Month: July 2026

Organisational change can put trust under pressure at any point. Employees may struggle to understand what is changing, question whether leaders are being honest or feel that decisions are made without listening to them. Managers may find themselves fielding questions they cannot answer. Even when a change programme starts well, trust can weaken as plans develop and the impact becomes clearer. 

Strategic people and culture communication can help organisations spot where trust is beginning to fray and respond before uncertainty turns into disengagement. That might mean making the change easier to understand, helping leaders communicate more credibly or creating better ways for employees to ask questions and be heard. 

Here are five practical ways communication can support organisational change and protect employee trust. 

1. Explain clearly what is changing and why

Broad language about growth, efficiency or transformation rarely gives employees enough information to understand what’s happening. When a message leaves obvious gaps, people often fill them with rumours, assumptions or worst-case scenarios. 

A clear change story should explain the context in straightforward language. What is changing? Why is it happening now? What has already been decided? What is still being worked through? What could it mean for different employees? It should reflect the realities of different roles and locations rather than relying on one message for everyone. 

Even if not every detail is decided straight away, saying that clearly is more useful than hiding uncertainty behind vague language. 

2. Help leaders communicate with honesty and credibility

Leadership communication loses credibility when it feels overly polished or avoids the difficult parts of the change. 

Even a carefully written message can fail to land if it does not sound like the person delivering it or acknowledge what employees are likely to be thinking. AI tools can make that problem worse when leaders use them to produce generic messages without adding their own judgement, context or voice. 

Strategic communicators can help leaders speak about uncertainty in a way that feels credible and authentic. This might involve creating a clear narrative, preparing leaders for difficult questions and making sure their words match the decisions and behaviours employees can see. 

3. Give managers the support to handle team conversations

Employees often turn to their line manager before they contact HR or revisit an organisation-wide announcement. 

When managers do not know what they can say, they may avoid the conversation or interpret the message differently from one another. This can leave employees with an uneven experience of the same change. 

Managers need practical support throughout the process, not just around the initial announcement. Useful tools might include talking points, FAQs and guidance for sensitive conversations. Managers also need somewhere to raise questions they cannot answer and share what they are hearing from their teams. 

Not every conversation between a manager and their team will be identical, but change communication toolkits help keep the facts consistent while giving managers the freedom to talk naturally. 

4. Keep communicating as the change develops

A launch can create a burst of attention, but lasting change needs more than fireworks. It needs a bonfire that people can keep gathering around. 

Change takes time to process. One announcement rarely gives people enough time to understand what it means for them. New questions often emerge when decisions begin to affect day-to-day work or when plans change along the way. 

A clear communication rhythm helps people know when they can expect updates and where to go for reliable information. It also gives leaders a chance to address new concerns, explain decisions and show what progress is being made. 

Regular communication matters most when it adds something useful. Repeating the same message without answering the questions employees are actually asking can damage trust rather than strengthen it. 

Read our practical guide for tips on creating longer-term change communications.

5. Create meaningful ways for employees to be heard

Trust drops when communication feels like something being done to employees rather than with them. Employees need opportunities to raise concerns, ask questions and offer suggestions. Those opportunities should come in more than one form, so people can take part in a way that feels comfortable and accessible to them. 

Surveys, listening sessions and manager feedback can all help organisations understand how the change is landing. But asking for views is only the first step. 

Employees also need to hear what the organisation has learned, what it will do differently and what cannot change. Not every suggestion will lead to action, but silence after asking for feedback can do more harm than not asking at all. 

See how well you’re tuning into your workforce with our THRIVE diagnostic tool.

Protect trust throughout the change process

Employee trust does not depend on one announcement. It is built when what people hear matches what they experience as change unfolds. 

Clear explanations, credible leadership communication and honest team conversations can all help protect trust when uncertainty rises. 

If organisational change is creating uncertainty, speak to us about the messages, leader guidance, manager tools and listening approach needed to help employees feel informed and confident about what comes next. 

Employee engagement doesn’t drop overnight. It weakens when people start to feel disconnected from the organisation’s direction, unsure what change means for them or unconvinced that what they hear from leaders matches what they experience day to day. 

When that connection weakens, the impact reaches beyond employee sentiment and feedback scores. It slows change, reduces productivity, increases pressure on managers, affects retention and makes it harder for teams to deliver against business priorities. 

Improving engagement starts with understanding where the connection is breaking down. Here are seven common reasons employee engagement stays low, and how stronger people and culture communication can help rebuild trust, relevance and action.

1. People do not understand the strategy

When people can’t explain where the organisation is heading, they’re unlikely to feel connected to it. 

Strategy communication often stays too high-level; something talked about in leadership presentations or annual updates but not translated into what it means for different teams. Employees may know the ambition, but not how their work contributes to it. Strategic communication has to do more than repeat the business priorities. It needs to turn strategy into something people can understand, relate to and act on across teams and different roles. See how we helped DHL Group make a five-year strategy land across a global workforce.

2. Constant change is wearing people down

Change fatigue can quickly weaken engagement, especially when employees are dealing with several shifts at once. Even when each change makes sense on its own, people can feel overwhelmed if they don’t understand what is changing or why it matters. The result is often confusion, scepticism or a sense that people are being asked to absorb more without enough support. 

A clear change story can help reduce that pressure. Alongside what’s changing, people need to hear what’s staying the same, what it means for them and where they can go with questions. Leaders and managers also need practical support, such as conversation guides and space to respond to questions. Without that, change can arrive as a series of disconnected announcements. Read our practical guide to discover techniques that will help you lead change with confidence.

3. Leadership feels too distant or inconsistent

Employees look to leaders for clarity, so if leadership communication feels overly polished or inconsistent, trust can start to weaken. Even when leaders communicate often, sometimes the message doesn’t always land because it feels too corporate, too far removed from the employee experience or different depending on who’s saying it. 

Leadership communication is likely to land better when it’s clear and aligned. That means helping leaders explain direction clearly, while giving managers what they need to bring those messages into team conversations in a way that feels relevant and credible. 

Our Leadership communication that builds trust workshop can help leaders communicate with more confidence, consistency and care, especially when trust is fragile or expectations are rising. 

4. Purpose feels disconnected from everyday work 

Purpose only supports employee engagement when people can see how it links to what they do.

If purpose only sits in brand language, campaign lines or values statements, it can feel abstract. Employees may understand what the organisation says it stands for, but not how that connects to their role, their team or the decisions being made around them. 

People and culture communication can make purpose feel more practical by showing where it already exists in the organisation. Real stories, team examples and everyday behaviours can help people see how their work contributes to something bigger, rather than leaving purpose as a statement on a page.  

5. Culture does not match what employees see and feel

Engagement drops when there is a gap between the culture an organisation talks about and the one employees experience. 

For example, a business may talk about wellbeing or inclusion, while employees experience silence, pressure or uneven opportunity. When that happens, culture communication can start to feel performative, even if the intent behind it is genuine. 

Clear communication can help organisations reinforce the culture they want to create through decisions, behaviours and manager conversations, while being clear about where things still need to improve. See how we helped DHL Express create a more consistent global approach to parental leave communications.

6. Employees do not feel properly heard

Asking for feedback isn’t the same as listening. Employees can become disengaged when surveys, listening sessions or employee networks don’t seem to lead anywhere. Over time, people may stop believing their voice matters, especially if they’re asked the same questions but see little response. 

Good employee voice communication closes the loop. It shows what’s been heard, what’s changing as a result and what can’t change yet. People don’t need every piece of feedback to become action, but they do need to feel their input has been taken seriously. Explore how well you’re tuning into your workforce with this quick diagnostic.

7. Flexibility and fairness feel inconsistent

In large organisations, flexibility may not look the same for every role, team or location. That can create frustration if employees feel decisions depend on who their manager is, rather than clear principles. 

Clear communication helps create shared understanding around policies, expectations and decision-making. It also gives managers the confidence to explain flexibility consistently, especially when different roles have different options. 

Fairness doesn’t always mean everyone gets the same arrangement. But people do need to understand the reason behind the difference. 

Improving employee engagement starts with knowing where it is breaking down

Low employee engagement is not solved by more communication alone. It improves when organisations understand where the connection is breaking down between strategy, leaders, culture and everyday employee experience. 

