Developing Content for Internal Communications

I co-write content for the CEO of a Formula 1 hospitality group. Here are 3 uncommon hacks I use to get content from their head → paper. 1/ Weekly Voice Memos Most execs don’t want to “write.” They want to talk. So I ask them one pointed question per week, tied to what’s happening right now in their business or industry. (We also do weekly interviews for about 30 mins, when they are freer) They reply with a 1–2 minute voice note or text. I transcribe it, clean it up, and use their exact phrasing to shape the post. This keeps their voice sharp and the content timely without needing to “book a call.” 2/ Pull from internal comms Slack threads, investor decks, and email updates these are gold. Any time the CEO explains what’s changing inside the business, I flag it. Because if they’re already explaining it internally, they can explain it externally. Usually I’ll ask: “Can we say this publicly yet?” If the answer’s yes, that’s a post. 3/ Framing first, writing second Before I write a single line, I send them 3 bullets: - The message we’re trying to land - The role of this post (signal / build trust / teach) - One question I need them to answer That last one is key. It gives them something to react to, not a blank page. Once I get their input, I structure it. They approve. We post. This system pulls real insight out of execs without wasting their time. And the content actually sounds like them. There is a separate system to make sure we always nail their voice. Needless to say, I use these systems to streamline almost every part of the writing process: And this is a big reason I can work with this client while also having other things going on. And that’s it! Found this helpful? Let me know below which hack was your favourite.

I think internal communications is often vastly underserved within companies. And I've learned that one of the fastest ways to lose credibility internally is for employee communication to sound like marketing. Employees are not an audience to be persuaded like an external audience. They are adults trying to do their jobs, often in conditions that are complex, uncertain and changing. When internal communication leans too heavily on slogans, spin or overly polished language, people tune out. Not because they’re cynical — but because it doesn’t reflect their reality. Good internal communication isn’t about selling a message. It’s about creating clarity, context and confidence. It acknowledges what’s hard, what’s uncertain and what leaders don’t yet have answers to. It treats employees as partners in execution, not consumers of content. That doesn’t mean internal communication should be unstructured or reactive. Quite the opposite. It requires a disciplined strategic narrative — one that’s consistent, honest and reinforced by leadership behavior. But it must sound human, and it absolutely must be real. Employees can spot the difference immediately between messaging that’s designed to impress and communication that’s designed to help. The irony? When organizations stop trying to market internally, trust tends to go up. Engagement follows. And alignment becomes easier — not harder. Internal communication works best when it’s less about polish and more about integrity and clarity (at all levels). Because if it sounds scripted, it’s already failed.

The best internal communicators don’t start with channels. They start with human behavior. Because before you think about email, video, intranet, or town halls, you need to understand how people actually process information. Employees don’t experience your message as a format. They experience it as a moment in their day. Through their workload, their stress, their assumptions, their biases, and their limits. That’s why the strongest communicators study how people think. They know that cognitive load, shortcuts, fear, memory, and emotion shape understanding long before the channel ever does. 🔷 How quickly people jump to conclusions 🔷 What they remember and what they forget 🔷 Why losses feel heavier than gains 🔷 How repeated exposure builds acceptance 🔷 Why visuals and words together create clarity 🔷 What triggers anxiety or trust Channels help you send. Psychology helps your message land. Which of these do you use most in your work?

In internal comms, we spend a lot of time talking about segmentation and personalization. And we should — no one wants to engage with messages that feel like they’re for “everyone else” or not for them at all. But here’s the thing: marketing has been doing this forever. The best ads speak directly to a specific audience. You may have seen Vaseline’s recent Heritage Day campaign in South Africa (I’m obsessed!). The spot shows a grandmother rubbing Vaseline on her grandchild’s face with the line “Mntana ka Gogo,” which translates to “grandmother’s child.” It’s a small, tender ritual that carries deep cultural meaning. 🥹 Some people (ahem.. me!) see that and remember it vividly. Others might not share the exact cultural memory. But the feeling — love, care, and tradition being passed down — still lands. And that’s the power of specificity. So, my takeaways for internal communicators? ➡️ Don’t be afraid to narrow your focus. Write a message just for your new hires or a note that speaks directly to managers. ➡️ Use cultural touch points or team-specific language. The more a group sees themselves in the message, the more likely they’ll engage. ➡️ Trust that others will still “get it.” Even if it’s not their exact experience, the bigger themes (belonging, care, recognition) WILL translate. Sometimes we worry that tailoring messages will exclude people. In reality, it could have the opposite effect. 😉

