If I Had to Build an Internal Communications Function from Zero in 90 Days, Here's What I'd Do

Joanna Parsons outlines a practical 90-day plan to build an internal communications function from scratch, focusing on understanding business priorities first.

Key Takeaways

Start by deeply understanding the business and its priorities before implementing communication tactics.
Avoid rushing into quick wins that are not aligned with company strategy to maintain credibility.
Divide the 90 days into clear phases: learning the business, auditing current communications, then strategizing.
Engage with key stakeholders early to map priorities and communication needs.
Build a baseline to measure progress and effectiveness of communication changes.

What the video covers

The video presents a step-by-step 90-day plan to build an internal communications function from zero.
Joanna Parsons emphasizes the importance of dividing the 90 days into three 30-day phases.
Phase one focuses on understanding the business context, priorities, and strategy rather than jumping into communication tactics.
She warns against the temptation to seek quick wins early, which can damage credibility if not aligned with business goals.
Phase two involves assessing the current communication channels, challenges, and conducting an internal communications audit.
The goal is to build a baseline of how communication currently works before making changes.
Joanna stresses the importance of stakeholder engagement and listening during the first 60 days.
She advises documenting findings and aligning communication strategy with company priorities for long-term success.
The approach is practical and based on over a decade of experience in internal communications consulting.
The video encourages viewers to subscribe for more insights and actionable advice.

Chapters

What is the first step in building an internal communications function according to Joanna Parsons?

The first step is to spend the initial 30 days understanding the business context, its priorities, and strategy rather than jumping into communication tactics.

Why should you avoid quick wins in the early stages of building internal communications?

Jumping into quick wins without understanding the business can backfire and damage your credibility because the work may not align with what is important to the company.

What is the purpose of conducting an internal communications audit in phase two?

The audit helps establish a baseline by reviewing how communication currently flows in the organization, identifying challenges, and understanding existing channels before making changes.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

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You've got 90 days to build an entire communications function from absolutely zero. You've got no channels, no strategy, no roadmap, no plan. You've just got 90 days to figure it out. Does that sound impossible? I'm here to tell you it's not.

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I've done this many times I'm an internal communication consultant and I'm here to help you in this video I'm going to share the process that really works that you can use if you want to build an internal cons function yourself

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I've done this many times. I'm an internal communication consultant, and I'm here to help you. In this video, I'm going to share the process that really works that you can use if you want to build an internal comms function yourself.

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that you can avoid lots of the mistakes that I made in my career before we jump in you have one task to complete I would love you to hit that subscribe button below I would really love to grow this

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In 90 days, I'll show you the exact steps I would take. No fluff, no academic theory, just practical, actionable steps that you can apply. I will share what I have learned over more than a decade of working in internal communications so

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different phases of 30 days each phase one the first 30 days so this could be if you are taking up a new job or maybe you've moved inside your own organization or you just think internal comms needs a Fresh Approach in your

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that you can avoid lots of the mistakes that I made in my career. Before we jump in, you have one task to complete. I would love you to hit that subscribe button below. I would really love to grow this

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there can be real pressure to find quick wins do things quickly and prove your worth but here is the hard truth that I have learned over many years jumping into tactics straight away can backfire spectacularly cuz you don't yet

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channel to 10,000 subscribers. So if this is your cup of tea, if you are an internal communications nerd like me, come on the journey with me. Hit that subscribe button and let's go. Okay, 90 days. Let's break this down into three

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you could be spending a lot of time and energy on stuff that really doesn't matter and potentially you can damage your credibility in the company quite a lot by delivering work that is not useful and that is not linked to company

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different phases of 30 days each. Phase one, the first 30 days. So this could be if you are taking up a new job or maybe you've moved inside your own organization or you just think internal comms needs a fresh approach in your

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which is slow down your first 30 days is actually nothing to do with communication it's all about getting to understand the business the business context and the business priorities you want to understand what is this company all about what is really important how

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company. Let me start by telling you what you should not be doing in your first 30 days. There's an overwhelming temptation to jump right into action, isn't there? We need a new newsletter, let's revamp the town hall, let's introduce a new app, and

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conversation about the business strategy what is the strategy for the company what is the company trying to achieve this year what is the plan for the next 5 years why are those three four five top priorities for the leaders what are