Without that understanding, engagement activity can become disconnected from the business issues it needs to support. Messages may be shared, campaigns may run and feedback may be gathered, but the same barriers continue to slow progress. Strategic people and culture communication helps identify those weak points, then gives leaders, managers and teams the messages, tools and confidence to build trust, strengthen engagement and support the priorities the organisation needs to deliver. 

Speak to us about reviewing where engagement is breaking down in your organisation, and how stronger communication can help support business progress. 

People and culture work is rarely contained within one project or one simple problem. A change programme can raise questions about trust and leadership behaviour. A values refresh can test whether leaders, managers and employees understand what the organisation is really asking of them. A wellbeing priority can point to wider issues around workload, culture and employee experience. 

For large and complex organisations, this can make it difficult to know what kind of support is needed and where to start. Sometimes the priority is insight and benchmarking. Sometimes it is professional standards, research, peer learning or communication expertise that turns people and culture priorities into something employees can understand and experience in their everyday work. 

This guide brings together five people and culture partners to know in 2026, and where each one can support you.

When you need to understand where your culture stands: Great Place to Work

Great Place to Work gives organisations a clear way to benchmark employee experience and workplace culture. Its Trust Index employee survey and certification process can help people and culture leaders understand how employees are experiencing trust, leadership, fairness, pride and belonging. 

This kind of data is valuable when teams want to move from assumptions to evidence. It can help HR and leadership see where culture is working well, where employees may be having a different experience and where focused action may be needed. 

Turn to them when you are asking: where are we now, what are employees really experiencing and where should our culture work focus next?

When you want to strengthen internal communication as a professional discipline: Institute of Internal Communication

The Institute of Internal Communication supports internal communicators through professional standards, membership, learning, qualifications, events, awards and insight. For organisations looking to build stronger communication capability, IoIC can provide useful structure, evidence and shared language. 

Its annual IC Index is particularly helpful for teams making the case for better communication with leaders and stakeholders. The research explores how employees experience communication at work, including trust, leadership communication, change, attention and confidence in the future. 

Turn to them when you are asking: how do we strengthen internal communication as a strategic function, what skills do our communicators need and what evidence can help us show the value of communication beyond sending updates?

When you need evidence and inspiration around employee engagement: Engage for Success

Engage for Success brings together research, case studies, events, ideas and practitioner insight around what helps people feel more engaged at work. As a voluntary movement based in the UK, it helps organisations and practitioners share learning, evidence and practical thinking around employee engagement. 

For HR, culture and communication teams, this can be helpful when you need to explain why engagement matters and what it can influence across performance, wellbeing and organisational health. It can also support broader conversations about leadership, employee voice, meaningful work and how people connect to the organisation they are part of. 

Turn to them when you are asking: how do we build the case for employee engagement, what does good engagement look like in practice and how can we help leaders understand why this matters?

When you want to learn with others facing similar challenges: Work Wonders

The Work Wonders community offers practical insight, peer connection and space to explore people and culture challenges with others doing similar work. 

We created Work Wonders to be a free peer community for people working to create fairer, healthier and happier workplaces. Members join from internal communication, HR, DEI, wellbeing, employee experience and other roles focused on workplace culture. 

Through monthly calls, regular webinars and practical resources, Work Wonders gives members fresh thinking and space to sense-check ideas. It is especially helpful when a topic is emerging, sensitive or complex, and you want to hear how others are approaching it. 

Turn to them when you are asking: how are other organisations approaching this challenge, what can we learn from people working through similar issues and where can we sense-check our thinking before moving forward?

When you need strategic people and culture communication support: Something Big

This is our area of expertise. At Something Big, we partner with large and complex organisations, often with global, distributed or frontline workforces, to turn people and culture priorities into communication that employees can understand and trust. 

That might mean helping a global workforce connect with a new strategy, supporting leaders and managers through change, building a campaign to support belonging, wellbeing or safety, or making a complex people priority feel more relevant to everyday working life. 

Our role is to bring together strategic thinking, creative craft and human judgement, so communication feels relevant to employees and supports what the organisation needs to achieve. This is especially valuable when the topic is complex, sensitive or stuck, and when communication needs to do more than just share information. 

