Fueling Growth from the Inside Out: The Role of Internal Communication in High-Growth Companies

Many high-growth companies make the mistake of pouring resources into sales, operations, and product — but neglect what actually keeps people aligned, motivated, and moving together: internal communication. Studies show it can make or break performance, especially when scaling.

Growth is what every company strives for. With growth comes profitability, economies of scale, greater market share and shareholder value, and the ability to attract and keep great people. However, growth also brings complexity — more people, more change, more decisions, and more pressure. And this is where internal communication often becomes the critical — yet overlooked — factor that determines whether growth feels like opportunity or chaos.

Today, despite the economy stalling in some sectors, there are bright spots in others. It’s one of the early lessons my dad taught me about economic cycles – that even in uncertain times, there are always companies thriving (you just need to look a little harder). That wisdom holds true as companies in some technology sectors (especially those in AI), advanced manufacturing, quantum computing, and the defence, space, and security sectors are experiencing rapid growth.

The downside of growth

With high growth comes high risk. While the payoffs may be big, so are the downsides. A recent example of this is WeWork, and those of us who live in Ottawa all remember the rapid rise and equally rapid fall of Nortel. Leaders who chase ‘growth at all costs’ often find themselves grappling with issues that derail plans and stall momentum — from employee turnover and culture strain to misaligned priorities and decision-making bottlenecks. 

At Vision2Voice, we’ve seen this firsthand. Working with companies undergoing rapid growth and transformation, we know that modern, strategic internal communication isn’t just helpful— it’s essential, and the right approach to internal communication can turn the challenges of rapid growth into lasting success. Here are some of the problems we’ve helped solve — and the lessons we’ve learned along the way.

Problem: Silos in the way

One of the biggest promises of growth is economies of scale and innovation. But in many high-growth companies, these advantages don’t materialize — silos get in the way. Growth by acquisition, the creation of new divisions or business units, or the expansion into new geographies (we’ve worked with clients dealing with all three) often results in fragmented teams. Instead of sharing knowledge and resources, duplication creeps in. The very growth meant to fuel progress can slow it down.

Solution: Break down barriers with communication

Strategic internal communication is the connective tissue that unites a fast-growing company. Clear, consistent messaging across divisions ensures everyone understands priorities and how their work contributes to shared goals. Storytelling, shared platforms (like a modern intranet), and leader-to-leader alignment foster collaboration and trust. Done well, communication turns silos into networks — where ideas, resources, and successes flow freely, fueling the innovation and efficiency growth was meant to deliver.

Problem: Culture under pressure

Culture can be one of the first casualties of rapid growth. Like trust, it takes years to build but can erode quickly — especially when companies are hiring at scale and when performance pressure leads to toxic behaviours. Culture is the glue that holds a growing company together — without it, speed turns into chaos and growth turns into churn. A strong culture fuels retention, innovation, and performance — the very things that make high growth possible and sustainable.

Solution: Leaders as culture carriers

Strategic internal communication helps deliberately nurture and reinforce culture by amplifying stories, celebrating values in action, and helping employees feel seen and heard. 

Early in my career, I worked for a health and life sciences company scaling rapidly through acquisition and organic growth. Despite the pace, leaders consistently shared stories — including one about the founding president, who always put his team first. That story, told and retold over 50 years, anchored the culture and reminded employees what the company stood for, even in times of change.

Problem: Overload and noise

Information overload is a challenge everywhere, but it’s especially acute in high-growth companies. Channels that worked when the business was small often collapse under the weight of scale.

Take Shopify: when it was still a small Ottawa start-up, every Friday Tobias Lütke hosted an all-hands town hall on a stage in their office. But as the company grew to a global workforce of more than 8,000 employees—most of them remote—that once-powerful channel of communication could no longer reach or engage everyone the same way. What once worked seamlessly needed to evolve to communicate across distance and scale. We’ve also worked with companies that tried to get by without an intranet or relied on a patchwork of SharePoint sites managed by different units and locations. Without a single source of truth, employees struggle to find reliable information, leading to duplication, confusion, and wasted time.

Solution: A modern ecosystem

At Vision2Voice, we don’t just think in terms of channels — we look at the entire communication ecosystem: platforms, activities, and the pivotal role of leaders. Modern tools can calm the chaos by delivering targeted, personalized communication and creating one trusted source of truth. Just as important, we help leaders step into their role as the organization’s most credible voice, ensuring employees not only get the right information but also hear it in a way that builds trust, clarity, and connection.

Problem: Alignment and clarity

In high-growth companies, strategy shifts constantly — new markets, new products, new priorities. Without strong internal communication, employees are left guessing. They don’t know where to focus, how their work connects to the bigger picture, or why priorities seem to change week to week. The result? Confusion, wasted effort, and a workforce that feels more reactive than aligned.

Solution: Strategic internal communication

Strategic internal communication creates clarity instead of chaos. It shifts communication from being a distribution function to one with a deliberate focus — motivating employees with purpose, helping them feel heard and seen, and connecting them to corporate strategy, priorities, values, behaviours, and to each other.

Clarity alone, however, isn’t enough. Strategies only succeed when they’re executed — and execution depends on communication. Internal comms turns vision into action by making priorities tangible, breaking them into understandable next steps, and reinforcing progress along the way. The result is not only a reduction in noise but also increased sense-making, resilience, agility, and performance.

Problem: Growth at the expense of people

Smart leaders know high growth isn’t just about products, markets, or revenue — it’s about people. Recruiting the right talent, accelerating their ability to make an impact, and keeping them engaged are critical. As one executive put it: “A key objective for me is to recruit the talent we need to grow and to ensure we have the right programs and benefits to not only retain this talent but enable them to perform at their best.” Without strong internal communication, even the best talent strategy can fall flat — new hires struggle to navigate, employees don’t feel connected, and the programs designed to support them go unnoticed.

Solution: Communication that engages and empowers

Strategic internal communication ensures people feel informed, involved, and inspired from day one. It brings employer brand promises to life, accelerates onboarding, and connects employees to culture, strategy, and one another. It also gives people a voice, creating a psychologically safe environment that enables leaders to understand what’s working and where to adapt. When communication is done well, employees aren’t just retained — they’re empowered to perform at their best, fueling the very growth the organization is chasing.

Growth is what every company wants — but without strategic internal communication, it can unravel. The companies that thrive are the ones that put people and communication at the center of their growth story. With clarity, connection, and culture firmly in place, growth stops being chaotic and confusing—and becomes sustainable success.

At Vision2Voice, we help high-growth companies transform internal communication into a strategic advantage. If you’re navigating rapid growth and want to turn communication into fuel for performance, purpose, and culture, let’s talk.