How can you manage conflicting priorities in change management communication?

1 Assess your audience

Before you design and deliver your communication plan, you need to understand who your audience is, what their needs and preferences are, and how they might react to your change initiative. You can use tools such as stakeholder analysis, empathy maps, and personas to segment your audience and identify their level of interest, influence, and impact. This will help you tailor your messages, channels, and frequency to each group and avoid potential resistance or confusion.

2 Define your objectives

Another key step in managing conflicting priorities is to define your communication objectives and align them with your change vision and strategy. You need to have a clear purpose for each communication activity and a way to measure its effectiveness. For example, you might want to inform, educate, persuade, or inspire your audience, depending on the stage and scope of your change project. You also need to set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goals and indicators for your communication outcomes.

3 Prioritize your messages

Once you have your objectives and audience segments, you need to prioritize your messages and decide what is the most important, urgent, and relevant information to share. You can use a matrix or a list to rank your messages according to their impact and urgency, and then group them into categories such as essential, desirable, or nice-to-have. This will help you focus on the key messages that will drive your change and avoid overwhelming or distracting your audience with too much or too little information.

4 Balance your tone and style

Another aspect of managing conflicting priorities is to balance your tone and style of communication to suit your audience and context. You need to be aware of the emotional and psychological aspects of change and how they affect your audience's perception and engagement. You need to use a tone that is respectful, empathetic, and transparent, but also confident, assertive, and positive. You also need to use a style that is clear, concise, and consistent, but also creative, interactive, and adaptable.

5 Seek and address feedback

Finally, you need to seek and address feedback from your audience and stakeholders to ensure that your communication is effective, relevant, and aligned with your change goals. You need to create feedback loops and mechanisms that allow you to collect, analyze, and respond to feedback in a timely and constructive manner. You also need to be open to criticism, suggestions, and questions, and use them as opportunities to improve your communication and resolve any conflicts or issues.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?