Confessions of a Serial Organizational Transformation Communications Consultant

Written by?Mark Misercola

Organizational transformation communications have been dominant themes and key focal points throughout my career going back to the late ‘80s.?

Back then, it was called “restructuring to streamline operations and align revenues with expenses.” Fast forward 20 years, and organizational transformation communications became a trendy consulting buzzword, and a prerequisite lever for successful change management. Somewhere around that time, I discovered (quite by accident) that it had also become a port in a storm during recessionary job market contractions.?

Instead of sweating it out on the beach every time I lost a job through restructurings, an organizational transformation communications consulting opportunity found me. Many were coming from technology functions in large organizations that had become so focused on “changing” they had neglected to think about communications until the 11th hour.?

That’s the good news – there’s nothing better than being desperately wanted when the full-time world says no to additional overhead. The not-so-good news is that the change in communications consulting roles is fraught with complexity, uncertain planning, and unrealistic communications expectations.?

For example, after I lost my job as head of IT communications at Lehman Brothers in 2008, a client hired me to oversee communications for a firm wide SAP implementation. This was an opportunity to transform the business. I was assured going in that an implementation roadmap and calendar of message worthy events were complete and ready to go. Nine months and six communications plans later, the SAP roadmap still wasn’t fully baked, and the implementation was being gutted because of cost overruns.?

Then a major defense contractor combining technology functions following a big acquisition hired me to work with several internal workstreams managing the implementation to explain how the merger of these two organizations would make information easier to access and use. The acquiring company had traditionally overengineered communication campaigns by bombarding employees with messages that began going out 30 days before implementation and continued for another month afterward.?

Following directives from the client, I, along with a change management consultant working on the project, developed step-by-step guidelines for the workstreams to follow that would streamline messaging and focus only on “need to know'' information. The workstreams welcomed the structure and pledged to partner with us on the implementation. Six months later, none of that had happened. Instead, the workstreams insisted on communicating the way they were accustomed to, and the messaging process disintegrated into the communications equivalent of a professional wrestling match.??

I want to say these were the exceptions to the rule, but they are typical of what happens when ideologies, approaches and work processes collide. IT transformations take an enlightened culture to look beyond imposing the repeatable, measurable “agile” processes on intangible communications practices. The irony is that companies often spend millions on transforming their cultures and processes, only to see it all grind to a halt when the communications aren’t right. It doesn’t have to be that way.

So what is the right thing to do when it comes to organizational transformation communications? Every client’s needs are different, but here are some foundational practices that I would encourage every company in transition to consider:

1. Don’t try to communicate without a roadmap. It’s like building a house without a foundation. Consulting companies get paid a lot of money to develop roadmaps that frequently turn out to be swim lanes with meaningless points that keep changing on a calendar slide. A solid roadmap needs to identify message worthy milestones and events in the transformation process well before they are slated to occur.
2. Focus on the “why” before the “what.” Simon Sinek’s mantra, “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it,” is so important and obvious to the success of transformational communications. Yet many companies overlook common sense rationale in the rush to just do it.?
3. What’s Your Story? If you don’t have a one-page storyline or a narrative that articulates what you want to be (the elusive “future vision”), overarching goals and benefits, you will be stuck forever at the starting gate.?
4. Leverage leaders in your messaging but do it on video. Short, pointed, video webcasts with leaders who are good on camera will do far more to motivate internal stakeholders in a transformation than dozens of emails or Slack messages.
5. Don’t let 10,000 words do the work of 100. Cultures going through change often overwhelm employees with information that is mainly ignored. Transformational messaging should be tight and to the point. Actions and benefits should be clearly identified. Get in, get out and only communicate when necessary.?
6. Stress benefits of the transformation and emphasize why it is so important to change. Both can make a compelling argument, particularly for “change weary” cultures that have become skeptical from endless transformation initiatives.?
7. Don’t ask communications consultants to be graphic designers and PowerPoint jockeys. I’m transparent about my skills in the interview process. While I can create PowerPoint presentations, my skills are best suited for strategic communications. If I am not building and executing organizational transformation communications strategies, that’s when I start looking for a new assignment.?

For communicators, organizational transformation communications is the final frontier. Few communicators venture into this world because of its complex nature and because we are often asked at the 11th hour to do the impossible -- put the wheels on the bus while it is in motion.

But the need for highly skilled communicators who can ask basic questions like Columbo and articulate complex business strategies in easy-to-understand and actionable ways is immense. Like death and taxes, transformational change will always be with us regardless of economic conditions creating a steady demand for our services.?

The work is not easy or intuitive, nor can it succeed in a vacuum. But it can be much more than it is if clients would only recognize the value that organizational transformation communications bring and provide the resources for engaging employees, unifying cultures, achieving strategic goals and objectives, and making future visions a reality.

Mark Misercola?is a strategic communications strategist who specializes in helping senior management communicate complex strategies, goals and transformational objectives to key stakeholder audiences. He has served in consulting and senior communications roles at Pfizer, Humana, Deloitte, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America and PepsiCo.?

He currently teaches Integrated Marketing and Public Relations & Corporate Communication as an adjunct instructor for the?Integrated Marketing & Communications Department?in the Division of Programs in Business at?NYU School of Professional Studies.

A New Curriculum for the CMO and CCO?and their teams is needed?that is both Human-Centered and Data-Driven, balancing the?spreadsheet?and the?story, or the?poetry?and the?plumbing, or the?math?and the?meaning?of an integrated approach to marketing and communications.?And this education needs to be rooted in a sense of personal and professional purpose and authenticity and founded on a platform of lifelong learning. At NYU’s School of Professional Studies, we have recently recommitted ourselves to some guiding principles about the role that a globally-recognized academic institution and an applied professional education can deliver:

• We believe that Marketing and Communication leaders have a unique role to play in?driving growth?for an organization.
• We believe that the success of a leader is driven not just by?what?they do and?how?they do it, but is also built on a foundation of?purpose.
• We believe that successful growth leaders have the biggest?impact?when they are?human-centered?and?data-driven.
• We believe that the best way to educate executive growth leaders is through an?application-based curriculum?taught by leaders and scholars of business who have successfully led and advised top brands themselves.
• We believe the strength of a program is catalyzed by the?strength of the cohort of students?with a lifelong network of peers, learning and support.

We believe the best programs are designed to meet?continuously changing market needs—to help executives lead business transformation, drive innovation and achieve?long-term, sustainable growth.

In Spring 2023, NYU’s School of Professional Studies will welcome the first cohort in its?Executive Master's in Marketing and Strategic Communications?designed to address the needs of professionals in marketing and PR on the path to C-Suite leadership.?Leading marketers like Antonio Lucio, the former Global CMO of Facebook, and public relations and corporate relations professionals like Kathryn Metcalfe, CCO at CVS Health have already been moved to praise the effort.?

We are delighted to be pioneering a new form of education and engagement for our industry, next spring.

To learn more about the program, please visit?sps.nyu.edu/execms.

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