How employee communicators can hit the ground running in 2026

It’s already time to start thinking about challenges and opportunities that await internal communicators in 2026. From making AI an employee comms priority to rethinking what measurement looks like, there are plenty of opportunities for internal comms pros to sharpen their approaches in the new year.

During Ragan’s webinar, “How to Leverage 5 Key Employee Comms Trends for 2026,” attendees heard what some of the top minds in the industry anticipate in the year ahead. Presented by Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council, the event’s panelists included Kirsten Fowles Graham, vice president of IBMer communications at IBM, Meghan Keating, vice president of internal communications at 3M, and Lisa Worthington, senior director of internal communications and platforms at T-Mobile, shared their insights on what comms pros need to look out for in 2026.

“The function of internal communications has to evolve from broadcasting messages to connecting meaning,” Keating said. “Employees don’t just want information. They want understanding. If we can help them see how strategy connects to their daily work, that’s the measure of success.”

Here are a few takeaways for internal comms pros from the event:

• Communicators can help make AI accessible and relevant for employees. With AI’s rapid pace of evolution, it’s key for internal communicators to talk about the technology in a way that makes it feel real and relevant for employees. Graham shared about IBM’s WatsonX Challenge, which aims to allow employees to experiment with AI and figure out how it can help them in their roles. She said that from its inception in 2022, the program has grown to around 168,000 participants, showing employees’ willingness to explore. “This challenge isn’t about coding or engineering,” she said. “We have HR, legal and comms employees joining in. It’s about demystifying AI so everyone understands how it supports their work. You don’t need to be a developer to be an innovator.” She added that communicating about the campaign has led to a major uptick in employees who seamlessly interact with AI. “This year, 87% of employees said they now understand how to apply generative AI in their daily work,” she said. “That’s the result of consistent communication — not just technology. She also said that IBM’s approach can apply to any company, not just tech or data-focused ones. “The goal isn’t to turn everyone into AI experts,” Graham said. “It’s to make people comfortable engaging with it — to see what’s possible, to experiment safely, to ask questions. You don’t need to be in a tech company to do that.
• Organizational changes are major opportunities for communicators to reinforce trust. 2025 was a year of major change for a lot of companies, with a flurry of layoffs and leadership changes. Worthington told the audience about how her team assisted T-Mobile’s new CEO in finding his voice and connecting with the company’s employee base in his own voice. “He began blogging, attending town halls and meeting frontline teams,” she said. “That early visibility built trust before he ever stepped into the top role. We helped him use his own words, not the same slogans as his predecessor. Employees can spot when something sounds rehearsed.”
• Framing RTO as a cultural norm rather than a mandate. With more and more companies calling their employees back to the office on a full or part-time basis, internal communicators are increasingly faced with the challenge of putting RTO in terms that employees won’t view as a mandate. Keating said that at 3M, her team was especially careful about language use with its RTO comms. “We never used words like mandate or requirement,” she said. “Instead, we said, ‘It’s an expectation.’ It’s part of how we work together to innovate. For a company like 3M, innovation happens when people collide — when teams brainstorm in person, when ideas cross-pollinate in the hallway. That’s what we’re emphasizing — not returning to the office for its own sake, but returning to collaboration.”
• Comms pros can create opportunities to participate in the company’s story. The most effective employee communications allow employees to feel like they’re seen in the messaging, as opposed to just observing news as a removed third-party. Keating shared a bit about an initiative 3M is running that reframes employee comms as a discussion instead of an information dump. “We created discussion guides for managers and leaders — cascades that go beyond talking points,” she said. “They include questions like, ‘What does performance culture mean to you and your team?’ or ‘How does this priority show up in your daily work?’ It’s about dialogue, not directives.” She added that adjusting messaging to be focused on employee impact has shown results. “We’ve seen a measurable impact,” Keating said. “Our surveys show a 10% increase in employees saying, ‘My supervisor clearly communicates plans and priorities.’ That’s the result of those cascades — not a new platform or campaign, just intentional communication through people.”
• Measure outcomes and tie them back to the business. Comms measurement should be a whole lot more than analyzing the numbers. It should be an active process in which comms pros connect their actions to outcomes and build on those learnings. Graham said that IBM’s WatsonX Challenge gave her team a great opportunity to measure year-over-year success in the annual iterations of the program. “We’re a very data-driven company, so leadership expects measurement in everything we do — including internal communications,” she said. Graham added that the feedback her team gets from the program isn’t just a nice-to-know aspect of the campaign — it’s critical information that displays how internal communicators impact the business. “Those aren’t just engagement stats — they’re transformation stats. They show how internal comms can drive understanding, confidence, and alignment with business goals.”

Graham left the audience with a few words of advice for comms pros as they’re looking to innovate or rework their processes heading into the new year.

“Just get started,” she said. “You don’t have to have it perfect. Whether it’s AI or culture change, the hardest part is beginning — and that’s where comms leads the way.”

For more information on Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council, click here.

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications.