The Future of Internal Communication

In 2026, across the board, organisations are struggling to maintain team cohesion. With so many societal issues in need of resolution, and an inflammatory media whose success depends on sensationalist headlines that blame and shame, there’s no shortage of things to disagree on. This has profound consequences for organisations that desperately need group harmony for successful collaboration and inn...

Organisations face unprecedented levels of challenge. New technologies, economic and geopolitical instability and more create complexity on a scale most organisations are ill-equipped to address. Confusion reigns and most people at work struggle to know what to address first. But how much of our current work turmoil is compounded by out-of-date working practices and processes? How much day-to-day...

As new generative and agentic AI’s become commercially available, the way colleagues access and consume information and knowledge at work is set to transform. Rather than browse an intranet, soon colleagues will interact with AI agents that cross-reference, interpret, summarise proprietary information and deliver insights in a fashion that’s customised to the unique needs of each user. This presen...

AI continues to dominate boardroom conversations. As organisations race to achieve efficiency gains, a key question for all professions is the extent to which these new technologies will transform core responsibilities. While certain elements of internal communication are, and should always remain, uniquely human, other more transactional components can be automated. But breaking down workflows is...

The world of work has been in continuous flux since 2020. Every week another crisis emerges to further complicate the delivery of strategic objectives. This is stressful across the board. But what is it like for those who started work for the first time after COVID? What impact do continuously shifting work priorities and practices have on younger workers and the support they need to progress? In...

The UK's net zero sector is now growing three times faster than the broader economy. In summer 2025, the UK Office for Budget Responsibility confirmed that achieving net zero costs far less than inaction and renewable energy has become significantly cheaper faster than previously forecast. Yet most of this positive news doesn’t feature in the mainstream media, overshadowed by clickbait doom-monger...

Highly commended in the 2025 Business Book Awards, The Way We Talk Around Here offers a treasure trove for internal communicators. It examines the intricate interplay between culture and language, showcasing how the forensic analysis of language and discourse can accelerate organisational performance.   In this episode, Jen, Dom and Cat chat with Gill to learn about her work and what she has learn...

With no shortage of external crises to worry about, most forward-thinking organisations by now have devised a crisis communication plan, to assist and reassure colleagues in case of emergency. But what happens when crisis turns from temporary to sustained? How do people working under the threat of persistent danger maintain focus on core business objectives? In this episode, Dom, Jen and Cat talk...

This episode, Cat, Jen and Dom chat with Heidi Allan who heads up Employee Financial Wellbeing at pensions and investment advisory firm LCP. LCP’s research into financial wellbeing provides illuminating data points that link financial worries to poor engagement, in turn impacting wider organisational performance. Heidi’s work in this field highlights the benefits of offering financial education an...

Global economic uncertainty shows no sign of abate and most organisations face a challenging 2026. Headcount and budgets are under intense scrutiny and internal communication carries the additional threat of, in some quarters, GenerativeAI offering a plausible and more cost-efficient alternative to human contribution. Under such intense pressure, how can internal communicators successfully advocat...

Whether its geopolitical turmoil, AI, climate chaos, stakeholder activism or intergenerational differences, there’s no shortage of issues inhibiting organisational progress. But this is hardly surprising when we consider so many of the operating frameworks still in use today are now decades old. It’s time to introduce new ways of workplace organising. Dom, Jen and Cat welcome global HR thinker Per...

As economic instability continues to confound politicians across the spectrum, the UK labour market remains fragile. With more young people than ever before not in education, employment or training (NEET) and the ever-present threat of AI-induced job losses, internal communicators must find novel ways to marry the delivery of key organisational information with the concerns of increasingly stresse...

This year, the IoIC published a new whitepaper to explore the future of internal communication. As the only professional body dedicated to internal communication, it is invested in understanding how workplace communication will change and what this means for its members. It strives to understand both risk and opportunity. Next-generation technology paves the way for doing more human work – work th...

Award-winning author and business executive Margaret Heffernan has written extensively about uncertainty. Her book Uncharted: How to map the future became an instant bestseller and featured on Bloomberg’s Best Books of 2021 list. Her most recent book Embracing Uncertainty: How writers, musicians and artists thrive in an unpredictable world outlines how creatives use ambiguity to stimulate innovati...

The range of challenges confronting businesses today are constant, complex and deeply entangled. There is no rule book for this level of ambiguity and business leaders must grapple with the unknown on a daily basis. This requires an entirely different mindset and the ability to make sense of and interpret novel situations as they arise.   In this episode, Jen, Dom and Cat chat with coach and futur...

As economic, societal and environmental conditions deteriorate, social tensions are escalating. Some politicians use fear to fuel their own extreme agendas and it’s increasingly popular to blame others for the ills of the world. Nationalism and discrimination are at their worst in decades. This has significant negative impact on workplace cohesion as many feel increasingly marginalised.  Yet in co...

With a significant proportion of the UK already struggling to access basic online tools and services, digital accessibility is a key issue too few business or political leaders are addressing. Without urgent attention to educate and inform, already disadvantaged and vulnerable people and communities will continue to fall behind and miss out on the benefits AI has to offer, not least in addressing...

As multiple factors converge to create accelerating operating complexity and ambiguity for most organisations, leadership is under the microscope like never before. For his latest book, organisational psychologist and founder of APS Intelligence John Amaechi OBE explored a range of leadership techniques and found them to be eminently teachable skills, when thoughtfulness, integrity and effort are...

As late-stage capitalism continues to prioritise profit over people and planet, we are never far from a breaking news event about corporate corruption, greed or misconduct causing turmoil for those impacted. But more often than not, internal wrongdoing will have taken place for months and years before whistles are blown and affairs are made public.   In this episode, Cat and Jen chat with former p...

Since the start of 2025, DEI initiatives across the board have been deprioritised. This has left many people, most acutely those in already vulnerable groups, feeling marginalised and anxious. This level of anxiety undermines organisational performance and fuels the already spiralling mental health crisis.   In this episode, Dr. Christopher Owen draws on his decade of experience in LGBTQ+ inclusiv...

As time hurtles by at lighting pace, there is scarcely a second to take stock and breathe. Across the world, work seems increasingly harried and fraught and it’s taking its toll on engagement and organisational performance. In this episode, Dom, Jen and Cat talk with Megan Reitz and John Higgins about their most recent research report, Permission to pause: Rediscovering spaciousness at work. They...

Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace research reveals a drop in global engagement for only the second time in twelve years. In particular, it shows a sharp drop in manager engagement. This is particularly concerning at a time when all organisations need unity, cohesion and goodwill to combat increasingly challenging market conditions. Shetal Joshi has been a lifelong advocate for the soul o...

As economic conditions deteriorate, fears of redundancy and anxiety regarding the cost of living once again grip the UK. Financial wellbeing is a key pillar of wider health and wellbeing. Sadly, it’s often overlooked by employers striving to tick the box of colleague wellbeing in the most efficient way possible. Having struggled with debt through his twenties and thirties, Peter Komolafe is today...

Workplaces across the board are increasingly challenged by complex problems that demand an overhaul of the way work itself is undertaken. AI, geopolitical tensions, shifting attitudes to work, intergenerational differences, the climate crisis and more can easily create internal rifts and tensions that are hard to overcome. Unless, of course, the organisation makes a full-blooded commitment to conn...

Cancer is a word that instils dread into all of us. Long regarded as a disease with no cure, today, one in two of us will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in our lifetime. This means we will all know someone who has to deal with the implications of this illness, whether for themselves or for a close family member or friend. Yet despite the escalating prevalence of the disease and improved su...