The line that launched a thousand eye rolls — and how to counter it.
“Can you just send this out?”
Six words that send a chill up any internal communicator’s spine.
And a phrase that indicates how many organizations still view the internal communications team. As glorified messengers, not strategic partners.
This mindset is harming the effectiveness of internal communications and the business outcomes that are linked to it. Think employee experience, retention, and productivity.
Because today’s workplace is noisy. And sending out messages without strategy only adds to that noise. Messages get lost. People switch off. It gets even harder for comms to cut through.
This was a hot topic in Blink’s recent webinar — Human internal comms: Fueling engagement with authenticity. And here, we’re going to dig a little deeper into why the comms function is so routinely misunderstood — and what we can do to fix that.
Internal communications: The most undervalued strategic function
Internal communication (IC) has long been overlooked and undervalued. And too many communicators are still kept on the sidelines.
According to recent Gallagher research, 27% of internal communicators say they lack leadership buy-in and are left out of decision-making. They’re relegated to a supporting role rather than a strategic one.
But internal communication sits at the heart of company culture, change, and connection. It’s a direct line to employee experience — especially for frontline employees with limited digital or face-to-face contact.
And let’s be clear: It’s about more than churning out information. Internal communicators shape meaning and build trust. They develop effective ways to really reach and resonate with your workforce.
And this is important. Because your people receive a staggering number of employee communications. Over on the webinar, the panel shared the fact that people receive 121 business emails every day and switch between tools and tabs nearly 1,200 times.
“Internal comms […] are fighting against this noise. People don’t want more information, necessarily. They want more meaningful information and meaningful connections.”
— Blink
Simply “sending this out” does a disservice to employees, organizational goals, and the morale of your IC team.
{{mobile-main="/image"}}
How we got here: What’s holding comms back?
So why have some IC teams ended up simply distributing messages rather than crafting a narrative? Here’s what’s standing in the way.
A misunderstanding of the role
In too many organizations, internal communicators are seen as wordsmiths — a team who’ll polish a piece of text before sending it out to employees. This perception can be hard to shake and leaves IC wading through admin tasks rather than forging strategy.
Lack of leadership buy-in
Without the backing of the C-suite, the comms team is brought in late — often after decisions are made. This leaves little room for IC to shape the company story or influence outcomes. The impact IC has on business objectives is also underestimated so it’s hard for teams to secure the budget and support they need.
Lack of tools to measure strategic value
It’s a catch-22. Comms teams struggle to get investment for modern tech tools. But without these tools — and their data analytics — it’s hard to prove the worth of IC and justify investment. You need data to show how IC supports big business goals.
Too reactive, not proactive
Many IC teams get stuck in a reactive cycle — publishing company news and chasing approvals. They don’t get the breathing room or support they need to step back, align with business objectives, and plan a comprehensive internal communication strategy.
Siloed working
If internal communications is isolated from HR, IT, operations, and line managers, they miss opportunities to align and embed strategy and share employee feedback. Cross-functional collaboration is impossible and teams miss out on the insights others within the organization can provide.
The cost of staying in your lane
Fail to break free from the messenger role and there are a bunch of risks to contend with. These include:
- Information overload. When messages are delivered without strategy — or a sense of the wider narrative — employees become overwhelmed and switch off from internal communications.
- Poor employee engagement. Messages don’t feel consistent, relevant, or interesting. Employee engagement suffers, along with employee retention, productivity, and satisfaction.
- IC burnout. Communicators struggle to sustain their morale. Those who enjoy collaborative relationships with the C-suite have 2x better well-being than those with transactional relationships.
- Misalignment. Poor internal communications lead to measurable losses for your organization. These include project delays, compliance issues, and lost productivity.
- Frontline connection gap. Without a clear strategy, deskless workers get stuck with paper notices or word-of-mouth comms.
- Missed impact. If you’re treated like a service desk, your influence is capped. So you find it hard to support business objectives in the way you know internal communications can.
{{mobile-chat="/image"}}
Redefining the role: What internal communications should look like
A tactical internal communicator wears many different hats. Here’s what a new and improved strategic role should look like.
A strategic partner
Comms teams deserve a seat at the table. When you get a say in company strategy, you can better manage company changes and crisis communication. You get greater control over tech tool selection and have the intel you need to drive company-wide alignment.
A trusted advisor
You act as a comms guru for your organization, training leaders and managers to show up in the right way, on the right communication channels, at the right time. You guide them in open communication and empathy, giving them an effective blueprint to follow.
An EX designer
When comms gets tactical, you can craft the employee experience journey, rather than simply delivering touchpoints. You can connect messages to meaning more effectively, ensuring that EX talking points are backed by policy and action.
A community builder
You don’t just send out top-down messages. You develop interactive, two-way comms that spark conversations and fuel employee engagement. Think polls, Q&As, employee-generated content, and content that inspires comments, likes, and shares.
A creative powerhouse
The best internal communicators aren’t satisfied with sending out text-heavy emails and documents. They keep their finger on the pulse of internal comms trends and create attention-grabbing, short-form, social media-inspired content. We’re talking images, photos, videos, graphics, and short snippets of text.
{{mobile-stories="/image"}}
So what now? How to shift from executor to strategist
Ready to level up? Here’s how you can move beyond messaging to deliver an internal communication plan with real impact.
Say no to being the messenger
Crafting effective internal communications means knowing when to say no. As Tiffin Jernstedt — former chief communications officer and internal communications expert — puts it:
“You have to say: We know everything that’s going on in the organization and your message doesn’t fit today.”
You can’t send everything. Your job is to prioritize. To help people within your business understand what matters most right now — and how messages fit within a broader narrative, that day, that week, and that month.
Need help pushing back? Try one of these approaches:
- Ask: What outcome are you trying to achieve with this message?
- Suggest: I think that message is most suited to this channel.
- Offer: We can help shape this message to make it land — but we’ll need to rework it slightly.
- Explain: We track comms engagement closely. Here’s why timing matters.
Bring data to the table
Authentic internal communication doesn’t just inform. It inspires, connects, and builds trust. To prove that, track internal communication metrics, like these ones:
- Content read rates
- Employee response time
- Behavior change
- Platform adoption rate
- Employee satisfaction
- Employee engagement
Then, link these metrics to overarching business objectives. If you can prove the ROI and impact of your employee communications, you can make the case for a more strategic role.
Build cross-functional allies
Team work makes the dream work.
Foster positive working relationships with your HR, ops, and IT teams. You can work together toward shared goals and get well-rounded insight into what employees need.
Not sure where to begin? Start small:
- Start a recurring cross-functional meeting to think through EX gaps and opportunities
- Ask key stakeholders what they wish more employees knew
- Help a frontline leader share a success story
- Share data between departments to build a detailed picture of EX
Push for better tools
The best internal communication tools support you to deliver rich, multimedia messages. They provide the channels and functionality you need to win employee attention, craft compelling journeys, and encourage interaction.
These digital tools also give you reporting and analytics tools that help you make meaningful internal communication improvements, while also proving your impact and justifying a more strategic role.
{{mobile-survey="/image"}}
Raise the bar — and your voice
Internal communications deserves better — and whether you’re a team of one or a team of many, so do the professionals behind it.
It’s time to shift perceptions, get strategic, and fight for a seat at the table. Move beyond simply sending out messages and you can make a real difference to internal communication and the business results that rely on it.
Blink. And watch the full webinar here: Human internal comms: fueling engagement with authenticity.
