Hello & Happy Thursday!

If you had told me in December that I wouldn’t be shopping at Target in 2025, I would have told you you were nuts. Target has been a happy place of mine for as long as I can remember. So much so, that my cousin Sarah and I used to meet up there for long aisle strolls while we caught up. Needless to say, before completely rolling back their DEI initiatives, Target was earning more of my disposable income than I’d like to admit.

As I’ve wrestled with my own feelings about a brand I’ve been loyal to for most of my life, I’ve found myself thinking about Target’s employees and how they are feeling about everything that’s occurred. Whether or not they had strong feelings about the DEI rollback, there is no one in the company who hasn’t been impacted by a steep decline in sales and a swiftly changing public sentiment towards the brand. How is leadership addressing this internally?

Well, we now have our answer. And in short: not well.

Which is why I was so intrigued by internal comms specialist Alejandra Ramirez’s take on the entire situation. In a public linkedin post, she laid out exactly where Target CEO Brian Cornell’s message went so wrong, including the following passage that really says it all:

Mic. Freaking. Drop.

As someone who has held internal communication responsibilities, I’ll be the first to acknowledge how hard it can be. But I’d argue it’s hard because it’s so CRUCIALLY important to get right.

So you can imagine my excitement when Alejandra agreed to break down her head, heart, and hands (3H) communication framework for today’s issue. Let me tell you—it’s not to be missed!

I know many of you are navigating some really tough moments right now like layoffs, restructuring, shifting strategies, or just trying to keep up with change. This framework might be just what you need to bring more care, clarity, and alignment to your next announcement.

Dig in below. And if you’re curious to learn more, we highly recommend following Alejandra over on LinkedIn, signing up for her brand new newsletter, or reaching out to learn more about working with her directly. She’s generous with her wisdom and always sharp with her insights.

Yours in leading with head, hands, and heart,

Jill

Breaking down the 3H framework with Alejandra Ramirez

“A better culture begins with better communication.”

That’s been my mantra for two decades as an in-house comms lead and now as a consultant. Every message you send sets the stage for how people think, feel, and act—which ultimately shapes the living, breathing culture you’re cultivating together. Culture isn’t a poster on the wall or a bullet-pointed values list; it’s the day-to-day reality that grows or withers based on how you connect leadership intent to employee experience. Too often our announcements miss the mark—loaded with jargon, emotionally out of step, or mysteriously vague about what comes next. Today, I’m giving you the 3H (Head, Heart, Hands) framework—a communications riff on the classic “Think, Feel, Do” model—to help you orchestrate every announcement so it informs minds, resonates with hearts, and mobilizes action.

Culture in Action: The Role of Internal Comms

When I say culture isn’t just values on a poster, I mean it’s lived every day—in Slack or Teams threads, all-hands, and those spontaneous “did you catch that update?” pings across your channels. Every status update and interaction between people either cements or cracks the norms you’re trying to build.

Early in my career, I witnessed a two-page reorg memo trigger panic and rumors. I was an intern and remember being just as confused as the next person. That day, I learned the value of internal communication and how it played a role in creating clarity and building trust at a company.

Today’s hybrid and remote workforce changes the “in-office” dynamics so many have been used to for decades. Getting everyone on the same page is that much more important, and trickier than ever. The 3H framework gives you the tools to bridge that gap—making sure every message lands with clarity, care, and a clear path forward.

From “Think, Feel, Do” to “Head, Heart, Hands”

In communications, practitioners use a three-step model to shape messaging:

• Think: Present the facts and rationale so your audience understands the what and why.

• Feel: Tap into emotions and shared values to ensure people care about the message.

• Do: Provide clear, friction-free instructions so they act on what you’ve communicated.

I’ve adapted this into Head (Think), Heart (Feel), Hands (Do) to give you a simple, memorable rubric. By hitting all three pillars, you ensure your messaging connects and sticks.

Breaking Down the 3H Framework

In the “Think, Feel, Do” approach, communicators regularly think about what they want their audience to, well, think, feel and do when they read the message. The 3H model takes this approach and ties it to the more human approach to communication and helps ensure that messages are written to define, connect, and influence. Here’s what it looks like in practice:

• Head: Lay out the essentials like what’s happening, why now, and who’s involved. You don't want to dump everything in the message but you do want to give people just enough context to understand the change without forcing them to hunt for the basics. For example, a client I worked with needed to refresh their onboarding experience. On the messaging front, we started with a simple message outlining what new hires could expect in their first week: key sessions, tech setup, team intros, and where to go for support.

• Heart:  Name the human experience—how this shift lands emotionally, and why it matters to your shared mission. A quick acknowledgement builds the trust and safety required for people to lean in, not tune out. In this same onboarding example, we acknowledged the emotional side. “Starting a new job is exciting, and sometimes overwhelming. We’re here to make it as easy as possible to get started.” It was one line, but it made the message feel like a welcome, not a task list. That tone helps people feel seen and not just managed.

• Hands: Close with crystal-clear next steps. Spell out exactly what you want people to do, when, and where to go for help. Eliminating ambiguity is the fastest path from “I read the email” to “I’m on it.” For the onboarding project, we ended with step-by-step instructions for Day 1: where to log in, who to meet, and a direct link to the onboarding hub. It wasn’t buried in a long email and instead we made it clickable and actionable. We also let them know more would follow. Instead of overwhelming new hires with everything at once, we paced the messages to guide them through Day 1, Week 1, and beyond—so they always knew what to expect, and when.

At a minimum, any communication you work on should address all three. By weaving these into every message, you move beyond announcements that merely inform and instead spark engagement and inspire action. Rather than thinking of these as separate moments in your communication, let them flow together: open with Head, bridge into Heart, and land firmly on Hands. That seamless rhythm is what makes your messages stick and your culture thrive.

Real-World Lessons: The Tale of Two Brians

Let’s compare two all-hands emails—one from Brian Cornell, CEO of Target, and one from Airbnb’s Brian Chesky—to see how the 3H framework was applied. On one end, we have a values memo that read like a press release and left employees asking “now what?” On the other, a candid layoff announcement that combined clear context, genuine empathy, and practical next steps to preserve trust and guide action.

When Inspiration Isn’t Enough

Let’s start with Target’s recent all-staff “values” email that got leaked to the public. The email opened with stirring language—“We are still the Target you know and believe in”—and even surfaced genuine empathy (“I recognize that silence…created uncertainty”) and a promise of “more frequent updates.” Yet its Heart rang hollow: examples felt generic, lacking the personal anecdotes or real stories that make empathy palpable. Without Hands—no schedule for check-ins, no dedicated channels, no resource links—and signed off by “BC and the Leadership Team,” it left employees feeling talked at, not spoken with. The result? Well…you’ll see from the link above that it made for a great subreddit conversation.

Tough Message Done Right

Contrast that with Brian Chesky’s announcement when Airbnb had to reduce its workforce during COVID. He started with Head, laying out the market realities of COVID’s impact on travel and exactly why a restructuring was unavoidable. Then he moved into Heart, owning the emotion (“This is the hardest message I’ve ever written”) and personally thanking each departing colleague. Finally, he delivered Hands in the form of a detailed roadmap that covered severance timelines, benefits extensions, career-transition support, and precise dates and contacts for every follow-up meeting. By deliberately moving through Head, Heart, and Hands—and signing it simply “Brian”—Chesky transformed a painful announcement into one that landed with clarity, compassion, and a clear path forward, preserving trust instead of shredding it.

Final Thoughts

So, before you dive into your next announcement, remember this: every message is an opportunity to reinforce the culture you’re building. When you lead with Head, you arm your team with understanding; when you speak from the Heart, you build trust; and when you close with Hands, you empower action. Mastering that flow transforms routine updates into moments of alignment, engagement, and momentum, no matter your company’s size or the challenge at hand.

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