Leading Change? Avoid These 5 Communication Errors

Communication, so essential and still underestimated by many leaders believe it or not. I can remember attending a general staff and a departmental meeting when the CEO made an announcement; the company must change its business model to remain relevant. 

The CEO explanation for the change was very, very vague; there was no reasoning for the change, and after the meeting, I was quite puzzled and baffled. I can also remember some of my fellow employees confuse as well and asking the following questions: 

• Why the need for the change
• Where do I fit in
• Will I lose my job
• How long will this change take

Change is sometimes tough but this one was a classic, management was plagued with many issues, and at one point, I felt like this change was never-ending. After carefully analyzing this particular change, I soon realized that management never took communication seriously. OK, you may be wondering; so what about communication, is it that important?

It is very, very very important and as such here are some communication errors, you should avoid when leading change.

Management did not use multiple channels of communication during the change

The nature of the change in the organization was transformational; the organizational structure was changed, employees were transferred to different departments, the strategic focus of the company was changed, etc. However, management got it wrong from the get-go by using the general staff meeting as the primary communication channel with no other forms of channels of communication.

Any transformational change requires multiple channels of communication in an attempt to drive the change home and get buy-in from employees. This was a complex change and employees had a lot of concerns about the changes and may I add; there was a lack of trust between management and employees which only magnified the problems even more.

During transformation management must patient to answer staff concern and be prepared to explain at lengths the why of the change and how employees fit into the overall vision of the change. The use of emails, memos, newsletters, intranet, one to one meeting, social media, etc. can be employed to keep staff informed before, during and after the change. But remember, although communicating the change via some communication channels is essential, the messages should be endlessly repeated. 

Never believe that your staff has heard the message too many times. After the general staff meeting and a couple of departmental meeting, no one spoke about the change, not the department manager, not the HR manager and not even the CEO of the company who, I assumed was the primary "driver" of the change.

One cannot assume that communicating the change once or twice via many communication channels is sufficient. Even if staff understood the change or have a deep-seated understanding of the change process, continuous repetition of the change is imperative to get buy-in from staff as well as keeping staff regularly informed.

The Communication was not tailored to Suit the Audience 

Apart from continuously repeating the message, the consistency of that message is vitally important. However, effective communications depend partly on knowing who the stakeholders are, and how they should be included in communications initiatives according to Dr. Carol A. Beatty. 

You should decide who are the primary stakeholders in this change, who will be most and least impacted by it. When you identify your stakeholders, management needs to tailor their communication to suit their audience and establish that one to one meeting between manager and employees in an attempt to create that effective communication within the company.

Management also needs to hold regular sessions with their staff to allay their fears of the change and continuously explain how the team fits into the overall strategic plan of the organization. It is important to note, however, that management must recognize that overly rich communication can confuse their employees. