Hey there, I'm Devin!
Most of the time you can catch me deep in the world of internal comms at Workshop (yes, the Happy Mondays folks!), and while I love AI, there are just some comms questions that need a human who really gets it… that’s me!
Devin, our organization has been through a major transformation and restructuring over the last two years. We’ve moved away from formal leaders toward “work leaders” delivering on 90-day outcomes, and through this change, communities of practice have been stood up — one of which is operations and communications within product supply. There’s so much opportunity for this team to be consistent and impactful if we truly developed a communications plan, but our work leader is missing the impact this team could have on employee engagement and communication. What’s your recommendation on how to help this person see the vision?
Here’s the thing I keep coming back to with questions like this one: the barrier isn’t usually that people don’t care about communication. It’s that nobody’s really shown them what good communication could look like for them, and once you do that, it’s almost like a light bulb goes off!
So I’d start with the mindset that everyone is an internal communicator… yes, everyone! They’re already communicating whether they realize it or not, the question is just whether they’re doing it intentionally/strategically. And that’s actually your opening — because your job here isn’t to convince your work leader that comms matters in the abstract, it’s to show them what organized, intentional communication could do for the outcomes they’re already accountable for. Connect it to those 90-day deliverables and ask whether cleaner, more consistent communication would help the team move faster and keep less from falling through the cracks. That’s a conversation most leaders are ready to have.
From there, make it as easy as possible for them to say “yes”. Templates are going to be your BFF! A simple comms plan template, maybe a newsletter format they can just plug content into. You’re not asking anyone to become a communicator overnight, you’re just removing the friction to get them rolling. At Workshop I’ve found that the moment you stop asking people to figure out how to communicate and just hand them a starting point, the resistance drops pretty quickly. People are a lot more willing to engage when the lift feels manageable.
The other framing worth trying, especially with skeptical leaders, is to position this as professional development rather than a comms initiative. The skills that come from learning to communicate clearly, cascade information, and keep a team aligned? Those travel. They’re useful way beyond this community of practice. That shifts the conversation from “can you add this to your plate” to “here’s something that’s actually going to make you better at your job.” A much easier yes to get.
Anyways! All this might feel like pushing a wagon uphill for a bit, but once the knowledge starts flowing and people see what’s possible, it tends to get easier!
