It's now time for us to change the record:
A once-in-a-generation moment for internal communication

Lee Smith

Minutes
12th December 2025
Employee Experience
Internal Communications
Podcast
Every album has a final track that does more than wrap things up. It pulls the threads together. It says the thing that’s been building all the way through. Track 6 of The Stuck Record, our people-first podcast, is that moment.
This episode isn’t about tools, tactics or trends. It’s a manifesto. A line in the sand. A clear statement of belief about what internal communication needs to become — and why now is the moment to act.

After five tracks exploring how IC got stuck, Track 6 turns to the future and asks a simple but confronting question: Do we stay where we are — or do we change the record?

In the episode, we reflect on the moments that revealed just how much potential the profession has — and how often it’s slipped through our fingers.

COVID was one of those moments.

For a brief period, internal communication became essential. Leaders listened. Budgets appeared. New channels were created. IC wasn’t just informing, it was holding organisations together.

But as the pressure eased, many organisations snapped back to old habits. Control returned. Broadcast returned. The seat at the table quietly disappeared.

What Track 6 argues is that COVID wasn’t a failure — it was a preview.

It showed what internal communication can be when it’s trusted, human and strategically embedded. And now, with AI reshaping work at speed, the profession has been given another — perhaps final — opportunity to redefine its role.

One of the most important reframes in Track 6 is this:
AI is not the threat to internal communication. The old operating system is.

For decades, IC has been built on a model designed for another age — one rooted in control, broadcast, messaging and channels. It’s a system that rewards output over impact, polish over purpose, and activity over experience.

And that’s why the same frustrations keep coming back, year after year:
– “How do we get a seat at the table?”
– “Why don’t managers communicate better?”
– “Why aren’t people engaging?”

The episode is blunt about this: if the system hasn’t worked for years, the answer isn’t to work harder inside it — it’s to replace it.

At the centre of Track 6 is the People-First Internal Communication Manifesto — not as a rulebook, but as a compass.

It sets out a clear belief system for the future of the profession:
– Communication is about connection, not control
– We design experiences, not just messages
– We co-design instead of cascading
– We lead with listening
– We put purpose before polish
– We prototype, test and learn
– We design for real lives, not ideal users
– We shape trust, not just content
– We influence systems, not just outputs
– We humanise the organisation — we don’t serve it.

This isn’t about permission, job titles or expertise. It’s about the small, intentional choices communicators make every day — and the courage to do things differently, even when it feels uncomfortable.

The future of internal communication won’t be decided by AI, frameworks or leadership rhetoric. It will be shaped by practitioners who choose to design with people, not just communicate at them.

That’s what People-First Internal Communication is really about. And that’s why Track 6 feels less like an ending — and more like a beginning.

Listen to Track 6: Change the Record — Our People-First IC Manifesto 

Available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all major platforms.