How do you communicate change effectively to reduce employee stress?

Transparency. Most stakeholders want to buy in. It's not good to keep people in the dark about what's going on in the organization. The more stakeholders feel like they had a say in the journey, and the outcome(s)....the better they will embrace and celebrate organizational change.

Agreed for large scale change, not always practical for smaller or quicker changes where you may not have time to do all that pre work. Still agree fundamentally that you must keep the audience in mind

Absolutely agree - it's important to understand the needs of impacted people and groups. One thing I would add is that I find leaders sometimes fall into the trap of thinking their people will see the change the same way they do. Remember, as a leader you've had opportunity already to sit with the change and get comfortable with it. Don't forget to give your people the same opportunity!

As long as we acknowledge that Change = Threat = Stress first. Typically what happens is when change is announced, we stop listening because we start to calibrate what it means for us and how it will impact us. How will this disrupt my highly scheduled life? Will I lose my job? Do I have the skills, capabilities and desire to do this? Is this an encroachment on my responsibility? And so on.

Understanding that many employees benefit from a trauma informed perspective! Choose ways to involve all employees in decision making and strategic planning.

Be cautious about measurement tools. Too often, chane is more focused on the tool. Tell the story. Don't do 45 slide presentations full of graphs and charts that people don't understand. Practice targeted communication. I get the roles and responsibilities...that just makes sense, but don't get so wrapped up in the "process" that the meaning gets lost.

Communication plan is essential for helping employees adapt to change. If the communication is poorly written or lacking in clarity, it will not garner the expected result. Additionally, including employees in the change process to help make some decisions can increase the level of acceptance. It helps them feel like they were in control of some of this so it feels like they collaborated instead of being a victim of circumstance.

You can never underestimate the thoughts people have around change. The reasons they come up with in their minds as to why something might be changing. Most people have a very wary attitude to change and therefore it is really important to communicate at all stages. Also be willing to acknowledge if a change isn’t going as well as you’d like and be ready to listen and adapt again. Respect is lost by teams very quickly when they feel that you want to keep a change to avoid admitting mistakes. We all make them as we are human. Really useful article, thanks

Open and honest communication is key. Start with a clear and logical case for change - what are our big ambitions? What are our biggest challenges? How effective are we right now, be honest? Prove through actions that all staff can get involved in change. They know their jobs best, so what would they want to improve? And my favourite example to engage people about change is this - if we do nothing to continuously improve, we're not maintaining, we're going backwards. Think back 5 or 10 years, and imagine you still worked like that today! Let's be on the front not the back foot....

Change confidence and capability is fundamental. Top down, directive and driven leadership and bottom up, empowered staff who problem solve every day. People make good change happen, but let's not assume these aren't learned skills - we need to set people up to succeed not fail as leaders and managers...

Validating someone's feelings doesn't necessarily mean you have to agree with their point of view. But honoring other viewpoints is essential. Try phrases like these: "That sounds really hard for you. Tell me more." "Yeah, I can see how that frustrates you." "I bet you feel disappointed." "Wouldn't it be great if we could all just get our way?!"

All people need to be feel heard. When people don't feel heard, they disengage from those who do not demonstrate an ability to listen. Listening is a skill, and can be practiced. Listen deeply, removing all distractions. Focus only on the other person, and their words. Control your instinct to immediately respond, to interrupt, or talk about yourself. (These are traits of a poor listener.) Acknowledge what the other person says, and what they are thinking. You may find yourself feeling negative emotions like fear and anger. If you internalize these emotions, you will not make the other person feel heard. Summarize their words, and ask if your summary is right. Only when you hear "that's right," proceed with your next steps.

Chatting casually about a change is the most common way folks assess whether they will be onside or not. As a change agent or leader, if you are not part of those conversations and bringing those conversations into the dialogue you are part of then you are missing so many opportunities to encourage change and are at greater risk for a resistance uprising.

I would make a couple of changes/additions to this #AIgenerated article: *Change "employees" to "stakeholders" *The larger the change, the more and longer the communication should be *Change the communication plan, and possibly modify the change, based on the feedback

Commitment from the top is essential. Dont waste your time on anchors instead use that precious time to engage those who are on the fence.

When measuring change, leaders should be patient with human capital and avoid exclusively looking at analytics. For example, not everyone accepts change at the same speed - see Diffusion of Innovation Theory, (E. M. Rogers, 1962). Make room for those individuals who slowly process and accept change. They are some of your most stable assets in the organization.