PAUL JONES,
HEAD OF INSIGHT
Timing, trust and the tech curve – top trends of Q2
April to June edition
Somehow we’re nearly half-way to 2027. So as we hurtle through Q2, here’s the latest in our regular round-ups of what clients have been grappling with in the last few months, and what we’re advising them to do next.
How do we make sure our employees see important messages?
Our Insight team has been running internal communication research projects for nearly 20 years, and in that time they’ve seen a lot.
But there was one comment in a recent focus group that really stood out for our team.
In the last few months, we’ve heard from employees in all kinds of organisations and roles that they’re overwhelmed. Their workloads are going up, and they’re being bombarded with messages from multiple channels. In fact, one company we worked with had 13 different platforms in play.
But this comment was one of the most striking we’ve ever heard in our research. Somebody told us: “Unless an email says ‘we’re going out of business’, then I don’t care.”
This employee was so short of time that they had to block out anything that wasn’t directly relevant to their day-to-day work. So unless a message was critical, it had to be ignored.
The Institute of Internal Communication and Ipsos Karian & Box’s 2026 IC Index highlighted a 10-minute window that employees have to engage with communications each day; and we’ve worked with organisations where most of their people have five minutes or less.
So how can we help employees to use that window efficiently? How can we make sure they don’t miss what’s important?
As ever, there isn’t a single magic button to address the issue. The key is to blend a few different approaches.
So at Sequel we encourage our clients to SPRINT to a solution:
Simplify
Carry out user research to understand what your colleagues really need; and to clarify how your tools and channels fit together as a result.
Prioritise
Get the basics right to help people get to what they need, through clear signposting and calls to action.
Reinforce
Support and equip your line manager community to reinforce and translate key business messages.
Individualise
Tailor the experience to avoid ‘sending everything to everyone all the time’.
Navigate
Help your employees to find their way around your channel mix, with guides and governance.
Transform
Make sure you’re adapting your thinking and skills for new tools, such as helping AI platforms to generate accurate summaries of your content.
Together with Sequel Director Nick Andrews I talked about the SPRINT approach in a recent webinar for the VMA Group. Watch the recording of ‘Why Every Second Counts’ here.
“An employee who understands the rationale for change is significantly more likely to feel positive about communications overall”
How can we build trust in communications?
The 2026 IC Index showed that trust is declining – in managers, leadership teams and CEOs.
This reinforces what we’re seeing in our own work, where people in many organisations are telling us that they’re frustrated by inconsistent messaging around topics such as hybrid working, and slow communication around change programmes.
We’ve also heard stories about announcements that lack important detail, so they lead to follow-up questions that managers are unable to answer.
But according to our research, the key factor in falling trust is people not understanding the reasons for change. Indeed, many studies have found that when people understand the reasons for change, they’re more likely to accept it.
And we’ve seen in most of our recent projects that an employee who understands the rationale for change is significantly more likely to feel positive about communications overall. So there’s a tangible reason to invest in this area.
With that in mind, how can organisations build trust?
Trust is built through consistency, clarity and credible delivery, especially in periods of uncertainty.
When messaging focuses only on what’s changing and doesn’t explain the context, people will fill in the gaps themselves, often negatively.
So the most important activity isn’t a complicated one, it’s more about making sure that you always do it – explaining the ‘why’. Every message must have the context and rationale explained.
At the most basic level, the word to keep in mind is ‘because’. For instance:
• We’re introducing Viva Engage because it will help us to stay connected, develop our community, and share our ideas.
Reinforcement through line managers is also crucial here. When managers lack detail or confidence, trust breaks down. So providing them with clear briefings, FAQs and support helps them to translate messages and helps messages to land with clarity.
You can also focus on in-person activities to build trust. Seeing someone live can add a layer of reassurance that a recorded video may not fully provide in this AI-enabled world.
In-person interaction, whether a team meeting or Town Hall event, can provide a richer experience through body language and other cues that help to build trust.
Are we behind the curve with AI adoption?
Internal Communication teams have a unique role in organisations that are working to embed AI.
From one direction they are usually feeling pressure from business leaders to incorporate AI tools into their day-to-day work.
And from another, they typically have responsibility for spreading the AI message across their business.
This creates a dual challenge: not only adopting AI effectively, but doing so in a way that builds confidence and understanding across a diverse workforce.
We’ve been hearing from many IC teams that they’re still unsure what AI means for their roles.
Yes, some are leading the way (and here we should give a shout out to our friends at Elsevier, particularly Sarah Meurer, who has spoken so impressively about AI at several IC events recently). But many are still finding their feet.
Gallup research shows that just 12% of US employees are using AI every day. While another US study found that one in three employees is actively sabotaging AI implementation by refusing to use AI tools, using unapproved apps, or generating low-quality output to make AI look ineffective (from a Writer / Workplace Intelligence report).
So what can you do if you feel that everyone else has the answers, and you’re being left behind?
In the last couple of weeks we’ve heard from three IC teams who have been given the target of ‘increasing AI adoption’ this year. Unfortunately, their leadership teams failed to define what that means, or how the business will know if that goal has been achieved.
So this is the first step: setting some realistic and measurable targets.
And in many ways, we can learn from the experience of launching and embedding digital workplace platforms in the last few years. As well as clear goals, the most successful projects had elements such as:
- Joined-up thinking across workstreams, to avoid people doing their own thing. Because once the genie is out of the bottle, it’s impossible (or at least very difficult) to put it back
- A champion or ambassador network to support the core team, identify local issues and share feedback
- A communications playbook, so everyone knows the story you’re telling and how you’re going to tell it
- Interactive team sessions, giving everyone an opportunity to test, play and learn
- Regular measurement, to refine the approach as you go.
At the same time, IC teams need to apply AI tools to their own work. But the priority is not adoption for its own sake; the key is making sure that any use of AI actually improves the way you work.
So in most cases there’s no need to rush into creating super-smart AI agents that can automate your regular tasks. That can come later.
For now, think about the things you do as a team, and consider whether or not there is a role for AI within those activities. And if there is, decide how you’re going to apply it, and test to see whether or not it’s really helping and speeding up your work.
Get in touch with Paul, our Head of Insight, at paul.jones@sequelgroup.co.uk to talk about the trends we’re seeing, and how Sequel can help you tackle your communication and engagement challenges this year.
