I've been involved in countless organizational change initiatives over the years. In those that were successful, we learned and affirmed that the right communication strategy is pivotal to the effort. These are among the things I have found to be true about driving success with transformational change.
1. Transformation is not a panacea. No one knows what will happen that may impact change, like evolving global markets, government regulations, technology changes and customer demands that shape the future. Leaders should focus on building an agile, resilient workforce capable of both committing to today’s strategy and being alert to things that may signal the need to alter course.
2. Transformation is a process, not an event. Every individual absorbs and adapts to change at their own speed—or not. Leaders must recognize that large-scale change is a wrenching emotional process for employees, and strategies should be adapted to the emotional stages of the process: denial, resistance, choice, acceptance, and commitment.
3. Recognize the importance of people. The most brilliant strategy in the world is doomed to failure for managers who don’t understand the human dimension of change. It’s people who change, not organizations. If the people in your organization don’t trust leadership or don’t buy into the reasons for change, it will fail.
4. Make the case for change. To prepare employees for the inevitability of change, provide them with pertinent information about the financial reality for the organization, and the demographic, economic, global, competitive, technological and industry trends impacting the company. Make sure they know and understand the vision, goals and strategy.
5. Not everyone will stand up and cheer. Those who are agile “change adopters” need to be identified and encouraged. They are the influencers who can bring along the rest of the team. Management should consider developing profiles of change-adept employees and find ways to develop those qualities in employees across the organization.
6. Communicate honestly and often. Don’t sugar-coat reality, or you run the risk of widening the trust gap and further impacting the chance of success. Don’t worry about “protecting” people. Employees can take bad news. What they can’t take is anything less than the truth. Your candor won’t earn thanks from every employee, but they will never forgive you for anything less.
7. Don’t use the same strategy that you do for incremental change. Incremental change is linear, and transformation is nothing less than a redefinition of who the company is and what it does. It can be emotional, unpredictable, illogical and demanding. It’s also important to recognize that past success may be an obstacle, and not an indicator of future success.
8. Change communication is much more than what employees hear from HQ. While traditional communications (newsletters, videos, email, etc.) are essential tools, what really changes behavior is only 10 percent “traditional” communication; 45 percent structure (whatever incents or punishes) and 45 percent management behavior. Remember, every act of leadership is an act of communication. And the old cliché is true: actions speak louder than words.
9. Finally, don’t underestimate the team. Trust in the intelligence, skills, creativity and abilities of your employees. Empower them to make the decisions to solve problems, and to be drivers of change and not objects of it.
As a former head of quality at Motorola once said, “We never envisioned that well-empowered people at even the lowest, entry-level positions, properly trained within their skill levels could move heaven and earth.”
Indeed they can.
