No, internal communications is not dead
To the contrary, a designated team can ensure substantive conversations up and down the hierarchy so employees stay engaged and execs fully understand how the organization runs.
“Internal communications, as a narrowly defined function and approach, is dead.”
So sayeth Lucy Adams, former director of human resources and internal communications at BBC. She adds that “a fundamental re-think of communications—and, more important, relationships—with our employees is needed.”
According to a report from O’Dwyer, Adams asserted that the all-staff email at BBC is “possibly the most loathed of all internal communication.”
Well, no kidding. If Adams’ description defined the internal communications function, I’d have to agree. One distribution tactic, however, does not constitute the employee communications discipline as practiced by the best communicators and organizations.
Adams is not alone in predicting the demise of the employee communications function, however. PR agency CEO Gerard Corbett—a former PRSA chairman—penned a guest piece for SpinSucks last October in which he called internal communications “an anachronism.”
He wrote:
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