Internal communicators often say they want a seat at the decision-making table. But new data suggests many teams are still set up to deliver messages rather than shape strategy.
Gallagher’s 2026 Employee Communications Report, which surveyed over 1,300 internal comms and HR pros, found that 73% of internal communicators want to operate as strategic consultants within their companies. Yet, only 18% reported actually doing so regularly. In addition, 49% of internal comms respondents said their main function was to broadcast announcements to the rest of the company, and one in five reported that they viewed themselves mostly as a reactive service desk for the rest of the organization.
One of the clearest solutions for closing that gap is a codified internal communications strategy that’s shared across the company. Gallagher’s report also indicated that internal comms teams with widely understood strategies are four times more likely to truly operate as a strategic consultancy within their organization, as opposed to teams whose function isn’t as well understood across their companies.
Moving from task-oriented communications work to a truly strategic function requires structural change. When organizations embed communications strategy into their business decision-making, they create the conditions for communicators to influence outcomes rather than simply distribute information.
The problem of information overload
When internal communicators function too much as broadcasters of information, some risks go beyond a lack of strategy. The survey found that 83% of respondents said information overload is a growing issue for employees. Additionally, when internal communication happens at high volume, the risk of employee burnout goes up 24%, and the risk of eroding trust in leadership jumps 30%.
The data shows that simply increasing the number of messages internal comms sends out isn’t going to fix alignment issues. In fact, it might make them worse by flooding the audience with information and diluting what really matters within those messages.
The challenge for internal comms pros is managing audience attention. That requires a shift from acting as publishers of internal updates to acting as editors of organizational information. Editorial judgment can help show leaders what messages need to be communicated with employees and when — and that’s a key part of the puzzle for much-needed strategic influence on the part of internal comms.
Current measurement strategies don’t always measure up
While internal comms certainly want more influence with their leaders, the data showed that the way they measure their impact may reinforce their roles as tacticians rather than strategists. The Gallagher report stated that 70% of comms teams primarily measure output metrics like page views or click-throughs. Just 16% of respondents said they measured outcomes like employee sentiment, and just 12% kept track of how their work tied into the larger activities of the business.
That gap highlights a broader challenge for the profession. If internal communicators want to operate as strategic advisors, they need data and figures that connects communication efforts to organizational outcomes. Metrics like employee understanding of company priorities, adoption of new organizational initiatives or shifts in employee sentiment can help tell that story. Without that kind of evidence, it becomes harder for internal communications teams to show leaders how their work contributes to larger business goals. It also makes it easier for the function to be seen by leaders as primarily a channel for distributing messages rather than a business driver.
Measuring outputs is great to show that internal comms did their jobs, but measuring outcomes shows whether communication actually changed anything. Closing that gap is one of the clearest paths for internal communications teams to demonstrate their value as drivers of organizational performance and integral parts of the company strategy as opposed to purely functioning as message carriers.
Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications.
