Solving the Internal Communication Identity Crisis

As an internal communication (IC) professional, part of your role may involve solving the business function’s identity crisis within your organization.

First, let’s talk about what IC is not—based on real-life perceptions I’ve gotten from colleagues. 

IC is not: 

• An extension of admin—We’re not going to help anyone schedule their meetings or advance their slide decks. Shoutout to the admin folks who actually do those things. You’re all amazing and deserve raises. 

• A substitute for Google—The best way to annoy an IC professional is to ask them random things like how to add page numbers to a Word doc. Seriously, just type those questions in the search bar.  

• A substitute for the IT help desk—We’re never going to troubleshoot your technology problems, sorry (not sorry).  

• A team of people who just copy, paste, and send messages other people develop for us—Yes, the drafts people send us can be great starting points but they’re just that: starting points. There’s a lot more expertise that goes into a message we send.  

• Something that everyone can do as effectively as we can—We’re professionals who know what we’re doing. If you wouldn’t tell finance you know a better way to balance the books, don’t tell IC that you know a better way to do their jobs (Finance people—you can 100% tell your team a better a way to balance the books if you have one). And if you’re new to IC and aren’t 100 percent confident in your skills, fake it—at least until you finish reading this blog. 

Now, let’s talk about what IC is. Think of it this way, what do you want your function to be known for? While you’ll always be known for communicating with employees, there’s some flexibility over the other aspects of your identity. Personally, I like IC to be known for: 

• Strategic Communication—We ensure that organizational messages get to the right people at the right time in the right way to inspire, engage, and inform.  

• Collaborative Partnership—We work with internal clients to devise and execute effective communication strategies. 

• Executive Counsel—We advise and counsel organizational leaders to help further our company vision and help set the direction. 

• Storytelling—We craft stories that capture the attention of our audiences and motivate them to know, think, and do. 

Consider the list above a framework to develop your own defining characteristics. Whatever you land on, document it. This will help guide you in your role—and save the next person in your role time and effort.