“The Only Constant in Life Is Change itself.” Herecletis
When was the last time you stopped to think about how communication can help or hinder change management? If your answer is ‘never’ or ‘long ago,’ it might be time to rethink your change management communications plan.
It’s critical to create an inspiring, engaging, and supportive change management communications plan for your employees to navigate their way through organizational shifts with less stress!
Remember, at the core of every successful change initiative is excellent communication. So how can you make sure your change management communication plan is effective?
Start with empathy
The way you communicate with people impacts their motivation and inspiration. To be successful in motivating others, put yourself into the shoes of your potential target audience by considering what is important to them and what concerns may arise from a lack of perspective on the issues at hand.
Merely providing information without any context won’t lead anywhere meaningful – which means developing communications strategies tailored around empathy can have an incredible impact!
Develop a purpose that resonates with your team
Leaders need to be as forthright and honest as they can with their employees about the changes happening within an organization. It can sometimes feel like we’re speaking in code, but when people understand why this change matters, they become much more invested in making it successful!
Get your team involved
The best way to create lasting change is by engaging your employees and getting critical people on the change team. You can’t gather input from everyone in all circumstances, so focus more on getting input from key people that can help your change management process. The people on the team need to have different perspectives as well as different strengths.
Change happens with people — not to them or through them; so gather different input in the process because otherwise, there will be no buy-in from any side of an issue until someone feels like their voice has been heard (and trust me: we all want our voices heard).Focus on getting the right team together for input and execution!
Develop transparent and open communication channels
When teams don’t have all the information, they will naturally draw their own conclusions. Being proactive in your communication and sharing as much relevant data as possible, including any unknowns, will help build trust, rapport, and eventually buy-in. Remember, context is everything. We often assume that others should clearly understand why something is relevant just because we see the answer is obvious, but that’s because we only view context through our eyes.
Establish clear and measurable goals
Impactful communication requires a clear plan of action. If you want your message to be heard, the best thing is for it not just to land on someone’s desk. Instead, make its impact felt throughout an entire organization or company by providing concrete goals. Ask for feedback from those who receive this type of outreach about what they think might work well next time around!
