[Spotlight] Interview with Christophe Lecomte, Founder of Inside Linkers

26 Mar

Les points à retenir

Et si on prenait (enfin) la communication interne au sérieux.

Un livre blanc pour comprendre les enjeux, les freins et les leviers concrets de la communication interne à l’ère de la transparence, du collectif et de la culture d’entreprise forte.

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1. Christophe, what was your career path before creating Inside Linkers — and what inspired you to dedicate yourself to HR communication?

I came into HR communication somewhat by chance, joining the European team at Universum in 2000 (Paris, London, Stockholm). There I discovered a fascinating world: how a culture, a message, or an experience can truly influence attractiveness and engagement.

Subsequently, I evolved through agencies, media, and HR solution providers (Publicis Mediasystem, Hobsons, Studyrama/Vocatis, Isograd...), which gave me a comprehensive view of the challenges: internal culture, leadership, employee experience, employer branding, e-HR, sourcing, surveys...

A 360° career path, but with a common thread: the desire to understand what truly helps companies and teams work better together.

In 2016, I created Inside Linkers to bring all these areas of expertise together — branding, culture, communication, digital tools — and support companies in a simple, consistent, and human way. My ambition was never to create yet another agency, but to be a truly integrated partner, in touch with the ground and the teams.

What inspired me to dedicate myself to HR communication is this conviction: when messages are clear and sincere, when the organization is aligned, employees' daily lives truly change.

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2. Inside Linkers works with very different companies (startups, SMEs, mid-caps, large groups). In your opinion, what makes HR communication successful today?

For me, effective HR communication rests on three simple principles:

Sincerity. Saying what the company truly is. The strengths, but also the realities on the ground.
Embodiment. It's the teams and managers who best tell the story of their work. It's their stories that build trust.
Consistency. An employer brand lives when it expresses itself over time, in accessible and human formats.

Employer branding is not image marketing.

It's an honest, continuous approach that helps strengthen culture, attractiveness, and retention: without overacting, without promising the impossible.

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3. You often talk about "consistency" between internal communication, recruitment, and employer branding. Concretely, how can a company create this connection?

For me, consistency is a matter of alignment between what you say and what you experience. Concretely, this involves:

A clear employer promise, built with teams, based on evidence and reasons to believe.
Consistent HR and managerial rituals, from recruitment to onboarding, through feedback and mobility.
A unified editorial line, whether for a job posting, an internal communication, or a LinkedIn post.
A continuous improvement system, by listening to the field, analyzing data, and adjusting what needs to be.

When all of this converges, the company becomes readable, credible, and attractive — simply because it keeps its promise.

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4. The HR function is evolving fast: AI, search for meaning, new employee expectations, etc. What changes stand out most to you in the field?

What strikes me most today is that AI is not just a topic about tools: it's primarily about culture, vision, and meaning. Many companies are testing operational uses (automation, writing, management...), but the essential work is upstream: defining the purpose of AI in the company.

Before talking about the "augmented employee," I think it's important to ask a few simple and structuring questions:
• Why integrate AI?
• What collective problem do we want to solve?
• What direction are we setting for teams?
• What place do we want to leave for humans?
• And where do we draw the line?

Once this vision is established, AI becomes a collective project, not just a stack of tools. And that's where transformation truly takes shape:

• employees find meaning, understand the stakes, and can get involved constructively;

• HR shifts from a management role to a decisive and strategic one;

• and managers become a central link in adoption and dissemination.

What I observe daily is that AI pushes organizations to be more consistent, clearer, and more aligned. And, paradoxically, to put even more humanity into their practices.

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5. Finally, on a more personal note: what drives you most in your work today — and what impact would you like to leave in the HR world?

What drives me most is when a company tells me: "You're truly with us: on the team, not on the sidelines. And that changes everything." That's exactly my approach: being hands-on, understanding the dynamics, moving forward with the teams, without posturing, without looking down. I love connecting the dots — culture, employer branding, communication, leadership, tools — to create something consistent and useful, in service of the field.

The impact I'd like to leave is simple: helping companies become clearer, more human, and more aligned. Not by imposing a model, but by building with them, step by step, a system that reflects who they are and that they can sustain over time.

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