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there can be real pressure to find quick wins, do things quickly, and prove your worth. But here is the hard truth that I have learned over many years: jumping into tactics straight away can backfire spectacularly because you don't yet

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you can build on this and start meeting with other key stakeholders other leaders and having similar conversations with them find out what all these different stakeholders are working on what their priorities are and you'll start to build a little map in your mind

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understand the business or the business problems or the context you're working in or what the purpose of internal communication really is. So if you, in your first 30 days, jump immediately into tasks and activities and quick wins, then

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communication yes I know it sounds weird but trust me understanding the business is your first priority the reason I really want you to do this is because this helps you then when you're building your strategy is you have a really good

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you could be spending a lot of time and energy on stuff that really doesn't matter, and potentially you can damage your credibility in the company quite a lot by delivering work that is not useful and that is not linked to company

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Comm strategy that you think is absolutely brilliant and maybe it is great but it's not linked to what's important to the business and you're not going to deliver work that matters you're not going to get that recognition that you want because you're kind of

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priorities. I've seen this happen, and trust me, the recovery from this takes a lot longer than 90 days. Here's what I want you to do instead: take a deep breath and do something very counterintuitive in your first 30 days,

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sessions sit in on meetings leadership meetings if you can get in just listen and observe any strategy documents you can find on the internet or through stakeholders read them mark them up anything that seems confusing to you mark it write questions your goal in

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which is slow down. Your first 30 days is actually nothing to do with communication. It's all about getting to understand the business, the business context, and the business priorities. You want to understand what is this company all about, what is really important, how

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detailed notes during phase one you're going to need them all later so that's your first 30 days I cannot tell you how many communication professionals just skip this phase and jump right into Communications I know that's our happy

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is internal communication really going to help this business to achieve what matters to us this year, next year, the next 10 years. One easy way you can start to do this is just schedule a meeting with your direct manager and have a

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days so say days 31 to 60 by this day you kind of started to get your head around company's all about what's important to your leaders what your CEO is trying to deliver on this is really going to help you align all of your

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conversation about the business strategy. What is the strategy for the company? What is the company trying to achieve this year? What is the plan for the next five years? Why are those three, four, five top priorities for the leaders? What are

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knowledge you've got in phase one so you can see already the stuff is starting to build on each other phase two for me is about understanding how communication currently works in the the company you want to look at what channels are being

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the current challenges in the business? Are there any upcoming change or transformation programs you should know about? Any big milestones coming for the company? Start having that conversation. Start getting really, really curious about the company, and from there

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specifically on the communication that's happening in the organization and really what I want you to do in this phase is to build what we call a Baseline Baseline is simply you're capturing how things are now rather than and trying to

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you can build on this and start meeting with other key stakeholders, other leaders, and having similar conversations with them. Find out what all these different stakeholders are working on, what their priorities are, and you'll start to build a little map in your mind

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know where you started so this bits really important so in this phase you can do what's sometimes called an internal Communications audit which simply means a review you really want to understand how does information flow around the organization how do employees

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of how these are all connected. And that's really all I want you to be doing in the first 30 days: listening, observing, understanding the business, reading everything that you can get your hands on. Just don't worry about

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to do any kind of review yourself you can Outsource this completely and hire a consultant and they will come in and do all this for you and then give you a report at the end now I'm a consultant

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communication. Yes, I know it sounds weird, but trust me, understanding the business is your first priority. The reason I really want you to do this is because this helps you then when you're building your strategy is you have a really good

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it's on a smaller scale because you're so much more immersed in the process and you're really listening and learning firstand and it makes it so much easier when you stand up in front of your leaders at the end of it and you're

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understanding of what's important to the business, what's important to your leaders, what's going down the track, and you can build your strategy linked to all of that. If you don't do this, the risk is that you're going to build a

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that you would like to do but you're like well that sounds fine but how the hell do I do that I don't even know where to start I'm going to put a link down below for a resource I have on my

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comm strategy that you think is absolutely brilliant, and maybe it is great, but it's not linked to what's important to the business, and you're not going to deliver work that matters. You're not going to get that recognition that you want because you're kind of

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so that you don't need to Outsource it you can do it yourself I'm going to put that link and down below so that you can download that for yourself because this guide will tell you what kind of data to

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working in this little comms silo that's completely disconnected from the reality of the company. Things you can be doing in your first 30 days: read the company annual report, look back on any recordings of previous town hall

