoom webinar, by the way. With the frontier models getting better every few months, everyone can also produce excellent writing.
With only generic skills, internal comms teams often slow things down instead of adding value. The process typically unfolds like this:
A middle manager wants to share an important message with colleagues.
Someone suggests that internal comms can do it better.
The manager contacts internal comms, who ask for an explanation of the topic. The manager starts from the fundamentals because the internal comms team doesn’t understand their domain.
After several rounds of back-and-forth questions, the comms team drafts a rather basic message.
The manager reviews it, suggests changes, and the cycle repeats — often for days or weeks.
After endless revisions, a branded, ready-to-send email finally emerges.
The team celebrates, oblivious to how much time was wasted.
How many people must collaborate on an email draft?
This inefficiency is masked by recency bias—everyone remembers the polished email, not the frustrating process. But should it take weeks to write a simple message? With AI tools like ChatGPT, most knowledge workers can draft and refine an important email in under an hour.
In the age of AI, you don’t need a proxy to communicate for you. Your authenticity is worth far more than any linguistic polish an internal comms team may provide. Choose speed over perfection.
And if you’re part of an internal comms team, reconsider your value proposition in the age of AI. If all you do is write in the corporate voice, then AI can do it more consistently already. It’s only a matter of time before your colleagues see you as a bottleneck to timely and effective communication.
My post today may seem like I’m branding internal comms as a bullshit job. In their “we write in the corporate voice” form, they are indeed a bullshit job organisation. But imagine a fantastic internal comms team, with podcasters, video editors, animators and storytellers. That’s a function AI can’t yet perform. And when those awesome people come together as a team, the value proposition is hard to beat.
So, while I question the place of internal comms as mere writers and editors, I’m hopeful for internal comms as a team of creatives. And that’s not a bad hope to begin my vacation with!