5 Tell-Tale Signs Your Internal Comms Are Sick (Time for a Health Check)

Because no one wants to be the company with comms on life support.

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1. You’re Talking... But No One’s Listening

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You’ve crafted the perfect all-staff email, hit send, and… tumbleweeds.
If your engagement stats are flatter than a pancake, you might have an internal comms problem. According to Gallup, only 21% of employees feel engaged at work. And communication plays a massive role in that.

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Maybe your messages are too long, too frequent, or too jargon-heavy. (Or maybe everyone’s just bored of hearing from CommsBot3000.)

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Time to run a Comms Health Check and find out what’s working, what’s not, and what needs a defibrillator. Or an escort to the exit.

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And when did you last seriously think about your tone of voice? For many, it’s somewhere between “ooooh, that was a fair few years ago now” and never.

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Too formal, and people switch off. Too flippant, and they stop trusting the message. Your internal tone of voice is like your brand’s handshake: it sets the mood, builds connection, and shows employees you get them.

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Get it wrong, and your people feel like you’re talking at them, not to them. Get it right, and they lean in, because it sounds human, real, and recognisably you.

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2. Your Leaders Are Broadcasting, Not Conversing

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There’s nothing more 2005 than one-way “leadership comms.” If your senior team are still firing off monologues instead of sparking conversations, your people won’t feel heard or valued. Or that they belong.

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Modern internal comms are about dialogue. Two-way channels, video Q&As, live polls… anything that gives employees a voice.
Want to turn your leaders from talkers into connectors? We can help with that. Just check out our Comms Strategy services.

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3. Your Channels Are a Hot Mess

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You’ve got Teams, Slack, email, intranet, Yammer, carrier pigeons, a couple of stained noticeboards... and somehow people still say, “I didn’t know about that!”
If your comms ecosystem is chaotic, it’s time for a spring clean.

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A good health check maps what channels you have, what people actually use, and what can be streamlined. Less noise = more clarity. Our Internal Comms Health Check digs into all this so you can finally stop shouting into the void.

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(By the way, we also have a completely free Channel Matrix you can download and complete if you want to have a go at this yourself. It’s a great place to start!)

4. Your Videos Are More “Corporate Snooze” Than “Netflix Hit”

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As I was blithering on about last time I wrote, videos are the golden ticket of internal comms. At least, they are when they’re done right. Short, human, story-driven clips can boost engagement by up to 65% compared to text-only messages (says HubSpot).

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But if your videos look like hostage statements (bland background, stiff delivery, monotone voiceovers), your audience will scroll right past.

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Our Video Creation service helps you bring personality, polish, and playfulness to your internal content.

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5. Your Teams Don’t Know the “Why”

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When employees don’t understand why things are happening, they disengage faster than you can say “change fatigue.”
According to McKinsey, clear communication increases the success rate of change initiatives by 3.5x.

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If your people are rolling their eyes at every “strategic update,” you’re not telling the story well enough. A proper Comms Strategy refresh ensures your messages connect emotionally, not just intellectually.

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So… Is Your Comms Heart Still Beating?

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If a few of these symptoms sound familiar, don’t panic! You’re not alone.

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If you’d like us to, we’d love to help reveal the root causes and give you a clear, simple plan to fix them. We’ll assess your channels, content, culture, and clarity. No jargon, no judgement, just actionable insights.

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Think of it like a full-body MOT for your comms. Except with more personality, better laughs, and fewer awkward waiting rooms with bad coffee.

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