Editorial
Organizations’ internal communication functions are more critical — and more fragile — than ever. The constant flood of information leaves employees in a perpetual state of TL;DR, skimming past key updates. Leaders spend hours crafting communications and companies pour resources into messaging that barely lands.
The result? A $2 trillion annual productivity drain in U.S. organizations.
The data confirms the growing disconnect. A staggering 71% of employees don't read email and other internal communications. According to Gallagher's 2025 Employee Communications Report, "change fatigue" ranks among the top five barriers to communications success for the first time, with 44% of HR leaders viewing it as a key battleground.
This crisis in organizational communication isn't just a matter of inefficiency — it’s a fundamental misalignment between how companies communicate and how the human brain processes information. By understanding the brain mechanisms that influence how employees receive, interpret and act on communications, organizations can transform their approach to achieve higher impact with less noise.
From Alarm to Alertness: The Brain Science of Clear Communication
Communication challenges are especially prevalent during periods of organizational change and societal uncertainty. Many internal communications professionals find themselves tasked with delivering difficult messages without adequate support or resources.
When organizations communicate during uncertainty — or fail to communicate at all — they can trigger what scientists call a threat response in the brain. The resulting stress diverts energy away from the thinking centers of the brain and has a direct impact on productivity, engagement and decision-making abilities.
Adding to this, Axioshq reports that less than 50% of employees know where to find important company information. In this information vacuum, human brains naturally fill gaps with assumptions — often worst-case scenarios. This isn't merely frustrating. It's cognitively taxing and drains mental resources that could otherwise support innovation and productivity.
"In the absence of communication, people will fill in the blank to provide clarity for themselves," I explain to employee experience leaders during workshops. "Their locus of control — where they place blame — will fall somewhere between themselves and the organization."
The solution isn't more communication, but strategic communication that shifts employees from alarm to alertness. The alert brain remains engaged, attentive and solution-focused. It doesn't waste energy on fight-or-flight chemistry.
Action Steps:
- Create Clarity Checkpoints: Schedule regular, predictable communication touchpoints. The ritual of bringing people together activates reward networks in the brain, while sharing an agenda and enabling dialogue builds trust and provides opportunities for human connection — even when there's no new information to share.
- Define Brain-Friendly Channels: Knowledge workers switch between apps up to 1,200 times daily. Reduce cognitive load by clearly defining which channels serve which purposes, creating predictability that helps employees manage their attention.
- Communicate Across Modalities: Address different learning and listening styles by sharing important information through multiple formats (written, visual, audio). Research shows that storytelling narratives significantly improve retention, while quality visuals reduce processing time and improve comprehension. AI tools can now generate multiple formats from a single source, making it feasible to create podcasts, videos and visual summaries without multiplying workload.
The Business Impact of Communication-Induced Stress
Modern workplace pressures create a perfect storm for communication breakdowns. Communication teams often face competing demands from different stakeholders. According to Gallagher's 2025 Employee Communications Report, low capacity (49%) and change fatigue (44%) rank as the top barriers to communications success.
These capacity constraints often manifest in specific scenarios: Internal communications teams working extended hours preparing for company meetings, only to have stakeholders request significant changes at the last minute. Without established boundaries and protocols, these patterns create chronic stress that affects decision-making and message quality.
This operational dysfunction translates directly to business costs. Poor communication costs businesses up to $62.4 million annually, according to Speakap research. The downstream effects compound when we consider:
- Only 7% of workers strongly agree that workplace communication is accurate, timely and open
- 47% of employees feel inadequate communication directly impacts trust in leadership
- 84% of employees rely on their manager for company information, yet 59% of managers who oversee one to two employees and 41% of those overseeing three to five employees report receiving no training
The business case for improved communication is clear. When internal communications are designed to support clarity, organizations see measurable improvements in productivity, engagement and retention.
One internal communications leader I coached established this goal: "Create a purpose-driven approach to leadership that inspires trust, helps people feel cared for and delivers information clearly." Within six months, her team implemented systems that transformed how information flowed through the organization, ultimately being recognized as "value-adding pros" by the executive team.
The return on investment from well-executed communications comes through reduced turnover, higher engagement and measurable productivity gains. Willis Towers Watson research found that companies with effective communication had 47% higher total returns to shareholders over five years.
Action Steps:
- Implement Communication Training: Equip managers with the skills to communicate effectively, especially during uncertainty. Given the high percentage of employees who rely on managers for information, this investment yields substantial returns.
- Create Stress-Reduction Frameworks: Provide templates, guidelines and scripts that help leaders communicate clearly and consistently, particularly during periods of change or uncertainty.
- Measure What Matters: Track metrics that determine if employee experience is optimized or deteriorating. Beyond open rates and click-throughs, measure comprehension, trust levels and action taken through brief pulse surveys aligned with business objectives.
