One of the most interesting things about this type of work is that every session has a different dynamic, depending on who’s attending. As one of the project team said to me: “Every group is a box of surprises!” 

And it got me thinking about the contrast between the various projects I work on. Some are fairly unpredictable – like facilitating a training session, where people might be loud, quiet, experienced, new to the job, cynical or positive.

Whereas if I’m running a communication research project, I can be quietly confident that I’ll be able to predict the broad themes that employees will bring to the surface. After 25 years in internal comms, there isn’t too much that surprises me.

There are still a few moments capable of providing the unexpected though. I vividly remember the time an interviewee started crying on my shoulder during a conversation about her organisation’s approach to communication. It turned out that she’d been having an incredibly frustrating time at work, feeling like she wasn’t being listened to, and I just happened to be the first person who showed up and showed an interest in what she had to say.

The unsurprising six

Generally, when I’m starting a new research project I have a pretty good idea of what the core themes might be. Of course I’m always careful to really listen openly to what’s important to people, but these are the top six themes I’ve heard time and time again, particularly in the last 10 years.

1. Employees feel overwhelmed every day – by the number of tools and channels they have, and by the volume of content within those channels. This is the most common complaint we hear by far. Typical comment: “I’ve set up an email rule to automatically delete any emails from Internal Comms, because if it’s important I’ll find out another way.”
2. People don’t know where to go to get the information they need, or which tool to use for any given task. For instance, often we’ll find that an organisation is using three or four different tools for holding online meetings. How are you supposed to know which one is ‘correct’? Or where to go to get the information to find out?
3. The intranet is broken: the navigation is clunky, the search doesn’t work, and sections are inconsistent. A common complaint is “It’s very dated, and doesn’t feel very ‘us’.”
4. Line managers need more comms support. They’ll regularly tell us that they’ve never had any guidance or training around how to be a good communicator – they’re expected to ‘just know’. They want to be good at it. And they’re usually frustrated because they have minimal time to prepare a briefing.
5. There’s a lack of trust in leadership communication. Bad news is ignored, or even spun to make it seem like it’s actually good news.
6. People don’t feel heard. They submit ideas that then disappear into a black hole. They’re asked for feedback. They take the time to share feedback through surveys and never find out how that information was used. They see leaders making decisions that don’t reflect the reality of day-to-day life, especially on the front line.