The most common reason a communications strategy misses the mark isn’t lack of expertise — it’s insufficient understanding of the organisation and its context. Stakeholder interviews are the most reliable way to fix that. Done properly, they surface the real challenges, the internal politics, the constraints, and the opportunities that a desk review will miss.
Who to interview
Aim for a spread: senior leadership (to understand the strategic direction and priorities), comms team members (to understand what’s working and what isn’t in practice), and one or two colleagues from outside the comms function (to understand how communications is perceived internally and what other departments need from it).
Five to eight interviews is usually enough to surface the key patterns. Beyond that, you’re likely to be hearing the same things repeated.
What to ask
Keep your questions open and exploratory. You’re not testing hypotheses — you’re listening. Useful lines of questioning include: what’s working well in your communications right now? What’s not working? What do you wish your audiences understood about you? What are the biggest communications challenges you face? What would success look like in a year?
Leave space for the things people want to say that you didn’t think to ask about. Some of the most important insights come in the last five minutes when people say “the other thing I’d say is…”
What to do with what you hear
Look for patterns across interviews — the things multiple people mention independently are the ones that matter most. Note where different stakeholders have contradictory views, because that tension is often where the most important strategic questions sit.
Don’t quote individuals directly in your report unless they’ve agreed to it. Synthesise the themes.
The stakeholder interview guide below gives you a question framework, a note-taking structure, and a synthesis template for turning interview findings into strategic insights.