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Can Thought Leadership Start With Internal Comms?
Reprinted with permission
By Rhea Wessel
Thought leadership doesn’t start on LinkedIn or in industry journals. It begins within your company walls.
I was reminded of this recently while leading a session at Staffbase on finding and framing story ideas for internal communications.
As a thought leadership strategist, I focus on helping organizations build external-facing programs that position them as trusted authorities in their industries. But in preparing for this session, I found myself reflecting on how the same principles apply to internal communications—and, in some ways, even more powerfully.
Your company’s intranet, newsletters, and other internal channels are often the first places where ideas are tested and shared. They’re the spaces where your subject-matter experts begin to articulate their knowledge, where insights start to take shape, and where the seeds of thought leadership are planted.
For organizations looking to build a culture of thought leadership from the inside out, the key is to equip employees with the tools and processes they need to consistently share and refine their ideas. That’s where my three-step thought-leadership writing framework comes in: Find it, Frame it, and Flesh it out.
Step 1: Find It—Identify Your Thought Leadership Niche
Every great piece of thought leadership starts with a clear sense of purpose and expertise. That’s why the first step is helping your employees—and your organization as a whole—find their thought leadership niche.
In the session, I shared a simple exercise for identifying this niche. It’s about finding the intersection of three key elements:
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Experience: What do you or your organization know better than anyone else?
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Passion: What topics energize you? What problems do you love solving?
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Unique Viewpoint: What perspectives or approaches set you apart?
Where these three elements overlap is your sweet spot for thought leadership. For internal communicators, this step often involves coaching subject-matter experts to map their own expertise and helping them see how their insights connect to broader organizational goals.
When you articulate a clear niche, it becomes much easier to focus your content and avoid the scattershot approach that so often dilutes the impact of thought leadership efforts.
Step 2: Frame It—Find And Shape Story Ideas
Once you’ve identified your niche, the next challenge is figuring out how to talk about it in a way that resonates. This is where framing comes in.
One of the most valuable tools I shared during the session was a problem-based approach to finding story ideas. Instead of starting with solutions or expertise, start with the problems your audience cares about most. What challenges are your employees or clients facing? What gaps in understanding can you help fill?
Here’s how to do it:
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Brainstorm Problems: Map out all the challenges your audience might encounter within your thought leadership niche. Think broadly at first, then narrow your focus to one specific issue.
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Unpack the Problem: Break it down into smaller components. Why does this problem exist? What are its implications? This step not only clarifies your story’s purpose but also helps you identify unique angles and insights to explore.
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Apply Story Framing Templates: Use headline formulas to create engaging hooks. For example:
- “Three Ways to Solve [X Problem] in Your Organization”
- “Why [X Problem] is Holding Back Your Team—and How to Fix It”
This approach ensures that your content feels relevant, actionable, and deeply aligned with your audience’s needs.
Step 3: Flesh It Out—Bring Stories To Life
With your story ideas framed, the final step is fleshing them out into compelling content. This involves transforming raw ideas into polished articles, presentations, or intranet posts that deliver real value.
During the Staffbase session, I emphasized the importance of using a journalistic approach to writing:
- Write with Clarity and Precision: Short paragraphs, simple language, and fast-moving narratives keep your audience engaged.
- Balance Data with Storytelling: Include statistics, quotes, or examples, but don’t overwhelm readers with information.
- Stay Solution-Focused: Your goal is to provide guidance and insight, not just describe problems.
For internal communications professionals, this step might involve partnering with ghostwriters to help your subject-matter experts externalize their thinking or running workshops to help experts hone their writing skills.
Impact Way Beyond The Intranet
Employees who participate in thought leadership programs feel valued and engaged. They’re seen as visible experts, not just within the company but often in their industries as well. As more and more organizations evolve into ideas-driven entities, this process also converts your inner dialogue into a global conversation.
Getting your experts writing also fosters a culture of knowledge sharing and innovation. By consistently capturing and refining ideas, organizations build a rich repository of insights that can inform everything from employee training to external marketing efforts.
At its core, thought leadership isn’t just about positioning your company as an authority. It’s about creating value—both for the people you serve and the people who work for you.
And that starts with giving employees the tools they need to articulate and share their expertise.
Building A Thought Leadership Culture
Reflecting on my experience with Staffbase, I realized just how much untapped potential exists within internal communications. By applying the same rigor and creativity we bring to external thought leadership efforts, you can turn your intranet and internal channels into engines of innovation and engagement.
Thought leadership may ultimately reach the outside world, but it begins at home.
Start small. Help your employees find their niche, frame their ideas, and flesh them out into meaningful stories.
The results might surprise you—and they’ll certainly inspire the people you work with.