How do we make sure our communications build a desire for new ways of working?

Organisations do not change. People change. They can change their behaviours, their working practices, and their mindsets. But for any of this to happen, people need to know why change is happening, what it means to them, what they must do to adopt that change and the personal consequences of not adopting the change. Without this, people are likely to resist the change no matter how positive that change may be for the company.?

To encourage people to change, organisations need to actively engage and effectively communicate with stakeholders, teams and individuals who are both directly and indirectly impacted by the planned change. This engagement must be regular and consistent. Organisations can never over communicate programmes of change. There will always be someone who didn’t read/see/hear that snippet of information.?

Ensuring your communications strategy supports the programme plan and change plan is the key starting point. Aligning the communications approach to ADKAR is also crucial to raise awareness, create desire, promote training, celebrate success, and reinforce the change.?

Involving people with accessibility needs at an early stage of planning is essential for change communications and engagement as it ensures that the process is inclusive, equitable, and effective. By actively engaging individuals with diverse accessibility requirements, organisations can identify potential barriers and tailor their communication strategies to address these challenges, making information and initiatives more accessible to a broader audience. This inclusive approach not only encourages a sense of belonging and empowerment among individuals with accessibility needs but also demonstrates a commitment to diversity and inclusion. This ultimately leads to more successful and sustainable change initiatives that benefit everyone in the organisation.?

Adopting audience personas enables the creation of tailored and targeted communications. Understanding each audience’s situation – non-office based, shift worker, part-time, hybrid worker etc. will identify the most suitable channels and access for communicating change. The one size fits all communications approach has long since passed its sell by date.?

Managing the communications campaign plan will ensure that all messaging has clear objectives, outcomes, timescales, governance and is measurable for continual improvement. ?Building strong relationships with an organisations corporate communications and marketing teams removes the risk of clashing timescales and loss of messaging.?

The change sponsor and stakeholders must be effectively supported with the communications, narratives, and back-pocket packs they need to communicate the change, its importance to the business, why the business is investing now and the consequences of the business not investing in the change. They need this not only to help themselves through the change but to support line managers and peers through the transition.?

Line Manager/Supervisors are critical in cascading communications to individuals and their teams. This is where the preparation of Line Managers/Supervisors is vital. They must not only be prepared themselves for the change but have a clear plan of how to effectively communicate with their teams/individuals to help each one through the change. Facilitating workshops with the line managers/supervisors is an absolute must in any change programme.?

Using preferred materials and channels, along with clear, engaging language everyone can understand is also crucial to the success of landing any change message. It is important to take the complexity of change, the technical of new systems together with the strategic thinking and simplify your messaging. Not just to ensure accessibility for all, but to build engagement and trust for the change.?

20% of all emails are unread. When drafting the communications campaign plan, it is important to adopt a single source of all communications e.g., a microsite change communications hub where all change communications are located/linked/stored. It should be the single source of truth for the change. All videos, podcasts, blogs, infographics, animations, articles, presentations, back pocket packs etc. can then be shared across multiple channels (online and in person) to maximise impact.?

Building and creating a communications network will effectively support the change and communications teams. This network, made up of individuals from across the organisation, can act as advocates for the communications across their own teams and networks. Feedback from these advocates can help to identify areas of resistance and access issues. This feedback is critical when communicating across nation-wide organisations.?

All communications and engagement must be two-way wherever possible. Adopting feedback channels through Line Mangers, questionnaires, Yammer chats etc. will ensure that individuals and teams are actively listened to, and, with an effective online FAQs system, they can be acknowledged and answered directly. You said. We heard. We did.?

By Karen Gibbard LLB (Hons), CIIC, MCPR , Head of Communications & Engagement at CMC Partnership Consultancy Ltd