The Curious Route

The Curious Route is the only consultancy firm in Ireland that specialises exclusively in internal communication.

I help organisations communicate better with their employees. I offer consulting, training and workshops. I also support internal communication professionals directly through my membership community, The Curious Route.

I have 12+years experience in internal communication and I've seen it all. Reach out for my help.

Email: joanna@thecuriousroute.com

Chief Executive Officer

Public Relations Institute of Ireland

Designing and delivering a course on Strategic Internal Communication.

Lecturer and Course Director

Teamwork

● Developed the internal communications strategy in a high-growth SaaS company with 350 employees across 25 countries
● Drove communications excellence through an internal communications audit, developing an audience-led approach to refining the existing communications infrastructure
● Delivered a high-impact creative employee event for 300+ people with an evaluation score of 9/10

Head of Internal Communications & Culture

An Garda Síochána

● Developed and implemented a national internal communications strategy aligned with organisational goals, in a complex policing organisation of 18,000+ employees.
● Led a dispersed remote team plus external agencies to implement the strategy via new digital channels, campaigns and creative tactics.
● Led on crisis communications during COVID-19, resulting in 95% of police available for work.
● Implemented a new digital communication channel that had a consistent open rate of 70% for 2 years.
● Won 4 national and international awards for excellence in internal communication, including first prize in the Public Relations Institute of Ireland Awards 2021.
● Evaluated the effectiveness of internal communications activities using surveys, focus groups and other methods; used findings to improve future planning.

Head Of Internal Communications

Irish Life Corporate Business

● Led the development and execution of an internal communications strategy that resulted in a significant employee NPS increase. 
● Managed all internal communication channels, both digital and print, to align employees to business strategy.
● Designed a new gamified onboarding programme aligned with corporate values that received a 9.4/10 
satisfaction score and resulted in increased employee engagement.
● Created compelling content to align employees around corporate values and associated behaviours.
● Lead and managed a Communications Group of 14 people, successfully executing on all objectives to deadline.

Senior Communications & Engagement Specialist

Concern Worldwide

● Guided internal communications for a complex global organisation spanning multiple time zones.
● Improved cross-departmental collaboration by the creation of structured two-way communication channels.
● Developed effective communication plans that engaged employees with the organisational strategy and values.
● Successfully transformed complex technical briefs into easy-to-digest internal stories.
● Utilised excellent interpersonal skills to manage diverse teams, projects and stakeholders across various levels.

Internal Information Officer

● Communicating the purpose, scope and objectives of the Digital Data Gathering project 
● Presenting updates and reports to senior leaders
● Travelling all over Africa to train employees on the project
● Measurement and evaluation

Survey & Comms Specialist

Trocaire

● Communicating the purpose and impact of Trocaire's work in India 
● Developing communications material including internal reports for senior management, glossy brochures for prospective donors and blogs for Trocaire's website
● Running storytelling workshops for partner organisations in India

Communications Officer

● Project manager for Trocaire’s Global Humanitarian Summit
● Office manager and administrator for a busy team of humanitarian professionals
● Logistics, procurement and admin for emergency humanitarian response events

Humanitarian Unit Administrator

LinkedIn Top Voice on Internal Communication. I help organisations create effective systems of internal communication through consulting, training and coaching.

I'm the CEO of The Curious Route, an internal communications consultancy practice based in Dublin, Ireland. I help organisations communicate better with their employees. I offer training, consulting, speaking and workshops. I'm the author of "Innovative Internal Communication", published by Kogan Page in August 2024.

I support internal communication professionals directly through my membership community, The Curious Tribe. 

My curiosity-first approach emphasises listening, questioning and observing to identify challenges, understand problems and come up with creative solutions.

I sat on the Board of Directors with the Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC) for 3 years. In 2022, I was awarded an IoIC Fellowship, in recognition that I am one of the leading experts in internal communication across the UK & Ireland.

I’ve appeared on lots of popular podcasts, including The Internal Comms Podcast, A View from the Top, The Engaging Internal Comms Podcast and Digital Rebels. I’ve been a keynote speaker at the Public Sector Digital Marketing Summit.

I've won multiple awards for my work in internal communications over the last 12 years, including:

- Finalist for “Leader of the Year” in the 2023 Gartner Marketing & Communications Awards 
- Finalist for "Internal Communicator of the Year" in the Internal Communications & Engagement Awards 2023
- Winner for “Best Internal Communication” - Public Relations Institute of Ireland Awards 2021
- Winner for “Most Effective Essential Worker Communications” - Covid Comms Awards 2021
- Silver for "Best Internal Communications During COVID-19" - Internal Communications & Engagement Awards 2020
- Award of Excellence for “Best Crisis Communications” - Institute of Internal Communication Awards 2020

Last week a comms director messaged me. She'd just been told her team of 5 was being cut to 3.

But the workload was staying exactly the same, of course. Her boss said “You’ll need to do more with less”.

I hear this phrase a lot as we’re in the thick of 2026 planning. The "do more with less" propaganda machine is in full swing again, always selling the same exhausting lie that comms pros can magically do the work of two people by themselves… to a high standard and without burnout.

But let’s get real.

Doing more with less isn't a badge of honour. It’s not something we should strive for.

It's a fast track to mediocrity and burnout. Quality drops, people get exhausted, the comms function loses credibility.

So here's what I'm advocating for in 2026: Do LESS with less. 

Do less, and do it strategically. This means:

➡️ Actually saying no to low-impact requests
➡️ Killing projects that don't serve your strategy
➡️ Being ruthlessly focused on what matters

Will this make you popular? Probably not. Will it make you effective? Absolutely.

The best comms teams I work with aren't the busiest. They're the most strategic.

