Internal Communications Starts With Listening, Not Publishing
Internal communications doesn’t fail because people don’t know how to write; it fails because people don’t know how to listen. In a recent Forbes Communications Council article, Metova’s Chief Creative Officer, Cade Collister, shared a simple but often overlooked truth: most internal comms fail because they sound right but land wrong. The tone may be polished. The logic may be airtight. The slides may look great. But if the message doesn’t reflect what employees are actually thinking, feeling or reacting to in real time, it misses. And when internal communications misses, trust erodes quietly.
Reading the Room
“They need to get better at reading the room before they write the message. Most internal comms fail because they sound right but land wrong. Spend time listening without an agenda, sit in real meetings, watch what people actually react to, then write like you’re talking to one person, not a workforce.” – Cade Collister, Metova
This means slowing down before drafting, sitting in meetings that aren’t yours, listening without preparing your response, and watching what people react to — not what leadership hopes they react to. Internal communicators are often positioned downstream from decisions. The message is already formed, and the job becomes refinement and distribution.
Strategic communicators move upstream. They ask:
- What is the emotional temperature of the organization right now?
- What fatigue are people carrying?
- What assumptions are we making that employees may not share?
Before writing a message, you need to understand the environment it will land in, because context determines reception.
Why Messages “Sound Right” But Land Wrong
There’s a common pattern in internal communications: Leadership is clear. The strategy makes sense. The business case is strong. Yet the message triggers confusion, frustration or disengagement. Why? Because the audience is not evaluating clarity — they’re evaluating credibility and relevance.
Employees don’t ask:
“Is this logically structured?”
They ask:
“Does this reflect my reality?”
“Does leadership understand what this feels like on the ground?”
“Was this decision made with people like me in mind?”
When communicators don’t read the room first, messaging becomes performative.
Listening Without an Agenda
True room-reading requires listening without the goal of defending, correcting or shaping narrative.
Spend time:
- In frontline conversations
- In project retrospectives
- In informal Slack threads
- In meetings where friction shows up
Notice:
- What they push back on
- What drains energy
- What creates alignment organically
Data dashboards show engagement metrics, while your team shows emotional signals. Both matter, but only one tells you whether your next message will resonate.
Writing Like You’re Talking to One Person
Instead of writing to “the organization,” you write to a person. Internal communication isn’t broadcast media. It’s relationship management at scale. When you write as if you’re speaking to one thoughtful individual:
- You remove corporate filler.
- You eliminate defensive language.
- You speak plainly about what’s changing and why.
- You acknowledge uncertainty where it exists.
Employees need clarity and credibility.
Instead of simply announcing decisions, communicators help shape how decisions are introduced, framed and absorbed.
Other Contributions in the Forbes Article
The full article features insights from 20 communications leaders. Other perspectives include:
- Behavioral Insight – Alanood Aldhaher, American University of Sharjah
- Message Persistence – Sherri Schwartz, OvationCXM
- Crafting Effective AI Prompts – Elizabeth Baskin, Tribe, Inc.
- Understanding the Business – Mike Neumeier, Arketi Group
- Judgment – Jessica Wong, Valux Digital
- Strategic Listening Built Through Dialogue – Barbara Puszkiewicz-Cimino, SUMMIT One Vanderbilt
- Using AI for Documentation – Alexi Lambert Leimbach, Xcellimark
- Audience-First Strategic Thinking – Alyssa Kopelman, Otsuka Precision Health
- Establishing Executive Trust – Camille Weleschuk, ATB Financial
- Two-Way Communication Systems – Jonas Barck, Mentimeter
- Patience – Ellen Sluder
- Change Management Discipline – Mark Dollins, North Star Communications Consulting
- Listening First – David Grossman, The Grossman Group
- Building Systems-Thinking Skills – Emily Burroughs, EB Connection
- Honesty – Harold Bell, MQL Magnet
- Empathy – Marie O’Riordan, The Croí Initiative
- Sensemaking – Katie Jewett, UPRAISE Marketing + Public Relations
- Conciseness – Lyndsi Stevens, LM Stevens LLC
- Networking – Victoria Zelefsky, Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation
