The Future of Internal Communication podcast is a series commissioned by The Institute of Internal Communication. Organisations today face widespread and continuous disruption. The way communication takes place within and across teams, departments and business units is more critical than ever. The podcast hosts subject matter experts from within and outside internal communication, each sharing their insights on the future of work and the role of communication as an essential driver of workplace trust, connection, culture, innovation, resilience and performance. Hosts Jennifer Sproul, Dominic Walters and Cat Barnard explore opportunity for internal communicators. In increasingly digital, data driven, distributed and on-demand work landscapes, their conversations with thought-leaders examine the human side of work.
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June 10, 2026Episode 9345 min
AI and the future of the intranet with Suzie Robinson
As new generative and agentic AI’s become commercially available, the way colleagues access and consume information and knowledge at work is set to transform. Rather than browse an intranet, soon colleagues will interact with AI agents that cross-reference, interpret, summarise proprietary information and deliver insights in a fashion that’s customised to the unique needs of each user.
This presents a massive opportunity for internal communicators, assuming of course that current intranet set-ups are optimally configured.
This episode, digital employee experience consultant Suzie Robinson shares her experience of working with intranets and her predictions for how AI will transform the workplace in the coming years.
Suzy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzie-robinson/
Clearbox website: https://www.clearbox.co.uk/
May 27, 2026Episode 9247 min
AI and the future of internal communication with Frank Dias
AI continues to dominate boardroom conversations. As organisations race to achieve efficiency gains, a key question for all professions is the extent to which these new technologies will transform core responsibilities.
While certain elements of internal communication are, and should always remain, uniquely human, other more transactional components can be automated. But breaking down workflows isn’t always easy. It can be challenging to know where and how to get started.
Internal communication consultant Frank Dias has worked with GenerativeAI since its launch in late 2022. In this episode he shares his experience, expertise, hints and tips for successful AI integration into internal comms activities.
About Frank Dias
Frank Dias is an AI Adoption & Change Consultant at Quilter, and the founder of Ai x Comms Lab, where he helps organisations build sustainable AI capability through a human-first lens.
With over 15 years in communications, he brings a grounded, practical perspective to AI transformation, having led early AI integration across four complex global organisations.
His work focuses on cutting through vendor promises to identify the real organisational conditions needed for successful adopt and foster AI aligned with your use cases.
Find Frank on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankdias/
Frank’s website: https://www.aixcommslab.com/
May 13, 2026Episode 9155 min
Bridging generations: the power of mentoring and early careers support with Mercy Abel
The world of work has been in continuous flux since 2020. Every week another crisis emerges to further complicate the delivery of strategic objectives. This is stressful across the board. But what is it like for those who started work for the first time after COVID? What impact do continuously shifting work priorities and practices have on younger workers and the support they need to progress? In this first episode of series 16, Jen, Dom and Cat chat with Mercy Abel, founder of It Is Who You Know, to uncover the value of mentoring to bridge intergenerational divides and superpower early years careers.
Despite university attendance reaching record levels in recent years, the latest UK data shows nearly one million young people aged between 16-24 are now not in education, employment or training.
Young people are struggling to enter, and remain in, the labour market. While there are many reasons for this, AI job displacement seems to have hit younger workers far harder than other generations. Unless addressed, this will have disastrous consequences in the years to come.
A COVID graduate herself, Mercy Abel experienced first-hand the challenges of entering the workforce for the first time. Having gained immense value from a mentorship opportunity, she has gone on to build an award-winning internship programme to help kickstart early careers within the creative industry.
About Mercy Abel
Mercy is a multi-award winning marketer & founder of a future workforce consultancy, Who You Know (WYK) shaping the talent of tomorrow. WYK supports organisations to understand, connect, and recruit incoming talent through intergenerational learning, mentorship, and strategic insight.
She is passionate about platforming talent, building community and connecting people to opportunity. She has done this through co-founding an award-winning marketing and creative internship programme named Futures UNLOCKED, providing almost 50 paid internships and free upskilling workshops for a 600+ network of emerging creatives across Scotland.
Throughout her career, she has been awarded for 2025’s The Media Leader’s 50 Black Women Gamechangers in Media, 2024 Campaign’s IPA iList, 2023 Media Week 30 under 30, The Media Leader Future 100 Club and 2022 Advertising Association’s BRiM Changemaker.
Find Mercy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mercyabel/
Mercy’s website: https://www.itiswhoyouknow.co.uk/
April 15, 2026Episode 9052 min
The business value of sustainability communication with Daniel Cope
The UK's net zero sector is now growing three times faster than the broader economy. In summer 2025, the UK Office for Budget Responsibility confirmed that achieving net zero costs far less than inaction and renewable energy has become significantly cheaper faster than previously forecast.
Yet most of this positive news doesn’t feature in the mainstream media, overshadowed by clickbait doom-mongering headlines.