They understand that impact doesn't come from doing everything. It comes from doing the right things exceptionally well.

2026 should be the year we stop glorifying exhaustion and start normalising excellence.

Who's with me?

♻ Repost if you're choosing quality over quantity for 2026.

Joanna Parsons

The Internal Comms Gal. Professional Yapper. Speaking, training and workshops: joanna@thecuriousroute.com

I've worked with hundreds of comms professionals.

The ones who ask more questions always deliver better results.

Because what stakeholders WANT is rarely what the business NEEDS. 

They often want things like: 

➡️ An all-staff email 
➡️ A town hall announcement
➡️ A new intranet article

But what they actually NEED to help the business might be completely different. They just don't know it yet. They need your help.

This is where curiosity becomes your superpower. Try these questions next time a stakeholder approaches you with a tactical request:

1️⃣ What are you hoping to achieve with this communication? (Not "what do you want to say" but what outcome matters)
2️⃣ What business problem are we solving here? (Coax them to articulate the actual issue, not the symptom)
3️⃣ Who needs this information and why? (Spoiler: it's often fewer people than they think)
4️⃣ What action should employees take after reading this? (If there's no action, question whether it needs to exist at all)

Being endlessly, relentlessly and joyfully curious will fuel your career in comms. It's how you become a strategic advisor, trusted to speak truth to power and deliver impactful results.

Ask more questions. Challenge more assumptions. Be curious.

Your stakeholders might find it uncomfortable at first. But they'll respect you for it later.

What’s your favourite question to ask stakeholders?

P.S. I found this pic circulating on twitter and loved it immediately, credit to whoever this lady in the photo is, if you know her please tag her!

 ––––
 
🚫 Don’t let an algorithm decide what you read; join 9,006 readers who get my weekly internal comms tips straight to their inbox.
 
➡️ Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/ez3_eq4c

My corporate pet peeve is showing up on time for a meeting to be told "We'll just wait 5 mins for everyone else to arrive"

How about we start without them instead, THEY ARE LATE 🫠 

(I am criminally punctual, you should know this about me, I find lateness the height of disrespect)

What's your corporate pet peeve?

“I don’t want to look like a job hopper”

This is what a client told me on a call last week when we were discussing how to find her next role.

She’s been in her current company for 2 years and felt it would look bad to move so soon.

The myth that job-hoppers are unstable needs to be firmly busted.

Job hopping isn’t a career liability. It’s a smart wealth-building strategy.

Let’s look at what company loyalty is costing you.

The loyal employee:

➡️ Starts at 50k
➡️ Stays with the company for 10 years
➡️ Gets 3% raise every year
➡️ After 10 years is on 65k salary
 
The strategic job-hopper:

➡️ Starts at 50k
➡️ Moves jobs 3 times in 10 years
➡️ Gets 20k increase with every move
➡️ After 10 years is on 110k salary
 
The job hopper earns nearly DOUBLE.

[And yes these numbers are reasonable, perhaps even conservative. In one job move in my own career I got a 40k increase.]

We’ve been conditioned to think that moving companies every few years is bad.

❌ "It shows you're disloyal"
❌ "Employers won't trust you"
❌ "You need to show stability"

Here's what's actually true:

✅ Companies pay external hires more than they pay loyal employees
✅ Annual raises rarely keep pace with market rates
✅ The best way to increase your salary is to get a new job offer
 
Don't get me wrong: If you're somewhere you love, where you're growing, valued and paid fairly? Stay as long as you want.

But if you're staying because you think years of service will be rewarded? You're probably losing money.

Job hopping isn't the risky play here. Staying underpaid through blind loyalty is.

What's your take?

 ––––
 
 🚫 Don’t let an algorithm decide what you read; join 8,895 readers who get my weekly internal comms tips straight to their inbox.
 
 ➡️ Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/ez3_eq4c

Tomorrow I'm flying to London to sit on a giant seat and have inflatable lightning bolts thrown at me.

True story!

More than 1,000 comms pros have already signed up to watch me get grilled on your messiest comms challenges, and there's more than 300 questions sent in for me already. Current themes include:

➡️ How do you convince leaders that internal comms matters?
➡️ What should we be measuring to prove success?
➡️ How to tackle strategy when you're so busy?

I'm partnering with Blink - Employee Experience Platform for a Hot Seat LIVE session tomorrow at 4pm GMT. No slides, no fluff, no waffle, just honest and practical answers to help you with your challenges.

[And I am told they've genuinely bought lightning bolt props for the 'lightning round' of questions hahaha]

It's online and it's free to join - are you on the list?

👉 Register here: https://lnkd.in/eK38P4HE

Most webinars are boring. Yesterday's Hot Seat with Blink - Employee Experience Platform was not!

We had 1,000+ registrations, a chat that wouldn't quit and questions so good I'm still thinking about them.

[And an epic gif game in the chat, yes I noticed!]

We talked about:

➡️ How to use curiosity as a tool to become more strategic 
➡️ Displaying the right behaviours to build your desired reputation
➡️ How to actually measure internal comms success 
➡️ My take on newsletters (I quite like them!)

The format for this event was so good. No slides, no presentations, just real conversation about the challenges you're dealing with right now. 

Thanks to Georgie Scott for setting this up and for being a true delight to work with. The Hot Seat is a super idea and I was delighted be part of the experience! And of course thanks to everyone who joined live, your energy made it.

Who do you think should be next up on Blink's Hot Seat? 👀

Today's word of the day is Cruciferous.

It's so crunchy in the mouth, so fun to say, so pleasing to the ear.

It's also surprisingly easy to weave into daily conversation, just start up a discussion about dinner. [It's an umbrella term for vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts.]

Cru-cif-er-ous. So tasty!

What other words are just delightful to you?

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