Communicating in Times of Change

Carol, A colleague of mine, uncovered a report by the audit commission on changes in the public sector. In the report they commented on typical statements made by leaders on changes they had embarked upon in transforming their organisations. These statements are common mistakes that leaders make when dealing with change:

• "We must wait until we have the answers before we communicate"
• "It's complicated, it could be alarming if misinterpreted…we'd better say nothing."
• "It's taken us months to work this out…but you'll understand it after one presentation/newsletters etc"
• "Our job is to make information available - anyone who's interested will come and find out about it"
• "We haven't said anything so we aren't communicating"
• "We've covered this before so we needn't say it again"

We must wait until we have the answers"

Change is messy and rarely do we have all the answers. My experience is that staff would rather know sooner than later and help rather than hinder. Therefore it is better to talk about the change even if you don't know the answers.

Openness with staff will help make the transition from old to new easier. Staff may have better solutions than one's you have dreamt up. There are many examples where staff have been willing to make sacrifices for their company, e.g. taking pay cuts rather than redundancies, and the company has survived.

It takes a leader to be brave and to be open. It will also require an ongoing dialogue with people as events become clearer.

"It's complicated, it could be alarming if misinterpreted…we'd better say nothing."

The changes we face - organisationally and societal are complex. As leaders recognising we don't have all the answers is essential and that we can only solve problems collaboratively. This means sharing with staff and seeking their views and involvement. It might scare them, it might mean some leave, this is the nature of change - it is messy.

Those you lose are often people that would leave anyway - the committed staff are more likely stay, especially if they are respected enough by their leaders.

As to people in organisations, we are all grown-ups and have choices and would prefer to know what is happening so we can make exercise choices for ourselves. If, as leaders, we treat people as adults, they are more likely react as an adult. If we withhold information, they will wonder why you didn't say something sooner. How would you feel?

"It's taken us months to work this out…but you'll understand it after one presentation / newsletters etc"

This is a common mistake made by leaders. They lock themselves away for months working on the change and announce the change expecting people to understand it all at one presentation. For every week you have spent developing the change, will require a similar level of communication.

"Our job is to make information available - anyone who's interested will come and find out about it"

Will they? They probably know things aren't right and if they care about their job will have their heads down and working. It is the leader's role to be active and never assume that staff will go and seek information. Provide multiple means of communicating: There is a whole range of different approaches and those outlined further on have proved to be helpful in handling change. The bigger the change, the more you will need to do.

"We haven't said anything so we aren't communicating"

I have witnessed this personally - one company, who shall remain nameless, cancelled the Xmas party, refused to donate more than a token sum of money for decorations and were not going to communicate the redundancies until after the New Year. I sure that ever staff member knew that the company was in trouble and that serious problems lay ahead. Still they haven't said anything and staff can enjoy their break. Yeah right!

Saying nothing is still communicating - staff witness managers disappearing off to discuss the latest situation. They have probably seen at all before. The gloomy look at managers arrive back will tell them all they needed to know. So when you do finally announce the changes, they start asking questions such as "how long have you known about this?"

"We've covered this before so we needn't say it again"

Theory says it requires saying the same thing seven times in seven ways before the change will be fully understood. Use different methods:

• Briefing - especially when announcing the change - best to get senior leaders to announce the change - they have made the decision - staff want to hear from the "horse's mouth" as it were.
• One to Ones - essential with staff that are impacted by the change. Allows them to express their feelings and for you to help them deal with the change. At one site, we trained the front-line supervisors in effective one to one communication to ensure they handled these difficult conversations with tact, sensitivity and diplomacy.
• Newsletters/Cascade meetings - publish on regular basis and keep people informed through team meetings, using the newsletter as cascade method. Don't assume that staff read the newsletter. Could also use regular e-mail newsletter to keep people informed. Never start a briefing session without a "script". Stay in track and allow questions at the end. Note the questions and use a Q&A.
• Q&As - Question and Answer Sheets - have these available at the end of the briefing. Prepare what you think the staff may ask. Keep a note of all questions raised during the briefing and add new ones to the Q&A and publish on a regular basis.
• Standard presentation - create the standard presentation for the change. This should be held centrally and updated by the project team running the change program. They should issue updates as progress is made and the presentation be single the source.
• Intranet site - provides a single source. Useful but assumes staff will go looking for data. Add it as a link to all communication.
• Change Management Workshop for staff to assist them through the change. This will help (not solve) the people understanding the change. It will assist in their understanding what happens when experiencing change and provide strategies for coping.

The mantra of change management gurus has always been: Communicate, Communicate, Communicate! I agree, but would add four more to this! I hope that these thoughts will help you through either current or future changes. We run a number of public and in-house training on change management. Click here for more details