The 5 Internal Communication Roles of a Strong Comms Team (and How to Use Them for Real Impact)
AuteurHuib Koeleman
Great internal communication rarely fails because of a lack of intent—it usually breaks down due to role confusion. Who’s really responsible for what? When should the communications department take the lead—and when not? In many organizations, the comms team is still seen too much as “the doers,” while in reality, communication mostly happens between colleagues and their managers. That calls for a different mindset and a new division of roles in internal communication.
In this blog, I describe five key roles for the communications team: from maker to enabler. Roles that not only strengthen the added value of communication, but also help collaboration, engagement, and strategy truly land in the organization.
“Internal communication is far too important to leave to the communications department alone.”
TL;DR
Internal communication is too important to be fully handed over to the communications department. So what is the role of the comms team? In this blog, I outline five essential roles:
Producer – creates content and organizes communication
Strategist – develops vision and ties communication to organizational change
Coach – supports managers and teams in communication behavior
Facilitator – enables others to communicate effectively themselves
Monitor – identifies what’s going on and measures communication impact
This shift moves the comms team from executors to enablers—and makes communication something that belongs to everyone.
The Internal Communication Roles of the Comms Team To summarize, five distinct internal communication roles can be identified for the comms team (see figure below).
Produces
One role that takes up a lot of time, but is often undervalued, is that of producer. The comms team brings communication to life by creating engaging content—from intranet articles to blogs, vlogs, and visual explainers. Organizing internal events is also part of this production role. Some organizations choose to fully outsource production, but I wouldn’t recommend that. It places the comms team too far on the sidelines. And let’s be clear: AI tools like ChatGPT are reshaping this role dramatically. Content creation becomes faster, but it also demands curation, direction, and ethical awareness.
Strategist
The comms team can take on several strategic roles: from developing communication strategies for individual (change) initiatives to creating the broader “helicopter view” and channel strategy. In particular, the strategist’s role in change programs has gained traction. This requires not only communication expertise, but also knowledge of change management, team dynamics, and organizational anthropology. A beautiful development, if you ask me.
Coach
Everyone communicates—but it can almost always be done better. A brilliant strategy won’t come alive if the key players don’t know how to step into their role. Many don’t even realize they have a role. That’s where the comms team comes in as coach. Coaching leaders in their communication style, especially in learning to listen, is crucial. Helping them with storytelling is another. Teams can also be coached to build safe spaces where people feel free to speak up and contribute. Team dynamics are key here. And with the rise of online collaboration tools, the comms team—together with IT—can help ensure these tools are used well. The risk with new platforms is that they offer so much functionality that people quickly feel lost or give up. Coaching helps bridge that gap.
Facilitator
This is about making sure others can communicate. It’s a wonderful role, but not an easy one. It requires letting go and accepting that others may use communication tools differently than you intended. Still, this mindset fits perfectly with today’s culture of internal communication. The younger generation, especially, will want to communicate for themselves. That said, discussions and knowledge-sharing often need moderation—and that’s where the comms team can step in. Providing the right platforms, organizing the right gatherings, and even sharing prompts so colleagues can create quality content with AI are all part of the facilitator role.
Monitor
Or should I say “MonitEARS”? Because this role is about listening. For the comms team, it’s essential to know what’s going on inside the organization. Policymakers sometimes develop policies without fully understanding what people need. Only once the policy is “finished” do they think about rolling it out. As strategists, we can point out that listening should be part of the policy-making process from the start. And as monitors, we can quickly tune in to the perspectives, interests, and media habits of different groups. The comms team also needs to make its own impact visible and measurable. Showcasing input, output, and outcome should become a bigger priority. A dashboard can make the added value of internal communication—and of the team’s own work—tangible and transparent.
From Makers to Enablers
Internal communication is far too important to leave to the comms department alone. Bringing it to life requires many more players. Organizations should stop throwing every communication task over the wall to the comms team. But that also means the comms team needs to be clear about what they do own, and stay on top of trends and developments in the field—translating them into daily practice. The work is shifting from making to enabling. So, do you want to move as a communication professional from maker to enabler? Start by explicitly defining these five internal communication roles within your team. Which one will you step into today?
