Adapting to Change: How AI, Leadership, and Technology Are Shaping Communications

Communicators across different industries face similar challenges, like getting the right people involved, managing change, and using AI and technology effectively. These issues were discussed at ALI’s 11th Annual Strategic Internal Communications East conference in Boston, showing that while these challenges have been around for a while, they are always changing with new technology and business needs.

• Activating Leadership and Employees

• Managing and Communicating Change

• AI and Technology for Communicators

The themes also represent moving targets for us as communicators. What worked for you a year ago may not work for you today. It stands to reason some things that work for you now won’t work in 12 months.

Companies can become resilient by proactively building trust with stakeholders, embracing ongoing change, and using new technologies to keep people engaged and help the organization thrive.

Activating Leadership and Employees

Trust is built from inside the organization. Trust relies on credibility and authenticity, which must come from those familiar to your audiences.

“Familiarity creates trust. People trust people more than logos.” – Bo Breuklander, Founder & Principal at Breuklander Communications

According to a report from Edelman and LinkedIn, 73% of people say an organization’s thought leadership is a more trustworthy basis for assessing its capabilities and competencies than its marketing materials and product sheets.

“When employees see the leadership team sharing content on LinkedIn, they’re more likely to follow suit. Employees need to know that this isn’t just a marketing initiative, it’s a shift in your company culture.” – Bradley Keenan, Founder & CEO of DSMN8

To activate people inside the business, leadership must always communicate with compassion and empathy. People aren’t motivated when they don’t feel understood. Even an authentic attempt at understanding goes a long way.

Managing and Communicating Change

Change is constant. That may be the most obvious statement I could make, but the problem is how we manage change. Too many see change as individual projects to be started and completed. That’s the wrong way of thinking about it.

We have to see change as a constant disruption needing continuous feedback and action. Change “projects” never really end. When a change is implemented, you still need to reinforce the transformation with encouragement and reassurance to people that there is a better future state.

“Communicators are the ones responsible for conceptualizing, crafting, and delivering messages that ensure awareness and understanding, catalyze behavioral change, and ensure that folks take ownership over the new way of working so that the organization can make that transition.” – Caitlin Harper, Founder of Commcoterie

“Change is happening all the time. It's our job as communicators to ensure we're not just communicating about the change, but being reinforcing change while advocating for our audiences, internally or externally, and the people we support across an organization.” – Bo Breuklander, Founder & Principal at Breuklander Communications

AI and Technology for Communicators

Speaking of connecting people and change, there’s no bigger topic in communications, or everywhere else, than artificial intelligence. It’s moving so fast that it’s hard to say anyone has it figured out, but the ones to listen to are consistently testing and measuring on repeat.

According to Grammarly, 80% of workers say generative AI improves the quality of their work, but 52% don’t know how to use it effectively.

“We must learn how to analytically, creatively, and flexibly craft prompts. As communicators, we have these skills and need to apply them to prompt writing.” – Molly Soto, Senior Account Supervisor at rf.engage (Ruder Finn).

Outdated communications technology stacks have also been tied to a feeling of playing catchup. Most communicators don’t feel they have the best tools. It’s largely due to budget constraints, security restrictions, or a lack of knowledge of new platforms.

Efficiencies gained with new technology aren’t limited to productivity. Noise is one of the biggest barriers we have to connecting with people. They may be easy to reach but are they listening to what you’re saying?

Internal communicators can learn from marketing and external communications when personalizing messages to our audiences. This helps cut down on all that noise employees hear each day.

Common Threads

One consistent observation is innovation in communication is often driven by marketing and public relations teams, which typically have larger budgets and can experiment more freely.

Those teams tend to have bigger budgets and are more closely tied to an organization’s bottom line than internal communications. Also, those tasked with managing both internal and external communications tend to prioritize the ‘external’ customer-facing side of the job.

Internal communicators can learn from external colleagues by adopting innovative practices, such as leveraging AI to enhance personalization and reduce noise. Tailoring messages to employees' unique needs helps make meaningful connections.

Leadership plays a pivotal role in this process; leaders who communicate authentically and empathetically set the tone for a culture of trust, encouraging employees to embrace change and advance the organization’s mission.

The success of any communication strategy depends on its ability to activate leadership, engage audiences, and adapt to the dynamic landscape of technology and organizational needs. Remaining agile and open to new ideas ensures that internal communications are central to shaping your organization’s future.