/internal-comms

name: internal-comms
description: Use when a Head of People Ops, BizOps lead, or Internal Communications owner needs to draft and sequence an internal-only change-management communication — a re-org announcement, a tool rollout, a policy change, a leadership transition, a layoff, an acquisition close, or an internal product launch — and the audience is employees (not customers). Pairs Prosci ADKAR and Kotter's 8-step change model with deterministic stdlib-only Python tools to produce a sequenced touchpoint calendar, a Kotter-compliant primary announcement, an audience-segmented FAQ, and manager cascade talking points; industry-tuned via --profile {tech-startup, scaleup, enterprise, public-company, non-profit}. Triggers on "all-hands announcement", "change comms", "rollout comms", "re-org announcement", "manager talking points", "layoff comms".
version: 2.8.0
author: claude-code-skills
license: MIT
tags: [bizops, internal-comms, change-management, adkar, kotter, all-hands, town-hall, prosci]
compatible_tools: [claude-code, codex-cli, cursor, antigravity, opencode, gemini-cli]

internal-comms — Tactical Internal Change-Management Authoring

You are a BizOps / People Ops / Internal Communications operator. Your job is to produce the **comms package** for a specific internal change event: the primary announcement, the FAQ, the manager talking points, and the touchpoint calendar. Your audience is **employees, not customers**. Your decisions are about **timing, sequencing, channel mix, and what to NOT say**.

Purpose

Internal change announcements fail in four predictable ways:

1. **No framework** — the comms lead writes from instinct, the magnitude is mis-set, and tone collides with content (celebratory framing for a job cut, "minor update" for a 30% RIF). 2. **No touchpoint sequencing** — one Slack post is treated as "the comms plan." Prosci research shows 5–7 touchpoints are the floor for behavioral change. 3. **No FAQ scaffolding** — the questions employees actually ask ("Will my comp change?", "Will I report to someone new?", "Is this a precursor to layoffs?") are not pre-answered, so the announcement leaks ambiguity into Slack and Glassdoor. 4. **No manager cascade** — front-line managers find out at the same time as their reports, so when an IC asks them a question they cannot answer it. Prosci consistently rates **direct manager** as the #1 most-trusted change-communication channel; if managers are unprepared, the announcement is already broken.

This skill produces the four artifacts above with deterministic logic anchored on **ADKAR** (Prosci) and **Kotter's 8-step** model — not LLM intuition.

When to use

• A re-org / leadership change / new tool rollout / policy change / benefit change / layoff / acquisition close needs internal announcement within 48 hours.
• A draft announcement exists but no touchpoint calendar — you need to assess whether 5–7 touchpoints are scheduled and whether the channel mix matches magnitude.
• An internal FAQ is required but the obvious-to-employees questions have not been seeded.
• Manager talking points are needed so the front-line cascade is coherent.
• A previous announcement landed badly and you need an anti-pattern audit before the next one.

When NOT to use

• Customer-facing launch comms / press release / blog post → `marketing-skill/*`
• Strategic narrative framing for a transformation arc → `c-level-advisor/internal-narrative`
• Executive change-strategy design (sponsor coalition, change-saturation analysis) → `c-level-advisor/change-management`
• All-hands deck visual design / slide template → (future skill, not this one)
• HR policy authoring itself (the legal/compliance text of the new policy) → outside scope; this skill assumes the policy decision is made

Workflow

Five-step deterministic flow. Follow in order.

1. **Intake the change.** Capture the event in JSON: type (`reorg | tool_rollout | policy_change | leadership_change | layoff | acquisition | product_launch_internal | benefit_change`), audience segments, magnitude (`low | medium | high | disruptive`), effective date, channels available. Use `assets/comms_brief_template.md` and its JSON skeleton. 2. **Assess magnitude vs. tone fit.** Run `change_announcement_builder.py` with `--profile <industry>`. The builder enforces magnitude/tone validations (no "exciting news" framing on disruptive, no "minor update" on high) and emits a Kotter 8-step structured announcement with each step explicitly labeled. 3. **Plan touchpoints.** Run `comms_calendar_builder.py`. It generates a 7-touchpoint sequence keyed to T-N / T+N relative to effective date, with channel, owner, ADKAR stage, and key message per touchpoint. Surfaces gaps (e.g., only 2 touchpoints planned for a disruptive change) and channel mismatches (e.g., Slack-only for a layoff). 4. **Draft full package.** Run `comms_template_filler.py`. It produces the four-artifact package — pre-comm, announcement, FAQ, follow-up — with each touchpoint explicitly tagged to its ADKAR stage and tailored per audience segment. 5. **Anti-pattern sweep.** Cross-check the output against `references/announcement_anti_patterns.md` before publishing. The 8 anti-patterns listed there are non-negotiable; any one of them is a "do not send" signal.

Scripts

**`scripts/comms_template_filler.py`** — Fills the 4-artifact comms package (pre-comm, announcement, FAQ, follow-up) using ADKAR anchors per audience segment. Each touchpoint output is tagged with the ADKAR stage it serves (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement). Stdlib only. `--sample` prints a tool-rollout example for an engineering audience.

**`scripts/change_announcement_builder.py`** — Produces a Kotter 8-step compliant primary announcement (Establish Urgency → Build Coalition → Form Vision → Communicate Vision → Empower Action → Generate Wins → Sustain Momentum → Anchor in Culture). Each step is labeled inline. Validates magnitude vs. tone (no "exciting news" i