Generic comms are dead. Here’s what to do instead.

Lee Smith

Minutes
2nd October 2025
People-First Internal Comms
Human centred
Employee experience

For too long, internal communication has relied on a blunt tool: the blanket message. Everyone gets the same email, the same town hall, the same intranet post—regardless of role, context, or need.

And yet… how often does that land?

Employees skim. They miss the point. Or worse—they feel unseen, unheard, and disengaged.

The truth is simple: one-size-fits-all comms almost always fail.
The Pain Points: Why Blanket Comms Break Down
  1. Relevance is missing.
    What matters to frontline staff often looks very different from what resonates with senior managers. A single “catch-all” update risks being irrelevant to both.
  2. Noise drowns meaning.
    Employees are already overwhelmed by messages. Generic updates become wallpaper—background noise that people filter out.
  3. Lack of empathy.
    When we fail to show we understand people’s real concerns, motivations, and challenges, we lose credibility.
  4. Missed opportunity to inspire.
    Messages that could connect deeply and shift behaviour instead end up as transactional broadcasts.


What People-First IC Does Differently

In our upcoming Kogan Page book, People-First Internal Communication (out this December), we argue that IC needs to stop thinking in terms of “messages” and start designing experiences. That means leaning into:

  • Nuance → recognising the diverse realities across your workforce.
  • Empathy → stepping into employees’ shoes and seeing what change feels like for them.
  • Insight → using data, dialogue, and feedback to tailor communication that actually resonates.

And here’s where the partnership with AI comes in. AI can help you analyse sentiment, identify patterns, and tailor content faster than ever before. But AI alone isn’t the answer. It’s when you combine machine efficiency with human empathy and creativity that you get comms that truly land.

Instead of one-size-fits-all, People-First IC is about human-centred design—augmented by AI, powered by human strengths.

How to Fix It: Practical Shifts You Can Make
  1. Segment smartly.
    Don’t just slice by hierarchy. Segment by employee needs, mindsets, and moments that matter. AI can help you spot these patterns.
  2. Co-create with employees.
    Involve people in shaping comms. Test ideas. Ask them what works. Human input keeps things real and relevant.
  3. Tell layered stories.
    Start with a unifying narrative, then adapt how it’s delivered so every group sees themselves in the story.
  4. Design experiences, not emails.
    Think journeys, touchpoints, and emotional impact—not just a sequence of outputs.


The Value: From “Push” to “Pull”

When you move beyond one-size-fits-all, comms stop feeling like something “done to” employees. Instead, they become experiences that people actually want to engage with—because they feel relevant, respectful, and human.

AI can help you scale and sharpen this. But it’s your empathy, creativity, and cultural intelligence that make it meaningful. That’s the winning combination.

Ready to Go Deeper?

This is just the surface. In our book, People-First Internal Communication, we break down the frameworks, methods, and practical tools you can use to design truly people-first communication. Pre order now at tinyurl.com/peoplefirstIC

And if you want the full toolkit—diagnostics, templates, and real-world examples—they’re all available exclusively to members of The EX Space.

👉 Join The EX Space today to access the tools and start designing comms that work for people, not just for process.