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Welcome to your monthly issue of Melcrum’s Change Communication Newsletter. This month I'll focus on timing your change communication and the importance of communicating early.
When I read statistics like, "In a study of 43 companies downsizing or relocating a plant, 80% described their communication as a 'major failure',"1 I can't help but feel disappointed.
The common mistake: delayed communication
A number of things contribute to this failure, but first and foremost, it's the fact that companies start to communicate far too late in the process. Typically, change is communicated during the implementation of the change project, but it needs to be done much earlier.
For example, I recently worked with one company who was implementing a process change in it's service delivery. The change impacted processes right across the business and would result in downsizing by 50% in one department. During the planning phase of the project, it was decided to start communicating the change as the project was being implemented and not when the planning was actually taking place. In fact, everyone on the project team was signed up to a confidentiality agreement to ensure non-disclosure prior to an "announcement day".
The worry that people would find out what was happening before communications were ready was what prompted my involvement. But if you've been through business change, you'll know it's hard to keep this kind of news away from the rumor mill.
Keep employees informed and empowered
We need to ensure we communicate during our planning. Employees will feel empowered if they know what's happening throughout the change process. Actually delaying the communication will increase resistance. In Communicating Big Change Using Small Communication, TJ Larkin & Sandar Larkin point out that "negative changes will always create employee resistance. But delaying the communication significantly increases resistance". From my experience this is quite true. Delaying the communication during change means you'll lose your employees' confidence and continue to build resistance to the change.
During change, employees may adopt the attitude of: "If you don’t want to tell me what's happening, then you won't have any support from me!" Let’s face it, we've all felt that way before and most of us would prefer to be on the team helping to create change, rather than having it imposed on us.
See you next month,
Regards,
Adrian Cropley Cropley Communications
adrian@cropleycomms.com
1. Source: Smeltzer, Arizona University
There are only TWO WEEKS to go until the Change Communication Conference! Over 80 senior communicators from around the world will be in London on 12-13 March 2008 to discuss the best ways to engage employees, motivate managers and improve business performance during times of change. Both the main event and the workshops (held on the 11th March) are almost full, but there are still a few places left, so book now to avoid disappointment. |
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Podcast: How World Bank used social media during change |
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Action-oriented communication at KFC |
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Free webinar: Intranet 2.0 |
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About
Melcrum
Melcrum is
a research and training business, expert in all aspects of
internal communication. Through our global networks, we connect
more than 18,000 professional communicators in sharing what
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