The Personalization Paradox: Alignment Without Echo Chambers
"How do we personalize communication without creating more content to manage or stretching our already limited capacity?" This is a common question among internal communications leaders. It highlights a fundamental challenge: balancing personalized messaging with realistic workloads and cohesive organizational voice.
The concern extends beyond workload management. In today's information landscape, people increasingly consume content from sources that align with their existing beliefs, creating echo chambers that limit exposure to diverse perspectives. Organizations must navigate this reality by personalizing content without fragmenting their culture or creating corporate information silos.
The brain filters information ruthlessly based on perceived relevance. Simpplr's 2025 report notes that internal communicators face "ongoing pressure to deliver personalized content across numerous channels to increasingly dispersed teams, often in multiple languages."
Understanding how the brain processes information offers a solution to this paradox. Personalization doesn't necessarily mean more content. It means more relevant content that connects to organizational values and goals. Our brains prioritize information that directly impacts our objectives, identity or well-being, while filtering out what seems irrelevant.
This insight reveals the path forward: create a centralized hub of core messaging connected to shared organizational values, with personalized channels that help employees see their specific role in advancing these shared objectives.
Action Steps:
- Design a Hub-and-Spoke System: Establish centralized information hubs (dashboards, newsletters, all-hands meetings) that communicate core messages, with specialized channels that contextualize this information for specific teams, departments or roles.
- Implement Modular Content with AI Support: Build systems where core messages remain consistent while supporting details vary by audience. AI can help scale this approach by generating tailored variations of key messages for different departments, roles or locations while maintaining consistent core themes. For example, a company-wide announcement about a strategic initiative might include AI-assisted customized sections explaining how different departments will contribute to its success.
- Connect to Shared Values: Frame communications within the context of organizational values and goals. This creates alignment across diverse teams while allowing for personalized implementation.
- Harness Technology Thoughtfully: While AI can help scale personalization efforts, preserve human oversight for emotional intelligence and cultural nuance. As Staffbase notes, "The most important career skill in an AI-powered future might be to be exceptional at dealing with other humans."
Internal Communication as a Strategic Business Function
Research from Harvard Business Review reveals that two-thirds of managers are uncomfortable communicating with employees, despite 84% of employees relying on managers for company information. This striking statistic highlights a critical gap in organizational capabilities.
Communication isn't merely information transmission — it directly influences how people think, feel and act. When treated as a strategic function rather than an administrative task, it transforms organizational outcomes and provides internal communications leaders with the executive influence they need.
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As one leader told me: "I'm operating at a Senior Director level and am seen as a key strategic voice by leadership, even if the formal title hasn't caught up yet. My influence and contributions are recognized, even at the highest levels."
Additionally, when leaders demonstrate accountability and follow through on commitments made in communications, they build trust. Actions and words must align. When they don't, the inconsistency triggers those stress responses that undermine even the most carefully crafted messages.
Action Steps:
- Secure a Seat at the Table: Position internal communications as a strategic function with direct reporting lines to top leadership. This ensures communications professionals can influence key decisions before they're made, rather than simply communicating what's already been decided.
- Close the Feedback Loop: Demonstrate how feedback received through communications channels influences decision-making. This builds trust in the process and encourages continued engagement.
- Align Communications with Business Objectives: Ensure every major communication initiative has clear ties to specific business outcomes, making the ROI more visible to both leadership and employees at all levels of the organization.
The Neuroscience Approach: Transforming Internal Communications
The future of internal communications isn't about more channels, fancier productions or even cutting-edge technology. It's about aligning communications with how the brain actually works and connecting these insights to business outcomes.
The NeuroSavvy® approach to internal communications integrates three key elements:
- Moving from alarm to alertness by providing consistent communication rhythms that create clarity even during uncertainty.
- Reducing workplace stress through structured communication that directly improves decision-making, innovation and business results.
- Personalizing without creating silos by connecting specialized information to shared organizational values and goals.
When internal communications leaders adopt this approach, the transformation extends beyond improved message reception. Strategic, brain-based communications directly contribute to organizational resilience, employee engagement and financial performance.
As internal communications evolve in 2025 and beyond, those who understand the brain science behind effective messaging won't just deliver information — they'll create the conditions that enable their organizations to thrive amid complexity and change.
In today's high-stakes business environment, that's a competitive advantage no organization can afford to ignore.
Editor's Note: Read more internal communications best practices below:
- Are Your Messages Hitting the Mark? Time for an Internal Comms Audit — If you don’t know how many employees receive your internal communications or who takes the time to read them, you're probably due for an audit.
- How to Make Internal Comms Binge-Worthy — Great comms makes employees feel connected, valued and motivated. It’s clear, compelling and — dare I say — binge-worthy.
- Enterprise Social Isn't Over, It's Just Changing — Ultimately, enterprise social networks aren’t dying; they’re evolving. Their success hinges on culture, not technology.
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