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 🫡

The "discussion" around DEI may be creating an impression that it's all about race and gender. It's not. It's any difference: region, nationality, religion, and ability are also included, with the goal of ensuring every QUALIFIED individual has an opportunity to contribute and compete regardless of their differences. That includes the neurodiverse. Internal communication is often designed for the “average” employee—but what about those who process information differently? Neurodivergent employees, including those with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and auditory processing differences, may struggle with lengthy emails, dense text, or unclear messaging. Our typical one-size-fits-all approach to communication can leave these individuals feeling overwhelmed, disengaged, or excluded. That's problematic, given that neurodiverse employees can often focus better than "average" employees; given the opportunity, they bring unique and valuable abilities to the table. The best internal comms teams are rethinking their approach to ensure messages are clear, accessible, and inclusive for all employees. This includes: * Using plain language to make content easier to understand. * Offering multiple formats (text, video, audio, and visual aids) to accommodate different learning styles. * Breaking up dense information with bullet points, headers, and summaries to improve readability. * Leveraging AI and personalization tools to tailor content delivery based on individual preferences. * Providing alternative ways to engage, such as interactive Q&As, transcripts for videos, and visual storytelling. By embracing inclusive communication practices, organizations can foster a workplace where everyone—regardless of how they process information—feels informed, valued, and empowered. Is your organization ensuring internal communication works for everyone? How?

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

🤬 Your stakeholders are ignoring your requests for content. They don’t hate you or find you annoying. You’re just asking too much of them. Sometimes we forget that our stakeholders: ➡️ Have their own job to focus on ➡️ Are extremely busy ➡️ Find writing HARD So when we ask them for a blog or an article we may well be asking for an entire day of their time. So yes, they will ignore you. Try this instead: Take on the heavy lifting yourself and make it easier for them. You can do this by becoming an internal journalist. Book a 10-minute interview with your stakeholder and have questions prepped so you can elicit exactly the kind of information you need. Spend a bit of time doing your research so you are up to speed with the subject matter and the stakeholder themselves. After the interview, write the article or blog yourself and all your stakeholder has to do is fact check it for you. This is a win-win for both sides. Your stakeholder gets their story shared to the business without the stress of staring at a blank page trying to write something. And you get authentic quotes and natural language that makes the content more engaging and interesting to read. Does this approach take more time for you? Yes, absolutely. But it’s worth it because the content quality you can produce will increase significantly and your stakeholders will thank you for making their lives easier. What’s your best advice for getting content from stakeholders? –––– 🚫 Don’t let an algorithm decide what you read; join 7,808 readers who get my weekly internal comms tips straight to their inbox. ⬆️ Click "Try my free newsletter" on my page to sign up.

Writing comms is one thing. Extracting the narrative from a dense business strategy? That’s a challenge! And this prompt will help you with it! In yesterday’s Staffbase event, Frank Wolf shared his four-step method for creating engaging comms strategies that are grounded in real insights and business narrative. Loved it! But what happens if you don’t have a clear business narrative yet? That’s where my strategic prompt below comes in: 🔴It’s designed to help you compress complex business strategies into usable, audience-aware, and engaging narratives even before any writing begins. Prompt: Act as a senior internal communications strategist. Help me extract and compress the core narrative in plain English from this business strategy document [UPLOAD FILE]. I’m not ready to write comms yet. I need to clarify the story first. Guide me through the following steps to build a compressed, modular narrative that can later be adapted for different internal audiences and channels. 1️⃣ Strategic narrative framing ✅ What is the overarching story or transformation this strategy is trying to tell? ✅What is the one-sentence strategic core of this narrative? ✅What are the key shifts or chapters in the story? 2️⃣ Narrative compression ✅Break the strategy into no more than 5 modular narrative blocks or themes. ✅For each block: summarise it in 1–2 sentences, identify the strategic intent behind it, note any emotionally resonant language or metaphors that could carry through. 3️⃣ Audience relevance mapping ✅Who are the primary internal audiences? ✅Which narrative blocks are most relevant to whom? ✅What questions or concerns might the different audiences have? ✅What tone or framing will build trust with them? 4️⃣ Narrative risks & gaps ✅Are there any parts of the strategy that feel unclear, contradictory, or overly complex? ✅Are there missing links in the narrative? ✅Identify potential areas that may cause confusion, resistance, or misalignment, and suggest mitigation strategies. 5️⃣ Narrative readiness check ✅Is the compressed narrative clear, coherent, and strategically aligned? ✅What needs to be clarified or resolved before comms development begins? 6️⃣ Optional: Strategic reflection ✅“What does this narrative reveal about our organisation’s direction, tone, and priorities? Are there deeper themes we should reinforce over time?” 🔴Try this prompt with your next business strategy and see what emerges. You might be surprised what story is hiding in plain sight. ❓ What’s your approach to compressing strategy into a story that actually lands? I’d love to hear how you tackle this in your own comms work.

Why aren’t you turning internal meetings into content? Every week, your team drops gold in real-time: → A wild take on what’s happening in the industry → A client story that’s actually relatable → A win (or fail) with real insight baked in But it disappears. Because no one hits record. No one’s taking those down as notes. And no one owns the follow-up. Then the marketing team scrambles for “thought leadership content” like it’s hiding under a rock. Truth is, you don’t need more brainstorms. You need better capture. Start with this: Record the dang Zoom. Clip the good stuff. Ship it in multiple formats. Or: Designate someone to write down the best ideas. Schedule a follow-up. Build intentional takeaways in multiple formats to bake into the capture time that’s already on your calendar. Your best content is already happening. You’re just not capturing it yet.