The Work Keeps Growing.... The Team Doesn't.
Why planning for 2027 should include flexible communications capacity for the Moments That Matter™.
There's an irony in how organizations respond to economic uncertainty.
When budgets tighten, communications and marketing are often among the functions asked to do more with less. Positions remain unfilled. Teams are consolidated. Spending is scrutinized. And the people who remain are expected to maintain business as usual, sometimes with fewer resources.
The research confirms that this pressure is real.
Gartner's 2025 CMO Spend Survey found that 39% of marketing leaders were seeking reductions in labor spending. Simpplr's 2026 State of Internal Communications report found that 64% of internal communications teams had held headcount flat over the previous year, while the percentage expecting team growth fell from 38% in 2025 to just 27% in 2026.
And yet, the work hasn't stopped.
In many organizations, the demands of change are intensifying.
Deloitte's 2026 Global Human Capital Trends research found that one-third of workers experienced at least 15 major changes in the previous year. Sixty percent reported increased workloads associated with organizational change.
Technology transformations. AI adoption. Mergers and acquisitions. Leadership transitions. Organizational realignments. New strategies, operating models, and expectations.
These changes don't necessarily arrive one at a time. They overlap, compete for attention, and generate new demands for the communications and change management people responsible for helping organizations navigate them.
The organizational Moments That Matter™ keep coming.
And the professionals responsible for communicating those changes are often the same people already managing a full workload.
Change Doesn't Replace the Day Job
Consider the corporate communications team.
Executives still need communications support. Employees need information. Corporate announcements, leadership messaging and town hall meetings, internal campaigns, and ongoing communications programs still need to be delivered.
Marketing teams have their own commitments: brand management, campaigns, content, customer communications, and business priorities.
Those responsibilities don't disappear when a major initiative arrives.
Instead, change-related work gets layered on top.
A merger needs an communications strategy that helps navigate change and integrate disparate cultures. A new technology platform requires tailored adoption communications throughout the implementation cycle. An organizational realignment demands carefully coordinated messaging and manager support. A leadership transition brings new strategies, priorities and expectations.
Each initiative requires planning, stakeholder engagement, content development, coordination, execution and measurement to ensure the desired impact is achieved.
And each campaign execution competes for the attention of people who already have full-time jobs to do.
Gallagher's 2026 Employee Communications Report found that 69% of surveyed organizations had fewer than six people in communications roles. Small communications teams aren't exclusive to small businesses; they exist within organizations employing thousands of people.
That's an important distinction.
Organizational size doesn't guarantee unlimited communications capacity.
The Hidden Cost of Doing More With Less
I've spent much of my career leading communications inside complex organizations, including many years when I was essentially a department of one.
I know what happens when another major priority lands on an already-full plate.
Experienced professionals find a way.
They adjust priorities, stretch timelines, work longer hours, and make trade-offs. They rely on institutional knowledge, relationships, and professional judgment to keep things moving.
And frequently, they deliver remarkable results.
But there's a difference between being able to absorb additional work occasionally and being expected to do so indefinitely.
When extraordinary effort becomes the normal operating model, something eventually gives.
Sometimes it's the quality of the work. Sometimes it's the time available to anticipate problems, engage stakeholders, or prepare managers to lead difficult conversations.
Sometimes it's the people themselves.
The Conference Board's February 2026 CMO+CCO Meter found that satisfaction with workload among chief communications officers had fallen from 54% to 34% in just eight months. Meanwhile, only 35% felt their teams were adequately equipped.
For communications and marketing professionals responsible for helping the broader workforce navigate uncertainty, the demands can be particularly challenging.
They're managing their own workload pressures while supporting an organization experiencing many of the same pressures.The potential consequences extend beyond employee well-being. Sustained overload can compromise productivity, effectiveness, engagement, and retention.
And when experienced communications professionals leave, organizations lose more than another pair of hands. They lose institutional knowledge, trusted relationships, judgment, and the ability to navigate complex situations efficiently.
These are capabilities that aren't easily or quickly replaced.
Capability Isn't the Same as Capacity
Large organizations generally have established functions, experienced leaders, and specialized talent.
But having the expertise to navigate consequential change doesn't necessarily mean having the available capacity to execute it.
And the larger the organization, the more complicated that execution can become.
Thousands of employees. Multiple locations. Different business units. Layers of management. Competing priorities. Stakeholders with different needs and expectations.
A major initiative can require sustained communications support long after the initial announcement.
Yet too often, the resource plan assumes that the existing team will simply accommodate the additional work.
Even as we acknowledge that having capability isn't the same as having capacity, we've also learned the hard way that neither is unlimited.
This isn't a criticism of the people managing major organizational initiatives. It's a recognition that even the most talented teams have finite resources.
And continually asking our teams to absorb additional responsibilities without corresponding support can undermine both the team's effectiveness and the organization's investment in change.
Planning for 2027: Budget for the Work, Not Just the Headcount
As organizations establish priorities and budgets for the coming year, there's an opportunity to approach this differently.
Rather than treating communications support as something existing teams will somehow absorb, leaders should consider the communications and change-management demands associated with their strategic initiatives.
What major changes are on the horizon?
What additional work will they realistically generate?
Which teams will be expected to deliver that work?
And what happens to their existing responsibilities while they do?
These aren't simply staffing questions. They're questions about execution capacity and the organization's ability to deliver on its commitments.
If an initiative is important enough to fund, the communications and change support required to make it successful should be part of that funding decision.
That doesn't necessarily mean expanding permanent headcount.
In an environment where hiring remains constrained and priorities continue to evolve, flexible staffing can offer a practical alternative.
Experienced, project-based professionals can provide additional capacity during periods of unusually high demand without requiring a permanent expansion of the organization.
And versatility matters.
A seasoned communications professional with broad experience across corporate communications, executive messaging, employee engagement, marketing, and organizational change can plan and execute integrated communication plans that effectively contribute across multiple workstreams as priorities evolve.
That breadth is particularly valuable when organizations need to maximize limited resources.
The goal isn't simply to add another person or another consultant.
It's to add the right combination of experience, judgment, adaptability, and hands-on execution capability to hit the ground running and help an existing team succeed.
Flexible communications capacity shouldn't be an emergency response to an overwhelmed team. It should be a deliberate part of planning to support major initiatives.
Make Room for the Moments That Matter™
Organizational change rarely arrives at a convenient time.
And it certainly doesn't wait for a vacancy to be filled, a lighter workload, or approval to expand the team.
The organizations best positioned to navigate change aren't necessarily those with the largest departments. They're the ones that recognize what successful execution requires and make sure they have the right people and resources on deck to deliver it.
As you plan for 2027, don't just budget for the initiatives.
Budget for the people who will help your organization navigate them.
Because the Moments That Matter™ deserve more than whatever capacity happens to be left over when all the other priorities are communicated.
When Your Team Needs Experienced Communications and Change Support...
Through Comm-ext, I partner with corporate communications, marketing, HR, and transformation leaders to provide senior-level, hands-on communications capacity when major initiatives stretch existing teams beyond their bandwidth.
With broad experience spanning corporate and employee communications, executive messaging, marketing, organizational change, and culture, I bring the versatility and judgment to step into complex environments, adapt quickly, and help teams deliver.
If you're planning for 2027 and anticipating a need for additional communications support, I'd welcome a conversation.
Linda Kay Carlisle, MSIMC, CCPM Communications & Culture Advisor
Comm-ext, LLC | www.comm-ext.com
