By Emma Bridger and Lee Smith
— November 26th, 2025
For years, internal communication has been caught in a familiar cycle: more messages, more channels, more noise. We’ve become experts in crafting content, optimizing formats, and rolling out campaigns at speed.
And yet, for all this activity, many organizations still struggle with the basics—meaningful connection, genuine trust, and a shared sense of purpose that people can feel in their bones, not just see in their inboxes.
The truth is simple: internal communication isn’t working as well as it could—or should—for most organizations. And it’s not because communicators aren’t skilled, passionate, or creative. It’s because the world of work has changed beyond recognition, while our underlying approach has stayed largely the same.
That’s why we have written People-First Internal Communication—to help modern communicators step into a new era, where we balance the best of technology with the best of being human, and where communication becomes less about output and much more about experience.
Why “People-First”? Why Now?
The last decade has reshaped the employee experience. Hybrid work, AI, skills shortages, shifting expectations and global uncertainty have all raised the stakes. Employees want more than updates; they want meaning. They want connection. They want to feel involved, valued and heard. And they want a consumer-grade experience at work.
In this context, internal communication isn’t merely a support function—it’s one of the most powerful forces an organization has for shaping culture, strengthening trust and enabling people to do their best work.
But that potential can only be realized if we rethink the role of internal communication itself.
“People-first” isn’t a slogan. It’s a shift in mindset and method. It means designing communication around how people actually feel, think, behave, and experience work—not around organizational convenience, structural silos, or campaign calendars.
It means stepping out of the echo chamber of content and stepping into the moments that genuinely shape how people experience their organization.
From Campaigns to Experiences
One of the central arguments in the book is that campaigns alone are no longer enough. Traditional campaigns tend to push messages at people and measure success by impressions, clicks and cascade compliance. In a world of constant noise, this simply doesn’t cut through. And crucially, it doesn’t change how people feel.
Experiences do.
Think about an onboarding journey that leaves someone excited for day one. A conversation with a manager that builds confidence. A moment of recognition that makes someone feel seen. A difficult change that’s handled with genuine empathy and openness.
These are the moments that shape loyalty, motivation, and belief. And they are all moments where internal communication has enormous influence—not through broadcasting, but through designing communication experiences that work for people.
In the book, we introduce the People-First Design Loop, a practical framework communicators can use to design more thoughtful, human-centred experiences.
Traditional communication models often focus on what people should think, feel, and do. That’s useful, but in practice it keeps communicators anchored to messaging. It still starts with what we want to say and assumes that improved understanding will automatically shift experience.
In reality, employees don’t experience organizations through messages.They experience them through moments—the quality of a conversation, the behavior of a manager, the way change is handled, the clarity of a process, the way a decision is explained.
This is where the People-First Design Loop is different. It moves us upstream, into the experience itself. Instead of shaping a message and hoping it lands, we design the moments that shape how people feel, understand and act. Communication becomes an ingredient of a broader employee experience, not the end product.
It’s a move from: "How do we tell people?” to “How do we help people have a better experience of this?”
That’s a fundamental shift, and it requires a different set of capabilities.
The New IC Superpowers
Designing experiences, influencing moments, and partnering across the organization demands more than technical skill. It calls for a deeper set of human strengths—the very qualities that allow communicators to understand people, influence outcomes, and navigate complex organizational realities.
These strengths are the backbone of People-First Internal Communication. They enable communicators to step beyond content production and into a role that shapes culture, behavior and trust from the inside-out.
In the book, we identify six core strengths that help communicators thrive in this new people-first era:
- Empathy—Understanding how people really feel and why that matters.
- Curiosity—Asking better questions and exploring the lived experience of employees.
- Resilience—Staying effective and grounded through pressure, pace, and change.
- Creativity—Finding simple, memorable, human ways to cut through the noise.
- Influence—Building trust and credibility so communication genuinely changes things.
- Courage—Speaking truth to power and advocating for what people need.
Together, these ‘IC superpowers’ give communicators the ability to design more meaningful experiences, not just deliver more messages. They aren’t nice-to-haves. They’re the very foundations of modern organizational influence. The future source of our value. And they represent a major evolution from the traditional expert-operator model many of us grew up with.
So Where Do We Go From Here?
A people-first approach isn’t about throwing away the internal communication rulebook. It’s about stretching into a more strategic, more human, more experience-led role. One that aligns communication with how people actually live, work, and make meaning.
It’s about becoming designers of moments that matter.
It’s about shaping experiences that build belief.
It’s about helping organizations communicate with humanity in an age that desperately needs it.
If this feels like a shift your organization needs — or a shift you personally want to make, our book People-First Internal Communication is designed to help. It brings together research, practical tools, case studies, and a roadmap for stepping confidently into the next era of our profession.
Because internal communication isn’t just about getting messages out.
It’s about bringing people in.
People-First Internal Communication is published by Kogan Page on 3 December 2025. Pre-order at https://www.koganpage.com/hr-learning-development/people-centric-internal-communication-9781398623064
About the Authors
Emma Bridger and Lee Smith bring deep expertise in employee engagement, communication, culture, and behavioural science. Through their book, People-First Internal Communication, and their work at The EX Space—they invite communicators to reimagine their role and help create more human, high-performing organisations.
Emma Bridger
Emma is a leading employee engagement specialist, psychologist, and co-founder of The EX Space. For over two decades, through her consultancy People Lab, she has helped organisations build more engaging, human workplaces. She is the author of Employee Engagement and co-author of Employee Experience by Design (both Kogan Page), and is recognised for her expertise in behavioural science, positive psychology, and people-first design. Emma is known for her practical, evidence-based approach and her passion for improving working lives.
Lee Smith
Lee is an internal communication and employee experience strategist with 35+ years’ experience. He has worked across senior in-house and agency roles, led award-winning teams, and advised leaders worldwide. As co-founder of The EX Space and Strategy Partner at IC Partners, he continues to shape the future of IC and EX. Lee previously co-founded Gatehouse and created State of the Sector, the global IC benchmark. He is a Fellow of both the IoIC and CIPR and holds a Master’s in Corporate Communication & Reputation Management.