There's no excuse.

It's 2023. Internal Comms has been around in some form or other for over 30 years - part of that is Leadership communication. And yet...

Yet... we continue to see examples of bad practise, misjudgement and reputational tarnish as internal comms are leaked externally to much furore and commotion. Case in point MillerKnoll's CEO's outburst during an employee meeting. Major cringe.

It leaves me with a few questions:

• how are Leaders prepping Townhalls with their Internal comms team?
• which questions are being prepped for and with who?
• how well do you know your people, their concerns and fears in a VUCA world?
• where's the narrative to support strategy in service of the company purpose?

It's not that complicated if you talk with your Internal comms experts and use them properly as advisors and partners, not just to create pretty stuff

Here's how:

• Listen to your people - an annual engagement survey isn't enough. The world is VUCA and people have been feeling it for a while now. Ask how are they feeling often, then hush up and listen hard.
• Listen to your people managers. Have a clear line of comms between them and you. They should know how the organisation is feeling and can keep you updated regularly.

[The above two pieces need psychological safety from your teams... if that doesn't exist or is wobbly use your immediate team questions and comments as your gauge.]

• Prepare for Townhall meetings thoroughly. Prep answers to ALL the questions you can think of, you've heard rumours of, your own team are asking, you know are being talked about in Whatsapp groups. ALL the questions - particularly the ones related to people's incomes - salary and bonus is about survival: that lowest level of Maslow. People will ask the same questions again and again - sometimes cos they are hoping for a different answer, or an evolution in the answer. Sometimes they simply haven't heard. If they are still asking... that tells you how they feel, where their heads are at and what they can and can't focus on.
• Prepare for the Townhall like you would prepare for the Board meeting or a press briefing. Take it seriously. Your employees deserve that respect.
• Craft holding statements for some of the more challenging questions if you don't have all the answers yet. But acknowledge them as such. Be honest about how the C suite and the Board work together.
• Practise how you'll answer the questions as a Leadership team. Yes this is ultimately the responsibility of the CEO but the whole C-suite should work together and share the load.

Remember internal Townhalls can easily be posted online in the blink of an eye. It can become headline news globally. It can damage the brand and be a reputational risk.

This isn't an excuse to not do them and only send distant, top down emails. This is a rally cry to do it properly and use your internal comms team as valuable business advisors and partners.

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Janet Hitchen

Director - Janco Ltd

[email protected]

I work closely with my clients to understand what makes their business and people tick. I listen intently and use what I learn to ground my communication work.?

Passionate, bold and endlessly curious. My goal is to make internal comms your business’s superpower.