How do I make frontline comms actually reach the frontline?

(Fewer channels. Clearer beats louder. Phone-first, or it didn’t happen.)

Most internal comms are designed on a laptop and die in a pocket. The frontline doesn’t live in SharePoint pages or 9 a.m. desk stand-ups. If they can’t see it on a phone, during a five-minute break, it doesn’t exist.

Here’s the system I use so critical updates land on the floor, not the floor of someone’s inbox.

1) Pick a home, not a hope

Chat is not a home. Email is where updates go to retire. You need one place with:

• An Everyone feed for timely, pin-able announcements.

• Team spaces for local ops.

• A knowledge library with ten “golden docs.”

• Profiles so people can find people.

• Light analytics to see who saw what.

Mobile-first or nothing.

(Platforms vary. I’ve used hubs like Pebb for blended frontline/office, Teams when you’re deep in M365, Slack for chat-heavy orgs, and intranet tools like Workvivo/Staffbase/Simpplr when governance and publishing matter most. Use what fits your reality.)

2) Ruthless formatting

Write like a road sign:

• Headline: “Policy change: gloves required in A-aisle starting Monday.”

• Body: What changed, why, by when, who to ask.

• Action: “Acknowledge by tapping ✅.”

• Learn more: link to the golden doc.

One screen. Two at most. If it needs a novel, it’s a training, not an update.

3) Cadence, not chaos

• Two Everyone posts per day max.

• Shift-specific pins (“Tonight: freezer inventory after 8”).

• Weekly recap Friday noon: three bullets, one story, one heads-up.

Your consistency becomes their habit.

4) Signals, not noise

When everything is 🔴, nothing is 🔴. I color-code:

• 🔴 Safety/urgent

• 🟡 Process change

• 🟢 Recognition/wins

• 🔵 Training

People learn the code and triage at a glance.

5) Close the loop with receipts

Require a quick tap (✅) or a two-word reply (“Read + name”). Not to police— to learn who’s missing. I DM the misses with grace: “Saw you were on route; catch it when back. Anything unclear?” The point is coverage, not scolding.

6) Translate policy into shift reality

Corporate says, “New PPE policy per OSHA clause…” Frontline hears: “More steps and I’m behind.” I post the translation: “From Monday: gloves in A-aisle. Why: sheet-metal edges. Grab from bin 3. Manager will bring spares to the floor. Takes 10 seconds; prevents stitches.”

7) Put comms into the huddle

We read the top pin in the huddle. If it changes how we work today, it’s in the seven-minute script. If not, it can wait. The floor is the filter.

8) Use pictures and 15-second clips

A photo of “how the pallet should look” beats a paragraph. A 15-second clip of a new POS tap path beats a bullet list. Show, don’t prose.

9) Measure landing, not sending

I care less about posts sent and more about:

• Open rate by shift/location

• Time-to-view for urgent posts

• Top searches in the library (what they can’t find)

• Unread hotspots (where we need manager help)

Fix the system where it misses.

10) Recognize in the feed

Frontline reads what they’re in. I post specific praise with a photo: “Angel moved the labeler within reach—zero jams at lunch rush. Copy this layout.” It teaches and lifts at once.

Bottom line: design comms for the pocket, not the portal. One home, two posts a day, phone-first formatting, and a manager who treats the floor as the final mile.