Why Your Communications Function May Be Exposed
Why Your Communications Function May Be Exposed
What the data says about trust, implementation risk, and the role internal communicators play in successful organizations
We are operating in a post-normal environment. Continuous disruption. AI and technology are rapidly reshaping work. Eroding trust and increasing insularity (see The Edelman Trust Barometer). Ongoing transformation and uncertainty.
The good news is: communication makes the difference between forward momentum with results and stagnation with failed implementation.
The Missing Shift
Too many of the organizations I work with have their communications teams stuck in a cycle of cleaning up decks, building templates, cranking out content. Acting as the messenger.
They’re there because either they don’t have a strategic framework for determining their priorities (and what to say no to) or their leaders keep them locked in this tactical space because they don’t trust their skills.
What communicators must embrace is their role as strategic business partners.
Stop acting as order takers and start behaving like you are pivotal to alignment and productivity – because you are.
The Institute of Internal Communication’s Future of Internal Communication report clearly outlines current expectations of you in the face of more scrutiny, faster change, and greater complexity:
Clarify strategic intent in real time
Help leaders navigate ambiguity
Sustain trust when confidence is low
Translate strategy into behavior and action
That is not one-and-done tactics and messaging. It is operational influence and skillsets that move beyond writing, crisis, issues and overall communications management (which remain essential) and into critical thinking, problem solving, data analytics, ability to assess risk, and functional understanding of adjacent disciplines like HR, business transformation, regulatory environment, and marketing.
Where I See the Friction
In my work with communication leaders, the same gaps show up repeatedly.
The function is busy, but not embedded early in strategy discussions. Strategy is developed in a vacuum and shared with the internal communicator once it is complete, with the expectation that they will “sell” it to the organization.
Leaders are relying on internal communicators for amplification, but not for diagnosis or input.
And the friction is there because leaders aren’t seeing their communications teams as relevant to the success of the organization’s operations. The communications team’s access, influence, and credibility are being questioned.
In stable times, that may be survivable. In our current conditions, it is dangerous.
The Real Question
The IoIC report validates the importance of internal communication, but validation is not positioning.
The real question is this: Is your communications function ready to drive organizational strategy forward?
If You Want a Straight Assessment
If you are reading this and wondering where your team truly stands or how to shift its position in the organization, I am offering a limited number of short strategy calls to uncover where and why:
Where your Communications function sits in the strategy cycle
Where and why implementation friction is building
What trust gaps are emerging
What would reposition you as operationally necessary
Not a disguised sales pitch. A focused diagnostic discussion.
If it is useful, we decide how to work together to address the gaps. If not, at least you leave with some additional insight.
👉 Request a complementary conversation here
Why This Matters Now
Organizations need clarity and alignment to achieve results.
Communication is a key driver, as long as we are evolving our skillsets and priorities.
You can stay in messaging mode, or you can move into strategic positioning for the future, embracing your place as a leader who influences & articulates strategy, connects audiences, creates alignment, engages employees, closes trust gaps, drives productivity, and mitigates risk.
Let me help you make that shift.