19 May Think like an Anthropologist
Internal Comms Lessons from an Expert Communicator
David Evans, Lucy Mitchell
Today I listened to an interview with Shanna Wendt, VP of Communications at Coca‑Cola. Much of her wisdom flips conventional thinking about comms on its head. Here’s four lessons that stood out.
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Employees Are a Mirror for Your Brand
Wendt says, “Communications starts and ends with your employee audience. I always talk about them as a mirror, really a truth-sayer. Whatever it is that you’re trying to do externally to engage different audiences or in terms of your company brand and reputation, it really does start and finish with your colleagues.”
The split between internal and external comms is, in her view, superficial. Employees are the test audience; they know the brand inside out, and what fails to resonate with them is unlikely to work externally.
In our reputation research work with clients, we see this repeatedly: whenever employees are included in the audience mix, the insights are stronger. Leaders often look outward for answers that internal staff already possess, and that insider perspective helps sharpen questions we pose to other groups.
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Think Like an Anthropologist
Seeking to better understand employees has led Wendt to explore new ways of carrying out her work. By approaching the role more like an anthropologist conducting fieldwork, she found they could break through previous employee engagement ceilings.
Her team spent time with different units, doing jobs across the organisation. By walking a mile in colleagues’ shoes her team could understand how different colleagues work, communicate, and socialize. Just a little time in each role lead to communications that felt tailored to each role.
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Co‑Create Communications with Colleagues
The second shift was moving from “What do we want to tell employees?” a broadcasting model, to “What do our colleagues want to know to do their jobs better?” a collaborative model. When selecting a new internal comms platform, Wendt’s team spoke directly with employees across teams to uncover what information they needed to do their jobs better today. Treating colleagues as co-creators led to systems that work better for everyone.
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Line Managers: The Critical Communicators
Third, Wendt highlights the pivotal role of line managers, especially in non‑office contexts, as a primary channel for company information. They bring the human element that digital channels often lack.
Our own research from The Vantage Point report found that US workers prefer human conversation and face‑to‑face check‑ins over digital updates, with nearly three‑quarters wishing company updates felt more personal. Given that line managers are frequently stretched thin, targeted, personal comms is essential.
Look Up from the Laptop
In short, great comms professionals don’t treat perspective‑taking as an abstract exercise. They get on the floor, talk directly to colleagues, and, like skilled anthropologists, immerse themselves in the field. The resulting communications are considered, personal, and useful: avoiding the trap of overwhelming or boring audiences.
If you get a chance, I highly recommend listening to the full episode from the Internal Comms podcast hosted by Kaite Macaulay, who asks superb questions throughout: https://youtu.be/1lYDlxCOfpA?si=2x8jbGQjPEcZ7gyI