Tips for Futureproofing Internal Communications

An editor at The Atlantic was accidentally added to a high-level Signal group chat where Trump administration officials were planning military strikes in Yemen. Yes, you read that right. A journalist, in a chat with top government officials, while they were actively discussing where and when to launch missiles. It's an appalling breach of national security. It’s also a teachable moment for employers. If the highest of federal officials can accidentally include a reporter in a thread outlining imminent military action, your company's employees can accidentally include the wrong person in a message about a client, a deal, a product launch, or a sensitive HR issue. This is your reminder to: ‣ Audit your internal communication tools. Who has access to what, and why? ‣ Train employees to think before they type. Not everything needs to be shared via chat, and definitely not in group messages with unclear boundaries. ‣ Define acceptable platforms. Personal WhatsApp groups aren't secure. Neither are random Slack DMs or rogue Teams channels. ‣ Limit use of informal tools for formal business. If it needs to be preserved, secured, or privileged, it shouldn't live in a disappearing message or outside of your network. And if you don't already have a digital communication policy, here are a few essentials: 1. Specify approved platforms for internal and external comms. 2. Define levels of confidentiality and how/where each type of info can be shared. 3. Address personal device usage (BYOD) and security requirements. 4. Outline consequences for noncompliance. 5. Make it real. Don't just write the policy—train on it, talk about it, and revisit it regularly. Because in today's digital world, one accidental message could be all it takes to destroy trade secret protections, create legal liability, or land your company on the front page.

Ever tried using AI to generate internal comms and felt like it didn’t sound like you? 😬 If so, you’re not alone. And if you’re already thinking that, imagine how it’d be perceived by your audience. Here’s the trick: Train it to speak your language. Upload past comms to teach AI your tone—emojis, exclamation marks, nomenclature for your teams/programs, everything. If you’re aiming to increase the adoption of your cultural values, ask it to interweave these into your communications when applicable. For example, I like to use #EmpathyFirst, one of our cultural values, when introducing wellness perks to our employees, like Headspace for meditation & therapy sessions. Now imagine this: You prompt it for your next company update, and it drafts in your voice, styles the visuals, nails the right tone, and delivers you a solid v1 for your review. You can train it on what you like or don’t like, coaching it on specifics. You can personalize the tone over time as you receive feedback and A/B test subject lines and conversion rates. Internal comms should never feel robotic. It’s not only that attention spans are shrinking, it’s that people’s expectations have risen in what they actually want to spend their time reading. And being a lean team managing hundreds and thousands of internal comms is a tough job 🫡

Stop beating a dead intranet. If you’re leading employee communications, your job is NOT to shout carefully vetted messages from the ivory tower. Megaphones are for marching bands, not modern workplaces. The age of decreeing messages from the higher-ups with the expectation of silent compliance is over. We're in the era of dialogue, baby. The role of internal comms leaders is to create spaces where conversation flourishes—less shouting into the void and more stimulating discussion and debate. But organizations are still preaching from the corporate pulpit, expecting rapt attention from the masses. We're hoarding communication channels at the top while the rest of the organization starves for a voice. So why aren't companies democratizing communication? 1. Fear of relinquishing power: There's this stodgy notion that open communication equals chaos. In other words, fear rules the land, with lords worried about losing control if the serfs start having a say. 2. The illusion of open-door policies: Slapping an "open-door" label on a fundamentally closed communication system doesn't magically make it inclusive. 3. Hierarchical hangovers: The corporate ladder is still a thing, and it's casting long shadows over who gets to speak and who gets to listen. 4. Lack of tools (or will) to change: Either organizations are stuck with tools from the digital Stone Age, or there's resistance to adopting new platforms that foster open dialogue. But they should reconsider because… ⚡ Great ideas can come from anywhere, not just the C-suite. Open communication channels are where innovation thrives. ⚡ Employees who feel heard are employees who stick around.  ⚡A vibrant, open communication culture is the best kind of strategy an organization can hope to have. ⚡ When communication flows freely, trust follows. And in today's world, trust is the currency of choice. So, how can you get started democratizing your internal comms? 1. Adopt the right tools: Invest in platforms that are designed for the modern workplace, where dialogue, not monologue, is the default setting. Hint: your emailed internal newsletter and your creaky intranet site aren’t it. 2. Flatten the communication hierarchy: Encourage leaders to mingle in the digital town square, sharing, commenting and—most importantly—listening. 3. Train, don't just tell: Equip everyone with the skills to communicate effectively in an open environment. 4. Celebrate the voices: Recognize and reward those who contribute to the conversation. Make it known that every voice matters—and mean it.  #internalcommunications #employeecommunications #ThatAshleyAmber

Internal communication is the backbone of any successful organization—but even with the best intentions, it’s not always easy to get it right. This year, I faced a major failure in internal communication while navigating a merger. It was a humbling experience that underscored the importance of clear, thoughtful, and timely communication within teams—especially those spanning continents, cultures, and time zones. From this experience, I developed the S.L.A.C.K. method, a simple framework to strengthen internal communication: - Solicit Feedback - Lead with Transparency - Audience Segmentation - Be Clear, Concise, and Consistent - Know Your Timeline I’m sharing my reflections and the S.L.A.C.K. method in the hope that it helps others avoid the same missteps and fosters trust and alignment within their teams. You can read the full article below. How do you ensure effective internal communication within your organization? I’d love to hear your thoughts. #Leadership #Communication #WorkplaceCulture #Growth

I’ve learned two big lessons over the last couple of weeks. 1. If you want to go viral on LinkedIn, post a relatable niche Beyoncé meme. 2. Almost every comms pro has a horror story about how they found out about a major announcement on short notice or after the fact. That’s a big problem for our industry Would leaders of a company give the finance team 24 hours to prepare an earnings report? Or give a programmer 24 hours to code and test a new software product before launching it? So why do they think it’s ok for an important message? Like any other profession, we need adequate time to do our best work. So what can you do to make sure the comms team is kept in the loop? 🤝 Build relationships - Regularly connect with leaders and business partners. - Ask what keeps them up at night. - Discover what “great communication” looks like to them. - Listen for upcoming initiatives that could impact key stakeholders and tell them you need to be involved. Don’t wait to be asked! 👩🏫 Teach people how to work with you - Create a clear process for communication requests. - Shift their requests from “We need an email” to “Here’s the business challenge—what’s the best way to solve it?” - Stick to your process—consistency builds credibility. 🙋♂️ Be in the room - Show up to project meetings—you can’t influence what you don’t know. - Anticipate key company moments and ask to be included in the planning meetings. - Identify communication risks before they become urgent. - Speak up! Your perspective shapes strategy, not just messaging. 📈 Use Data to prove your impact - Leaders trust numbers—use engagement metrics, survey data and case studies. - Demonstrate how poor communication creates risk. - Connect your work to business outcomes like retention, engagement or compliance. - Share success stories—help leaders see the value of proactive communication. What do you do to show your leaders and business partners that communication should be a priority, not an afterthought? #ChangeCommunication #InternalCommunication #StrategicCommunication #ChangeManagement #CorporateCommunication #SwingCommInsights

Just because we can send it, doesn’t always mean we should. As internal communicators, we often sit at the intersection of everything. Every update. Every initiative. Everyone wants their message out. But here’s the thing—when everything is treated as important, nothing truly stands out. Early in my career, I tried to say yes to every ask. The intention was good—but the impact wasn’t. The result? Noise. Confusion. Distraction from what truly mattered: driving toward the business goals. Here’s a simple framework that’s helped me align with stakeholders and bring more intention to what we send out: ◾ Urgent + Important + Critical to business or people: Send it. Now. ◾ Important, not urgent + Relevant to business goals: Share it—but let’s be smart about timing and format. ◾ Urgent, but not important: Pause. Does this need wide visibility, or would a smaller audience be better? ◾ Not urgent + Not important: Maybe this doesn’t need to be sent at all. But we can define the audience and explore other channels if needed. I also use two quick filters: ◾ Will this help employees take action or make a better decision? ◾ Does this support a key business goal or priority? Using a framework like this in internal comms does more than streamline messaging—it protects attention, ensures relevance and creates clarity. 👀 I’m curious: How do you filter the signal from the noise in your org? Let me know in the comments.

As someone who's built a career (and businesses!) around simplicity and less, I'll be the very first to admit that approach seldom works when it comes to internal comms. 😅 Our teams are made up of different people with different preferences, different communications styles, different routines and different needs. And if we want our messages to truly land, we have to meet them where they are—not where it's most convenient or even where we've "always" sent things. A simple (but solid!) #internalcomms stack could look like: 📩 An internal email tool (yes, internal-specific matters!) 📲 SMS for time-sensitive updates 💬 Instant messaging tool like Slack or Microsoft Teams 💻 An intranet or knowledge base (at Workshop we use Guru) Then you've got your QR codes, digital signage, maybe even an internal podcast—but those are supplements, not substitutes. The goal? ➡️ Layer your comms so it's accessible, inclusive and actually effective!

Employees tuning out to your communication efforts? Last week, I watched as my client's comms team copied and pasted the same message into Teams, Outlook, and SharePoint.   Again, and again and again.   Each platform required different formatting. Different context. Different approaches.   Her team was putting in double the work - crafting for Teams, rewriting for email, reformatting for SharePoint.   And the employees? Tuning out. Not because they couldn't check everything, but because they were fed up with having to.   I've seen this pattern with organizations of all sizes.   For my client's recent Internal Copilot Prompt-a-Thon campaign, we suggested something different.   We explored Microsoft Viva Amplify together - a tool often overlooked in the Viva suite.   Instead of creating content multiple times, they created it once and let Amplify handle the distribution across channels.   Their objectives remained ambitious: - Build staff confidence with Copilot - Develop practical prompting techniques - Improve organization-wide adoption - Progress employees from beginner to intermediate   But the approach changed completely.   Instead of asking employees to find content, we brought it to them - whether in Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, or Viva Connections.   The results were eye-opening. Participation increased 40%. Feedback improved. And the comms team spent less time copy and pasting, reformatting and more time creating valuable content.   After 18+ years of guiding internal comms strategies, I'm still learning alongside my clients. I used to think successful communication was about being everywhere at once.   Over the years this has changed. I see it's about meeting people where they already are.   What communication challenges is your organization facing? I'd love to hear what's working (or not working) for you. #VivaAmplify #Copilot #SharePoint #Outlook #InternalCommunications #HR #Intranet