Turn to us when you are asking: how do we make this meaningful for employees, how do we support leaders and managers and how do we turn a people and culture priority into communication that supports trust, behaviour change and business performance? 

Choosing the right support at the right stage

People and culture work can need different kinds of support depending on the challenge, the organisation and where the work has already got to. 

You might need data to understand the current employee experience, professional standards and research to strengthen your internal communication approach or peer learning to sense-check your thinking and understand how others are approaching similar issues. 

Sometimes you need support to define the challenge and shape the approach. Other times, the direction is already set and the priority is creating the communication approach, tools or campaign that will help it land well with employees. 

As a strategic communication partner, we can support both. We help organisations turn people and culture priorities into communications that employees can understand, use and experience. 

If you are working through change, culture, inclusion, wellbeing, engagement, safety or another people-focused challenge, we would be happy to explore where communication could help you move forward.

Too many organisational change programmes only think about internal communication after the big decisions have already been made. 

The strategy is signed off. The change plan is set. The launch date is in the diary. Only then does communication become part of the process, often as little more than launch support. 

But change communication should be seen as more than just the final layer before launch. It’s a strategic tool for reducing the risk that change is misunderstood, mistrusted or even simply ignored. 

The change strategy has to work beyond the slide deck

When communication is treated as a late-stage deliverable, the organisation loses the chance to test whether the change will make sense to the people expected to adopt it. The initiative sounds convincing on paper but may fail to connect with the reality of people’s working lives.  

That’s where the credibility of transformation projects starts to weaken. When the change feels disconnected from people’s day-to-day roles, it becomes harder for them to understand why it’s necessary and what it actually means in practice. 

And there is a clear connection between communication and strategic belief. The IC Index 2024 found a 74-point difference in trust in senior leaders between employees who rate communication as ‘excellent’ and those who rate it as ‘poor’. It also found a 35-point jump in belief in the organisational strategy when employees know how they can contribute to it. 

In other words, communication is not just how people hear about change. It’s one of the ways they judge whether organisational change is justified, purposeful and something that they can get behind. When change communication is clear and consistent, it strengthens confidence in the direction of the business. 

The hidden risks that can derail change programmes

When change communication isn’t considered early enough, several risks can follow: 

Business-speak can make the change feel vague

Top-level, dense or overly technical messages aren’t going to help employees understand what is changing. And they can make the transformation programme feel like a distant corporate initiative rather than something they need to act on. See how we helped DHL Group make Strategy 2030 clear and practical for a global workforce.

Leaders can weaken the message without meaning to

If each leader explains the change differently, mixed messages can make even a strong strategy feel confusing. Employees may start to doubt whether the organisation is aligned behind the change and lose confidence in those leading it. 

Managers can be left exposed

They are often the people employees turn to first, but without practical communication tools and prompts, team leaders may avoid difficult conversations or give incorrect information. The risk of failure grows quickly when employees have questions that managers cannot confidently answer. 

Rumours can fill the space left by unclear communication.

When people do not have enough clarity, they will often piece together their own version of what is happening through word of mouth. If informal conversations start to carry more weight than the official transformation story, it can spread confusion and make the change feel more worrying than it needs to. 

The change messaging can arrive in the wrong order

Without careful sequencing, communication can overwhelm people instead of helping them grow their understanding over time. Employees may hear too much detail before they understand the basics or receive important context after changes have already been rolled out.  

The launch can end up becoming the main event

A big announcement may create attention for a short time, but without a clear strategic communication rhythm afterwards, the change behaviours risk being easily forgotten. For more practical advice, see our guide to communicating change here. 

None of these issues are just communication problems. They are adoption risks. They influence whether employees understand the change and whether leaders and managers can support it credibly. 

Make communication a key part of the transformation process

Treat communication as the final step in your change plan, and you may still get a polished launch. But you also increase the risk of misalignment, resistance and weak adoption. 

Consider people communication during the development stage, and you give the change strategy a solid foundation for lasting impact. 

 Planning for change or struggling to get employees on board with transformation? Speak to us about shaping the change narrative, manager tools and communication rhythm needed to help people adopt the change.