Our Biggest Internal Communication Enemy is Ourselves
Bold headline, right? Here’s what I mean with this charged set of words: the internal communication (IC) team itself holds tremendous power in charting its own destiny. We have the potential to be strategic partners driving business results or to fall into the trap of becoming ‘yes people’ who rarely push back on out-of-scope requests.
The choice is ours.
What I often hear from clients and IC peers is a strong level of frustration with not being treated as strategic business partners. Then, I'll ask some probing questions, such as:
How do you talk about IC? What’s the narrative you use?
What does your service model look like? How well do you adhere to it?
What does your IC strategy look like?
How are you measuring and discussing your success metrics?
I’m often met with shoulder shrugs. And that’s OK—we can work with that. Here’s how to shift the conversation and start charting your own narrative. We’re done with letting others define it for us.
How to Build Your IC Narrative
An IC narrative is the way we present ourselves and our expertise to the rest of the organization. If you haven’t developed your narrative yet, now’s the time.
Introduction and Purpose
Who’s on your team and what’s their expertise? What’s your purpose? You’ll want to develop a simple, succinct purpose statement like this: “Our purpose is to strategically ensure timely, targeted, and effective communication that inspires, engages, and informs within the organization.”Value Proposition
Explain how your team adds value to the organization. That could look something like this: “Our team drives motivation and engagement by connecting employees to the company’s vision, resulting in elevated client service. We foster a collaborative partnership that unites cross-functional support for a cohesive approach to tackling challenges. With knowledge sharing, we promote continuous learning through success stories and best practices. By ensuring elevated efficiency via clear communication, we align teams, driving strategic objectives to fruition.”Emphasis on Collaboration
Working with internal partners to devise and execute effective communication strategies is among your top action items, so make sure others understand that too. Mentioning how your team works closely with various departments and teams within the organization showcases your ability to facilitate information sharing and understanding across the entire organization. If there are specific ways that you’d like internal partners to work with you, make those expectations clear.Success Measurements
Consider how you’re measuring how you’re doing. Measurements typically fall into two categories—outcomes and outputs. Outputs are the classic tangible deliverables like how many email newsletters you produced or how many emails you sent. Outcomes are the overarching goals that you achieve through your efforts, like employee retention, engagement, and behavior alignment. Make sure you have an action plan for gathering data and metrics to demonstrate how IC drives results and contributes to overall organizational objectives.Executive Presence
As Forbes describes, “Executive presence is about your ability to inspire confidence.” Without a confident advocate with a vision for success, IC can fade into the background as the unsung hero of the communication team. Don’t wait for someone else to be that advocate. Be your own advocate. Speak confidently and passionately about the vision you’re actively advancing. Talk about those success measurements, consistently and confidently. That can truly make a difference in helping others see your value.
Building a strong IC narrative is more than just a strategic move. It’s about claiming your space as a vital partner in your organization’s success. By clearly defining your purpose, articulating your value, fostering collaboration, measuring your impact, and demonstrating executive presence, you can transform how your team is perceived and how effectively you drive business results.
Now, take a moment to reflect: What’s your current IC narrative? How can you start shaping it today? Whether you’re starting from scratch or refining what’s already in place, remember that the power to chart your own course lies within your team.
