Question 1

Will this replace our need for a comms hire eventually?

Accepted Answer

It depends on your trajectory. The Autopsy and Burial are designed to leave you with a system your team can run independently. The fractional retainer exists for the common middle ground: senior comms judgement on a regular basis, at a level still short of justifying a full-time hire.

Question 2

Do you write the actual messages, or just advise on strategy?

Accepted Answer

Both, depending on the tier. The Autopsy diagnoses and recommends. The Burial and the fractional retainer both include hands-on drafting: scripts, announcements, cascade materials, real material your team can use directly, alongside the strategy itself. For a pay rollout, the all-hands script, staff explainer and manager pay scripts sit with Pay Transparency .

Question 3

What if the audit turns up something politically sensitive?

Accepted Answer

It's handled the way the report itself is handled: directly, plainly, and privately with you before anything reaches a wider audience. Individual interviewees stay unquoted by name throughout.

Question 4

Can this run during an active reorg or comms crisis?

Accepted Answer

Yes. It's often exactly when the gaps in a comms system get exposed. If the crisis leans more HR than comms, The Vigil under Fractional HRBP is the better fit. Ask on the discovery call and we'll help you tell which.

Question 5

How long does an internal communications audit take?

Accepted Answer

The Autopsy runs two to three weeks: around 15 to 20 hours of your team's time across interviews and the findings walkthrough. The Burial, the full strategy and playbook, runs five to seven weeks.

Question 6

What's the actual deliverable, not just the process?

Accepted Answer

A written findings report you can hand straight to your leadership team. For the Burial, also a practical playbook with ready-to-use templates: an all-hands agenda, a newsletter format, an announcement structure, a manager cascade script. Real things your team opens on a Monday morning and puts to work, rather than a deck that sits in a folder.

Question 7

What does an internal communications audit actually look at?

Accepted Answer

Where messages break down between you and the people meant to receive them: channel overload, manager cascade failures, one-way broadcasts standing in for real two-way communication. And the specific moments people quietly stop listening. Interviews surface this, in a way a survey template rarely can. When the break sits with managers, Manager Enablement gives them a briefing template for passing news on within 24 hours, and a place to practise it.