In this episode, Chartered Environmentalist Daniel Cope shares his experience of helping organisations reduce carbon emissions and waste and highlights why internal communication is an integral element of sustainable business.
About Daniel Cope
Dan is a Chartered Environmentalist and the Founder of Green Lark Environmental Solutions, bringing nearly two decades of experience helping organisations navigate the realities of climate change. His work spans small enterprises to global multinationals, supporting leaders to cut emissions, strengthen resilience, and embed sustainability into strategic decision‑making.
Driven by a belief that environmental stewardship and economic viability must work in tandem, Dan specialises in carbon accounting, net‑zero strategy, and the development of credible, measurable emission‑reduction programmes. He is known for translating complex climate data into clear, actionable insight, and for challenging organisations to recognise both their impact and their opportunity to lead.
A passionate climate‑change speaker, Dan works to move climate action beyond political polarisation, helping organisations communicate with clarity and purpose. His focus is on enabling leaders to reduce emissions in ways that enhance performance, credibility and long‑term value.
Find Daniel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/copedaniel/
Greenlark: https://www.greenlark.co.uk/
April 1, 2026Episode 891 hr 1 min
The way we talk around here with Gill Ereaut
Highly commended in the 2025 Business Book Awards, The Way We Talk Around Here offers a treasure trove for internal communicators. It examines the intricate interplay between culture and language, showcasing how the forensic analysis of language and discourse can accelerate organisational performance.
In this episode, Jen, Dom and Cat chat with Gill to learn about her work and what she has learned about how the choice of language – both written and spoken – go on to shape and underpin culture. Understanding the relationship between language and culture is a superpower to be leveraged by internal communicators seeking to deliver strategic impact.
About Gill Ereaut
Gill Ereaut is a researcher, author, speaker and organisational consultant. She founded the consultancy Linguistic Landscapes in 2002, pioneering the application of language sciences to real organisational issues.
Her book "The Way We Talk Around Here: How your organization's culture shows up in your language and why it matters" is an Amazon No.1 Bestseller, was Highly Commended in the 'People, Culture and Management' category of the Business Book Awards 2025, and won in the 'Stories and Conversations' category of The Change Ninja Book Awards 2025.
She holds degrees in Psychology and Contemporary Cultural Processes and has amassed more than 40 years’ experience in business consulting. She remains insatiably curious about organisations and language and the effects they have on each other.
She lives in Oxford, UK with an oversized whippet and (probably) too many books.
Find Gill on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gillereaut/
Linguistic Landscapes website: https://linguisticlandscapes.com/
Get the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-way-we-talk-around-here/gill-ereaut/9781788604840
March 18, 2026Episode 8845 min
From crisis communication to resilience communication; the reality of geopolitical conflict with Ada Borucka
With no shortage of external crises to worry about, most forward-thinking organisations by now have devised a crisis communication plan, to assist and reassure colleagues in case of emergency. But what happens when crisis turns from temporary to sustained? How do people working under the threat of persistent danger maintain focus on core business objectives?
In this episode, Dom, Jen and Cat talk with internal communication professional Ada Borucka. Located in Poland, Ada has spent the past four years helping organisations leverage internal communication to allay colleague anxieties. She introduces the concept of resilience communication and shares her experience of the pivotal role internal communication now plays in helping organisations sustain performance despite the odds.
About Adriana Borucka
Adriana Borucka is an internal communication strategist with 20 years of experience helping organizations build effective communication and navigate change. As the founder of Poland’s first agency dedicated to internal communication, PinPoint, she has supported leaders and teams in shaping strategies, refining processes and adapting to an evolving market.
For the past decade, Adriana has also been building a national community of communication practitioners through an annual industry conference, podcasts and regular meet-ups for professionals. She co-authors Poland’s annual IC market report and recently published a study on workplace communication during election periods.
She additionally supports international companies in understanding and entering the Polish IC landscape. Adriana believes communication creates real value when it connects people, builds understanding and helps organizations evolve responsibly in a changing world.
Find Ada on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianaborucka/
Find Pin-point: https://pin-point.pl/
March 4, 2026Episode 8642 min
The impact of financial confidence on organisational wellbeing with Heidi Allan
This episode, Cat, Jen and Dom chat with Heidi Allan who heads up Employee Financial Wellbeing at pensions and investment advisory firm LCP. LCP’s research into financial wellbeing provides illuminating data points that link financial worries to poor engagement, in turn impacting wider organisational performance.
Heidi’s work in this field highlights the benefits of offering financial education and support to anxious colleagues and showcases the opportunity for internal communicators looking to support colleagues in retirement and wider financial planning.
