Every organisation tells a story about itself. You'll find it on the website, in the annual report, and in the way leaders speak at conferences and to the press.
But the people who know best whether that story is true are the ones who work there. Most of the time, the inside and outside versions roughly line up. During periods of change, they can drift apart, and when they do, it's rarely the outside story that wins.
When the two stories drift apart
Sometimes it's the outside that falls behind: a brand that no longer reflects what an organisation has become, or what it stands for. That's usually the easier gap to close.
The harder one is when the inside falls behind.
I've seen organisations reach a point where their public story is stronger than it has ever been: confident, compelling, and often built around people and purpose. Inside, something quite different is happening.
Leaders aren't on the same page. They don't have the same information, and they don't share it consistently with their teams. Email is still the main channel; then a new tool arrives, and suddenly whether you know what's going on depends on whether you're on it all day. Silos form.
Then come restructures, one after another, with little explanation. People are let go, and nobody says why. That creates an intense sense of instability and fear, and fear changes how people behave. They act to protect themselves. Colleagues who once worked together start to see each other as threats.
The effects are predictable. Good people leave. Those who stay lose sight of where they fit and where the organisation is going, and motivation drains away. People come to work, spend the day unsure of their purpose, and wonder whether they'll be next.
When an organisation's public story is all about people, this is especially painful. Every message about putting people first only makes the gap feel wider.
Why it doesn't stay inside
It's tempting to think that what happens inside can be kept inside. It can't.
Employees carry the story everywhere: to customers and partners, to their families and friends, and sometimes to the media. And they're believed. In Edelman's 2022 study of trust in the workplace, co-workers and direct managers were the most trusted spokespeople for most employees, ahead of the CEO.
So if the story inside is one of fear and confusion, that's the story that travels. No campaign can outrun it for long.
What it looks like done well
I've also seen this handled well, and been part of it.
Early in my career, I worked in corporate communications at a telecommunications company undergoing a regulator-ordered split into separate businesses, with a rebrand alongside it. It was a former national monopoly, and the media loved to cast it as the villain. If anything went wrong, people threatened to go to the press, and staff would not hesitate to go public if they felt badly treated.
The restructuring was significant and necessary, and people lost their jobs. But communication was part of the process from the start. We sat in the war room with HR and leadership to work out how each decision would land and how best to tell people. I was junior, and my view was still invited and valued at the table.
We agreed the best option was simply to be transparent. The split was already a public and frightening process, so people needed to understand what was playing out around them and what it meant for them.
Each round of restructuring was announced well in advance, along with the shape of each team: how many roles there would be. People could see for themselves that, say, their team would lose two roles. A few weeks later, the one-to-one conversations took place, and then the team was told about the new structure, with the new roles in place. Voluntary redundancy was offered for some roles, and for people who were already unhappy, the advance notice was a door out rather than a shock.
I saw it from both sides. I helped communicate the process, and my own team was restructured too; I moved to a different team under a new name. It was never a joyful process, but the transparency was genuinely appreciated.
A new story to gather around
The rebrand helped too. Amid all the upheaval, it gave people something positive to gather around and anchor themselves in. A new identity, and a chance at a new story for the organisation. We leaned into that. We shared the new brand at each step of the journey and ran votes on the intranet so staff could help choose names and designs. When it came to the launch, staff saw it first. We held a nationwide celebration, with a roadshow, light show and party in key cities, and unveiled the new brand to employees before it appeared in the media the next day. After everything they had been through, people felt included and part of something exciting.
Why it held up on the outside
It showed on the outside, too. In a company where staff might well have gone to the media, that story largely didn't happen, because people felt they had been treated honestly.
The difference wasn't the scale of the change. Restructures and job losses are hard wherever they happen. The difference was that communication was part of the decisions, rather than brought in afterwards to announce them. When nobody in the room is asking how a decision will land, what people need to know, or in what order, the damage is often done before the announcement is written.
Rebuilding trust once it's gone
Once trust is lost, it's a long, hard road back. But it is doable, and it starts in small steps.
Be transparent first. Tell people what's happening and what it means for them, as early as you honestly can.
Make your actions match your words. If you say you'll do something, do it. If you say you'll listen, listen.
Listen for real. Understand how people are actually feeling, not how you hope they're feeling.
Don't shy away from questions. Be open about what decisions mean for people, even when the answer is hard. A question isn't an attack. It's a sign that someone isn't clear yet about where they fit.
Be willing to say "I don't know". People value a leader who can say: "I don't know yet. The best I can give you now is this, and we're going through it together." Those words aren't used nearly enough.
Share the good, too. Don't forget the wins, the progress and the things people can look forward to. They give people something to hold on to. But good news can't cover up a reality that feels fearful and unstable. People will notice, and it will cost you more trust, not less.
At its simplest
The story an organisation tells the world is only as strong as the one its people are living. Get the inside right, and the outside has something true to stand on.
If your organisation is going through change and you want to bring your people with you, I'd be glad to talk. Start a conversation.
Related: When Growth Changes The Story · Internal & Change Communication
Written by Carly Morris, founder of Arc Narratives.
