Eight ways to communicate change

By Annie Waite, North American Editor of the Internal Comms Hub, Melcrum

As Melcrum's Change Communication conference is taking place this week in London, here's one of the Hub's change communication-focused Q&A articles answered by the Hub's resident change communication expert, Helen Coley-Smith, available in full for free just this once on the Melcrum blog.

Do you have any special communication methods for "re-launching" change?

I'm about to start planning proper communication efforts for implementing new IT management principles within a large public health organization. Some of the changed work procedures are slowly underway, but the process has left some people frustrated and negative along the way. Now IT management has realized the need for a "re-launch".      

  A: Here are my thoughts:
         
1. Know your audience       
Find out how different stakeholder audiences are feeling about the changes –  focus on solutions to the issues, after allowing people to express their frustrations!
         
2. Honesty       
Honesty seems to be the best policy here. If it were me, I'd want to acknowledge to employees upfront that changes haven’t been implemented as well as they could have been, and that communication of changes/implementation of new ways of working could have been better. This may go some way towards tackling the cynicism you'll inevitably face.      

I'd get all of the issues and reasons why things haven’t worked well so far out on the table and systematically devise communication to address each of those issues.
   
3. Language       
It’s important to keep the language of your communication clear, open and honest – and to use positive language (without glossing over the issues of course!). If communication acknowledges the issues and is positive, employees are more likely to join you on your change journey.
   
4. Feedback and listening       
If employees are cynical, build regular feedback and listening mechanisms in to your communication, and ensure that every single piece of feedback is somehow acknowledged. Share all of the feedback openly with staff.
   
5. Attitude towards change       
Organizations often apologize for change, but actually it's become a reality of working life for many people – so don’t apologize for making changes. If you acknowledge any shortfalls, make sure it's to highlight the communication/implementation of changes not being as good as could be, rather than for the changes themselves.             

6. A radical message       
If you're confident that you have support for better communication now, then you should signal a radical shift in the business’s approach to these changes and a real dedication to getting the communication right from now on.      

The message that things are going to be radically different may overcome some of the cynicism you're inevitably going to encounter. You’ll need the support of relevant leadership to make sure you deliver what you promise. If you aren't confident you've sufficient leadership support, then you may want to be more subtle in the messages you send out!
   
7. Leadership and management communication       
Critical to the success of your communication and the changes themselves is leadership and management communication. Leaders and managers have to model how you're going to communicate from now on. They also need to role model the new behaviors that working an IT systems implementation will involve.      

It's not easy, but you're more likely to be successful if you concentrate on these audiences and develop communication strategies to help them be role models.
   
8. Involvement
Lastly, build in ways to regularly involve employees with devising ways to implement the changes. Involve them in management meetings, run focus groups, set up online discussion forums – whatever is appropriate in your circumstances. That way they assume more ownership and responsibility for the success of the changes.      

Involvement = engagement = smoother change.
   
Don’t assume that people are out to sabotage the changes or your efforts to communicate them. People who appear negative or cynical are often those who become your greatest allies if you can win them over!

Let us know if you have any other change communication tips.

Soundtrack to the blog: Seu Jorge - Changes

Comments

[Cheryl Fletcher, Org. Change Comms.]

The tips are good except I struggle with #6. Better support for better communication isn't usually the answer. No matter how good a piece of communication might be - it can't fix a bad process if that's what's keeping the change from being successfully implemented. If the new process/software takes too long, isn't supported by training, etc. then no amount of communication can fix that.