Corporate Communications
Communicating with employees, investors and partners: the announcements that shape how an organisation is understood internally and by the people invested in it.
Overview
Internal communication is usually treated as an afterthought and it determines whether external communication survives contact with reality. Employees hearing a restructure from a news article is not a communications failure at the end of the process; it is one at the beginning.
The work is unglamorous: sequencing who hears what and when, writing so people can act on it, and preparing managers to answer the questions their teams will actually ask, which are almost always about their own jobs rather than about strategy.
Who this is for
- Companies going through restructuring, acquisition or leadership change
- Businesses whose staff learn important news informally
- Organisations whose internal and external messages do not match
How we approach corporate communications
The specific pieces of work a typical engagement covers. Scope is agreed up front — nothing here is a surprise line item later.
Message architecture
One core message adapted per audience, so employees, investors and customers hear versions of the same thing rather than different things.
Sequencing
Who is told what, in what order, and how quickly it follows. Getting this wrong is how news leaks.
Change communications
Restructures, acquisitions and closures handled with the honesty the situation requires, including what is not yet decided.
Manager enablement
Briefing the managers who will face the real questions, since most employees form their view in that conversation.
Investor and partner communications
Regular reporting and material announcements written for an audience that reads carefully and remembers.
Executive communications
Speeches, all-hands and written communication in a voice that sounds like the person rather than the communications team.
From first call to measured result
The same sequence every time, so you always know what happens next.
Understand the situation
What is actually happening, including what cannot be said yet and why.
Plan
Audiences, sequence, channels and timing, with the leak risk at each stage assessed honestly.
Prepare
Write the materials, brief the managers, and prepare answers to the hard questions rather than avoiding them.
Deliver and listen
Communicate on the plan, then gather what people actually took away and correct where it landed differently.
Outcomes, not deliverables
A pile of artefacts isn't progress. These are the changes the work is meant to produce — and what we report against.
Staff who hear it from you
Sequencing done properly is what prevents employees learning significant news from outside.
Managers who can answer
Briefed managers turn an anxious team meeting into a useful one.
Consistent internally and externally
One message architecture prevents the contradictions that get screenshotted.
Trust that survives bad news
Honest communication about difficult things preserves credibility for the next announcement.
Common questions about Corporate Communications
The things people ask before they get in touch. If yours is not here, ask us directly.
How much should we tell employees about a restructure?
As much as is decided, plus an honest statement of what is not decided and when it will be. Vagueness intended to reassure reads as concealment and produces worse speculation than the facts would.
Should internal and external announcements be simultaneous?
Internal first, by a short margin, and short enough that it does not leak in between. Employees learning company news from the press is among the most damaging things an organisation does to its own trust.
Our leadership wants to avoid the difficult question. Should they?
No. The question will be asked in the room or afterwards without you present. Preparing an honest answer, including where the honest answer is that a decision has not been made, is always better than a non-answer that everyone recognises.
Do you handle crisis communications?
Yes, and preparation before the crisis is worth considerably more than response during it. Agreeing spokespeople, escalation and holding statements in advance is what makes the first hour manageable.
Thinking about Corporate Communications?
Tell us what you are trying to change. If we are not the right fit we will say so, and point you somewhere better.
Looking at the wider picture?
Corporate Communications usually sits alongside other work in Public Relations & Communications. Browse the full area to see what it connects to.