The IC skills toolkit for tomorrow

From storyteller to sensemaker - and everything we already knew (but still need to get better at)

Hybrid work, AI, economic uncertainty and cultural fatigue have all shifted the landscape - and communicators are no longer just message-makers.

According to the IoIC’s October 2025 Trends Report, the profession’s centre of gravity is moving from broadcasting to sensemaking. Employees don’t need more information - they need help interpreting it, understanding what it means for them, and feeling confident enough to act.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because it is. We’ve been saying versions of this for years. That doesn’t make the work any less important - but it does raise a question: what’s actually changing, and what’s just being re-named?

We’ve had years of trend reports and future forecasts, and while the labels keep changing - storyteller, strategist, sensemaker - the substance doesn’t. So instead of trying to predict what’s next, here’s what I know to be true about a good internal communicator.

Strategic thinking and business acumen 

IC’s credibility depends on being part of business decisions, not just polishing them afterwards. That means understanding how your organisation really works - what drives performance, where friction slows things down, and what customers and employees truly value. When you connect the dots between clarity, engagement and outcomes, communications stops being a service and starts becoming a performance driver. 

Sensemaking through storytelling

Since the dawn of time stories have helped people both anchor and orient themselves. The IoIC calls that sensemaking - which, if we’re honest, is just storytelling that asks better questions. It’s about context and confidence: Why now? What does this mean for me? 

This isn’t a new skill; it’s a deeper version of an old one. Empathy, clarity and narrative still sit at the heart of how we help people understand change. As Bruce Daisley reminded us in his Make Work Better newsletter this last month, shared identity is one of the strongest predictors of team success - and storytelling is how identity takes shape.

Data literacy and evidence-based judgement

Data helps sharpen our instincts, and future-fit IC teams need to know how to interpret engagement, sentiment and channel data without losing the human story behind the numbers.
Get curious about: Which messages really had an impact? Where did people switch off? What needs less noise and more nuance? Blending empathy with evidence is the sweet spot - and here's where comms pros really shine: reading both the room and the metrics.

Technology fluency (including AI)

AI is now deeply embedded into the day-to-day flow of work, drafting, summarising, analysing and the opportunity for IC is bigger than simply helping us speed us - it’s about strategy.

AI can help us:

• free up time for creative, human work

• analyse feedback and patterns quickly

• test tone and clarity before messages go live.

What we need to get good at now is finding the right balance - knowing when to automate and when human judgement, tone and empathy matter most.

Audience insight and relevance

Employees expect personalisation, not in a creepy algorithmic way, but in tone, timing and usefulness. Understanding audiences deeply, their context, constraints and motivations, has been the ask for years, but I think we’re finally getting more deliberate about it now. Modern communicators design comms that fit how people actually live their workday, not how leaders imagine it.

Change leadership and behavioural influence

Behavioural insight - understanding how habits form and what builds trust and confidence - will surely be one of the most useful skills for the next decade. This is something I am so interested in - it’s where psychology and communication blend: helping people shift from awareness to action, from “I know” to “I’ll do.”

Emotional intelligence and empathy 

As automation increases, empathy will be the thing that sets us apart. It’s what allows communicators to sense tone, mood and trust - and to advise leaders accordingly. The IoIC calls empathy a defining trait of high-performing communicators, and it’s easy to see why: psychological safety underpins engagement, and communication sets that tone.

Adaptability and lifelong learning 

None of this is brand new, but the pace of it certainly is. Channels, tools and expectations keep changing, and the skill to survive in this wild world is staying open - always learning - reading, testing, iterating, trying again. We don’t need to master every latest trend, but it’s important to build curiosity into our routines.

Collaboration and influence

At an event once, don’t ask me which or when, someone once said: great communicators build coalitions, they know clarity is a shared responsibility - across HR, IT, Marketing and leadership. And that stuck. Influence without authority is still one of IC’s biggest challenges, and one of its most valuable skills. When you’re seen as a strategic partner rather than a delivery function, you can help align messages and reduce the noise that drains attention.

Trust, ethics and accountability 

Trust is still the currency of internal comms, the difference now is how publicly it’s tested.
AI, data and digital tools make transparency non-negotiable, and people expect to know how information was created, not just what it says. Tomorrow’s communicators will need clear judgement on when to use automation, how to protect confidentiality, and how to represent every voice fairly. Credibility doesn’t come from being perfect, but from being open, consistent and accountable.

Looking ahead

Internal communication has evolved - slowly, steadily - from support to strategy, from explaining decisions to helping shape them, from sending messages to creating shared meaning. But the truth is the fundamentals haven’t changed much. Clarity, empathy, credibility, connection, they’re still the heartbeat of great communication.

What has changed is the context. Technology moves faster, work is more dispersed, expectations are higher and the same skills now have to work harder, travel faster and reach further than before. So yes, we’re evolving - but maybe not in the way the research headlines suggest. I don’t think the future of IC is about discovering something new (and I’ve given up waiting for it). I think it’s about mastering the things that have always mattered - and doing them with sharper awareness, stronger influence, and deeper humanity.

Need help building your team’s IC capability?

We help communicators strengthen their skills and confidence. We’ve seen it all - and we know what it takes to be a strong, brilliant communicator, and how to build an IC function that lasts. We can support you with all of it. Get in touch if you’d like to know more, we’d love to chat.