Internal Communicators - The most valuable member of your company’s Avenger team

It’s summertime and the latest action movie hit the screens last week: Spider-Man: Far From Home. This movie’s backstory opened the Avenger can of worms for me, and you guessed it, I started down the path of watching other Avenger movies. The Avengers’ struggles and triumphs reminded me of my work with a group of heroes, internal communicators.

In our journey with internal communicators, we learned that a large part of this group has felt undervalued and unheard in their organization. “It’s like we are on some subordinate JV team,” one internal communicator voiced.

Now that we are on our 9th Rise and Shine event, I have discovered that much like Peter Parker, internal communicators are learning their power and using it for good. They are the heroes of your company and this profession is quickly on the rise. And if you are in internal communications, sometimes you need an outsider looking in to hold up a mirror to reflect your true value. So, in case you didn’t know it, you are the superhero badass of your company.  

Here are the top 6 reasons I uncovered as to why internal communicators are the true hero of your company’s Avenger team:

1. Their background weaves a great story: Many of the internal communicators I’ve met have some sort of background in storytelling, broadcasting, journalism, etc. This background serves them well as it gives them an unassuming, stealth-like quality to extract the best employees’ secrets and emotions that provide the best fodder for employee storytelling. Internal communicators connect the head and heart of your company, aligning the company’s mission with each the head and heart of each employee. Boom, that’s power.
2. Calm under pressure: Their often introverted nature keeps it drama free and propels them to go inward when solving problems. This intrinsic nature is key as it helps them to keep company crisis drama free and focused on creative problem-solving.
3. They’re team players: Internal communicators don’t feel in competition with other internal communicators in other companies. Their “we are all in this together” empowers them to share the best of the best tips, learnings, tools, templates, strategies which in turn helps them to rise together. You don’t find this type of intimate professional comradery in all groups.  
4. Speak truth to power: Due to their direct, drama-free nature, internal communicators have the uncanny ability to speak truth to power. They know how to get through to leadership in a way that aligns their company with its authentic truth and moves them forward. They know this alignment is key to resonating with their employees.
5. They are innovative leaders: Internal communicators are rising because they have come into their own self-awareness that they are not only in communication. They are in leadership, finance, IT, HR, and sales. Their effectiveness in these areas helps them navigate the often tricky internal waters of their company. Resulting in their ability to innovate with the best practices, tools, and technology to foster better employee engagement.
6. Proven ROI: Internal communications is on the rise as a profession because internal communicators have access to tools and methods that show how their work truly ties to ROI. They can show how their efforts are directly related to employee retention and increasing the bottom line of their company.  

So next time you cross the path of the person who does internal communications with your company, take a second look because there is so much to learn from how this professional operates to thwart unprecedented threats to employee disengagement. They are the hero of your organization because they serve and protect your company’s most important asset: the engagement of your employees.

Want to the latest tips, templates, podcast episodes, events from internal communication heroes? Visit internalcommspro.com today.