Tonya Seavers Evans
Director of Communications and Community Engagement
Cinch Home Services
Episode 11
AI & Internal Comms: Why Trust and Human Voice Are Your Greatest Assets
Current chapter: This episode features Previ, the only free tool to boost internal communication engagement
Built By PeopleJanuary 15, 2026 · 15:55
Thesis
“Effective internal communications must prioritize trust and transparency, adapt to rapid changes using diverse channels and data-driven insights, and leverage AI efficiently while preserving the authentic human and brand voice of the organization.”
Show notes
Twenty-five years in internal communications gives you a sharp eye for the things that break down every time — and Tonya Seavers Evans has seen them all. Approval chains that take weeks. Messages that get crafted, polished, and then buried in an inbox. Employees who are anxious about AI and job security and hear nothing but vague reassurances from leadership. At Cinch Home Services, Tonya is working to close the gap between what leaders want to say and what employees actually need to hear.
Her philosophy is grounded in two words: trust and transparency. Not as values-poster aspirations, but as operational requirements. When employees are scared — about AI, about change, about what's happening to their jobs — the communication function has a specific responsibility: be the partner that helps leadership speak clearly and honestly, before the rumor mill fills the vacuum. That means different channels for different audiences (remote vs. frontline, email vs. SMS), rigorous A/B testing, and the discipline to actually use open rate and click data to coach stakeholders instead of just sending more messages.
Tonya's take on AI in communications is nuanced and worth listening to: she's not afraid of it, but she's clear-eyed about the risk. The balance isn't between speed and accuracy — it's between speed and voice. Getting communications out faster only matters if they still sound like your leaders, your culture, your brand. Lose that, and you've just automated noise.
What you'll learn:
- How Tonya uses A/B testing and channel segmentation to reach remote and frontline employees differently
- Why the approval process is the most consistent bottleneck in internal comms — and how to start fixing it
- How to use open rate and click data to coach leaders to communicate better
- The balance between AI-driven speed and preserving organizational voice in communications
- Why trust and transparency aren't soft values — they're a communication strategy for AI-driven change
- Her vision for AI as a true team member that generates data and insights, not just content
Built by People is presented by Previ — the free tool that helps HR teams boost internal communication engagement.
What you'll take away
- 1Internal communications must lead with trust and transparency, especially when addressing employee concerns about rapid changes like AI's impact on jobs.
- 2Utilize diverse communication channels and A/B testing to effectively reach different employee audiences (e.g., remote vs. frontline, email vs. SMS) and meet them where they are.
- 3Integrate AI into internal communication processes for speed and efficiency, but always keep humans in the loop to ensure brand voice, culture, and leader's voice are maintained.
- 4Streamlining and flattening the communication approval process is crucial to reduce friction and enable faster, more agile messaging.
- 5Leverage data from communication platforms (e.g., open rates, click-throughs) to track engagement, prove communication effectiveness, and coach stakeholders on optimizing their messages.
What most organizations get wrong
In Tonya's words
“I think being partners with our leaders to make sure that the employees understand not only the priorities, but things are changing so quickly with AI and there's so much, you know, fear and anticipation and, you know, kind of trepidation about what's going to happen to jobs and jobs change.”
Highlights the critical role of internal comms in navigating employee fears and uncertainty amidst rapid technological shifts.
“I think that's the balance now of having us get communications out faster, accurately, but making sure it's got the brand voice, it's got the leader's voice, it's got your organization's culture and voice incorporated while also utilizing it for speed and allowing us to do more with less, right?”
Captures the tension and opportunity of using AI for efficiency without losing authentic human and brand identity in communications.
“I think that we've got to get better at— I think it's just always the approval process. You know, there's always so many layers to that. And that would be one thing that I think if I can improve anything, that I would be trying to shorten that process.”
Identifies a common, critical pain point in internal communications: bureaucratic approval processes delaying timely messaging.
“We do use, we really use Constant Contact as our, a lot. And we look at both, which allows us to see open rates, but it also allows us to see what folks are tracking on, what folks are clicking on...”
Demonstrates the practical application of data-driven approaches to measure communication effectiveness and guide strategy.
“I really hope we've embedded AI successfully. I think that if we use it effectively, it's not only going to help us work faster, but I think we can get it to a place where it's going to give us more data and insights...”
Expresses an optimistic future vision for AI as an intelligent partner providing strategic insights beyond just speed.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Organizations struggle to maintain trust and transparency in internal communications, especially when facing rapid changes (e.g., AI, economic shifts) that cause employee fear and uncertainty about job futures.
- •Effectively cascading and communicating fast-moving, quarterly organizational priorities to all employees is a significant challenge, particularly across diverse segments like remote teams and frontline workers.
- •Lengthy and multi-layered approval processes for internal communications create significant friction, delaying timely messaging and hindering the ability to respond quickly to evolving situations.
- •Measuring the true engagement and impact of internal communications is difficult; teams need better data and insights beyond basic open rates to prove value and optimize strategies.
- •Integrating AI for communication speed and efficiency without sacrificing the unique brand voice, organizational culture, and authentic tone of executive leaders is a critical balance to strike.
In this episode
This episode features Previ, the only free tool to boost internal communication engagement
Built by People
Tanya is the Director of Communications and Community Engagement at Cinch Home Services
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Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
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