About Heidi Allan
Heidi has been in the pension and employee benefits industry since the early 1990s and has worked for organisations from both a consultancy and provider perspective. Over the last decade she has produced and authored a number of thought leadership papers on many facets of employee wellbeing. Heidi helps clients to understand their workforce and the challenges they may be facing, supporting them in providing a valued, engaging, and well-communicated benefits package
Find Heidi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidijallan/
LCP’s website: https://www.lcp.com/en
LCP’s employee wellbeing report: https://www.lcp.com/en/insights/publications/employee-wellbeing-report
February 18, 2026Episode 8543 min
2026: a year of internal communication impact with Colin Archer FIIC
Global economic uncertainty shows no sign of abate and most organisations face a challenging 2026. Headcount and budgets are under intense scrutiny and internal communication carries the additional threat of, in some quarters, GenerativeAI offering a plausible and more cost-efficient alternative to human contribution.
Under such intense pressure, how can internal communicators successfully advocate for the value they bring?
This episode, Dom. Cat and Jen chat with Colin Archer, Head of Communications for Spirax Sarco. With a wealth of experience spanning several decades, Colin succinctly argues against using ROI to measure internal communication. This is both transactional and reductivist. A more effective measure is that of impact – showcasing the powerful effect that the thoughtful use of words and language can have on human behaviour.
About Colin Archer
Colin Archer has worked in Internal Communications across different sectors and industries and loves working with people and cultures. His reason for working in the profession comes from a strongly held view that if we are to spend such a lot of our life in work, then we should enjoy it and certainly not waste any of the precious hours we have in something which doesn’t make us feel good.
His strategies encourage deep personal connection with purpose, and with other people, to achieve significant steps forward for the organisations he has worked with.
A Fellow of the IoIC and great believer in extending our sphere of influence to make things better for everyone who is touched by our work, Colin cares deeply about bringing people and ideas together through impactful communication
Find Colin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-archer-fiic-072a306/
February 4, 2026Episode 8440 min
Exploring the polymorphic organisation with Perry Timms
Whether its geopolitical turmoil, AI, climate chaos, stakeholder activism or intergenerational differences, there’s no shortage of issues inhibiting organisational progress. But this is hardly surprising when we consider so many of the operating frameworks still in use today are now decades old.
It’s time to introduce new ways of workplace organising.
Dom, Jen and Cat welcome global HR thinker Perry Timms to this episode to introduce the concept of polymorphic organising. They examine communication as a primary organisational linchpin and explore what this means for internal communicators.
About Perry Timms
Perry Timms has over three decades of experience in business change and performance, with the last 23 years in HR/Organisation Development. He ranked Number 1 in HR's Most Influential Thinkers 2022 (his fifth inclusion in that list) and is now in the HR Most Influential Hall of Fame. He is a 4x Guest Professor, a 2x TEDx speaker, a 3x Author, 4x Engagement 101 Global Influencer plus 2024’s Global People & Culture Icon. Perry is a Chartered Member of the CIPD, a Fellow of the RSA and in 2024 was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in self-managed, democratic organisations, and a Thinkers 360 Top 100 Global HR Influencer.
Perry on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/perrytimms/
Perry on Substack: https://pthr.substack.com/
PTHR website: https://pthr.co.uk/
Additional Company Information
Perry founded People and Transformational HR 13 years ago. The venture is a (re) Certified BCorporation, a WorldBlu Certified Freedom-Centred organisation, a Global Top 50 Self-Managed Organisation awarded the Haier Institute’s RDHY Certification; is a Gold Standard 4-day Working Week, a 2023 Top 50 EMEA Inspiring Workplace, a Top 2 Most Flexible Workplace on the Flexa Index, a Living Wage employer, and a Climate Positive enterprise.
January 21, 2026Episode 8347 min
Exploring 2026 labour market dynamics with Neil Carberry OBE
As economic instability continues to confound politicians across the spectrum, the UK labour market remains fragile. With more young people than ever before not in education, employment or training (NEET) and the ever-present threat of AI-induced job losses, internal communicators must find novel ways to marry the delivery of key organisational information with the concerns of increasingly stressed and anxious workforces.
In this episode, Neil Carberry shares his latest reflections on the current and emergent state of the UK labour market, offering insights for the internal communication professionals as they consider their priorities for 2026.
About Neil Carberry OBE, Chief Executive, REC
Neil Carberry was appointed as Chief Executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation in June 2018. He began his career in recruitment in 1999, before doing a post-graduate degree in Human Resources at the London School of Economics and specialising in employment relations. Joining the CBI in 2004, he led the CBI’s work on the labour market, skills, energy and infrastructure. Neil spent a decade as a member of the council of the conciliation service ACAS and two terms as member of the Low Pay Commission, which recommends UK minimum wages. He was appointed an OBE in the King’s Birthday Honours List of 2025. Neil is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, a Fellow of the RSA and a member of the Company of HR Professionals. A seven-time nominee to the SIA staffing100 in Europe, Neil is also on the board and exec of the World Employment Confederation and of a Multi-Academy Trust in England. Neil is an RFU-qualified rugby referee and coach and is one of the 8000 co-owners who made Heart of Midlothian the UK’s biggest fan-owned football club.
Find Neil on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-carberry-obe-95948938/
REC: https://www.rec.uk.com/
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