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something else you can be doing as part of this audit in Phase 2 is look at what existing data there is in your organization does your HR team have an employee engagement survey that you can have a look at the results can you get

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sessions, sit in on meetings, leadership meetings if you can get in, just listen and observe. Any strategy documents you can find on the internet or through stakeholders, read them, mark them up. Anything that seems confusing to you, mark it, write questions. Your goal in

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on any metrics for the channels you already have any employee feedback anything that's really going to help you build that Baseline that solid picture of where are we now where are we starting from and another thing you can

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this phase and the first 30 days is not to think about solving business problems with communication yet. It's simply to understand. This phase is about listening, observing, indulging your curiosity. Enjoy it. This is a lot of fun. Keep deep,

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understand the different employee segments so maybe you have people that sit at desks you have other people that are out in the road you have other people that are in a manufacturing plant you want to get a sense of like where

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detailed notes. During phase one, you're going to need them all later. So that's your first 30 days. I cannot tell you how many communication professionals just skip this phase and jump right into communications. I know that's our happy

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not using right now you can do this in lots of different ways you can go and run focus groups with people you can do informal listening tour where you go just have coffee with people you can shadow people at work you can just

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space, and that's what we love to do, but please, please, please slow down. First 30 days, understanding the business. Okay, you've done that job. Well done, by the way. If you don't skip that bit, well done. Let's look at phase two, the next 30

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30 days is really to build quite a nuanced Rich understanding for yourself of how does communication work in the company right now so this is not aspirational you're not Forward Thinking yet you're just looking at how's everything going right now and you're

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days, so say days 31 to 60. By this day, you kind of started to get your head around what the company's all about, what's important to your leaders, what your CEO is trying to deliver on. This is really going to help you align all of your

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half exploding with like a bajillion ideas and you're going to begin to connect the dots between all of these things now you're ready to move into phase three so this is day 61 to 90 I guess and this is where you're going to

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communication activity later on to these business priorities. Now you can start focusing more on the communication side of things in phase two, and everything that you learn in phase two, you're going to be looking at it through the lens of the

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three is like the marrying stage you're bringing it all together now your strategy should make it really really clear what you're trying to achieve and why that matters to the business it's not just a list of activities or tactics

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knowledge you've got in phase one. So you can see already the stuff is starting to build on each other. Phase two, for me, is about understanding how communication currently works in the company. You want to look at what channels are being

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if you've achieved these or not what is your measure of success for each of those objectives and if you used the smart framework for building your objectives you can't go too far wrong if building an internal communication strategy is new to you and it sounds a

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used, what kind of messages are being shared, what kind of feedback are employees giving, what's working, what's not, where are the opportunities you can see for improvement. We're in the communication zone now, and you can really start honing your curiosity

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filming this in February 2025 I am currently building a course that will teach you how to create and design your own internal communication strategy so the people on my newsletter are going to hear about that course first I will put

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specifically on the communication that's happening in the organization. And really, what I want you to do in this phase is to build what we call a baseline. Baseline is simply you're capturing how things are now rather than trying to

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people with 20 years of experience nonsense creating a com strategy is actually a really enjoyable rewarding exercise at least if you're a bit of a nerd like me and your strategy will clearly outline how is internal communication going to help the business

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change things straight away. You're really just making a documented assessment of where are we starting from. This is really important because once you start making changes, you want to measure your progress, right? You can't measure how far you've come if you don't

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we going to measure all of this how are we going to prove that this has been worthwhile and impactful for the business that's what your strategy is going to outline and if you can get that right you're just set setting yourself

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know where you started. So this bit's really important. So in this phase, you can do what's sometimes called an internal communications audit, which simply means a review. You really want to understand how does information flow around the organization, how do employees

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function from scratch in 90 days that is exactly what I would do the first 30 days I would learn about the business the next 30 days I would learn about communication and in the final 30 days i' bring it all together into a strategy

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get the information they need, what kind of stuff are leaders talking about, how do employees feel about everything. Now, this sounds like a lot. I know it can sound overwhelming. Now, if you have a giant budget and you don't have the time

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I'll see you the next time

Topics:internal communicationscommunication strategybusiness prioritiesstakeholder engagementinternal comms audit90 day planJoanna Parsonsemployee communicationcorporate communicationcommunication function setup

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