Marsh:
Leading Communications for a
Global Change Initiative
Challenge
While serving as Global Head of Internal Communications at Marsh, the insurance brokerage and risk advisory business of Marsh McLennan (later rebranded Marsh), I led communications for a global transformation initiative that was a key strategic priority for the subsidiary
The company was implementing a multi-year Operational Excellence program designed to improve colleague and client experiences, strengthen collaboration, and drive sustainable growth. One major workstream focused on centralizing support functions and redesigning aspects of the operating model to improve efficiency, service delivery, and scalability across the business.
Approach
Shortly after I joined the organization, leadership accelerated the timetable for this workstream, creating an immediate need for coordinated communications support across a complex, global stakeholder environment. In the absence of dedicated communications resources for the initiative, I stepped in to lead communications for the project management team.
The initiative involved significant organizational and operational change across multiple regions, including restructuring teams, transitioning responsibilities across geographies, retraining employees, and establishing a new service delivery function aligned more closely with the business.
As communications lead for the workstream, I advised the project team and senior leaders on how to communicate the changes clearly and consistently to affected stakeholders. Partnering closely with colleagues across HR, Operations, Legal, Change Management, and the business, I developed leadership messaging, employee communications, and rollout plans under tight timelines.
To support consistency across regions, I also created a global communications playbook for business and communications leaders involved in the broader Operational Excellence program. The playbook included guiding principles for change communications, leadership talking points, implementation timelines, templates, and sample communications designed to support a “global enablement, local activation” approach across the enterprise.
Outcome
The playbook received highly positive feedback from communications leaders across regions and became a widely used resource for supporting local implementation efforts. As the transformation progressed, leadership felt better equipped to address employee concerns, and attrition remained lower than anticipated during a period of significant organizational change.