This article – written by Kate – originally appeared in the June 2025 CollectivNews – the CommsCollectiv enewsletter on June 2, 2025. To learn more about CommsCollectiv, visit commscollectiv.com.
I was having a convo with another Comms leader recently about internal communications and how to deal with things that cause chaos among employees – like layoffs, mergers and acquisitions, etc.
Internal Comms is complicated, particularly as orgs scale or go through any sort of change. The toolbox of communicating with employees usually includes things like (hopefully) a thoughtful narrative, paired with a lot of tactics or channels:
- Company town halls / all hands
- “Ask me anything” leadership meetings
- Internal newsletters
- Some sort of internal site or app
- Slack or messaging channels
Despite all of the above and more, there seems to always be a pervasive level of drama: the unquenchable need for more info from employees, the execs’ fear that information will be leaked, etc. It’s an overall distrust between the employee base and anyone with a leadership title and no amount of messages or channels seem to solve it.
These issues – which directly impact productivity and the ability to hit targets – only get worse the more change or growth that occurs within an organization and the more perceived instability that exists in the market. (aka: everything going on now)
So, how do you fix this?
Answer: Train people managers and leaders in communication skills. Specifically in active listening and de-escalation.
[It’s worth mentioning that there is also a lack of training around empathy, though it’s already a buzzword that most assume is some innate quality or a mystical trait that is always perfect, as long as it’s in the room. It’s not. Correctly applying empathy in a work setting is still a skill.]
There is a long-standing issue that has become markedly worse in the past decade or so, where companies stopped providing skills training to people managers. Sure, new managers may get trained on company-specific workflows or ‘norms,’ maybe they read a book like ‘The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” or learn how executive dynamics work. Those are all helpful, but when was the last time you saw training on how to not be awkward or how to ask questions of an irate employee?
A lot of orgs think that as long as select, accurate information is cascaded down, everything will be fine. But is it ever? The very premise of that is, in fact, problematic:
- It assumes all people managers understand everything the same way and are all on the same page in delivering information (be so for real – when has this ever happened?)
- It sparks a parent-child type relationship between leadership and employees which is rife with issues because work relationships are not familial.
- It ignores departmental or geographic subcultures because people usually don’t have the bandwidth to even consider these factors, let alone customize communications for them.
Cascading information through any multi-layered org therefore becomes a messed up game of telephone, where people’s happiness and livelihood, and a business’s success are all on the line. It becomes particularly detrimental if managers aren’t skilled in communication basics.
This post isn’t meant to provide that training, but some tidbits to consider regarding active listening and de-escalation:
Active Listening
- Listening ≠ waiting to talk
- As a manager, it’s not about you, regardless of any turmoil you’re going through.
- Don’t be weird when you reflect back or paraphrase to confirm understanding
- Put your phone out of sight (not just face down on the table). If on zoom, don’t be looking around the room or at another screen. Turn off your slack notifications.
De-escalation
- Doing this well requires active listening, so revisit the above first.
- Be careful not to use dismissive phrases, body language, or facial expressions
- Maintain inner and outer calm: This involves emotional mastery of yourself and being able to project a collected, balanced, and solutions-oriented state, even if you’re stressed out, don’t have all the information, or disagree with a direction.
Leaders, if your goal is sustained productivity, clarity, and executional excellence, then strong internal communications is a must. Achieving that means investing in training your people. Start by asking your head of comms for help – they know how to do this. (And if you don’t have one, maybe consider a fractional comms leader to come in and assess or help with this).
Bonus thought: in addition to great communication skills, leaders also need to know who the real influencers on the team are. The people who everyone goes to for “the scoop” or who people look to for honesty and comfort in stressful situations. These people can be anyone in an org because it usually depends on their personality or some other intangible like ‘a vibe.’ But managers and leaders should – without ego – know who these individuals are and work to have trusting relationships with them.
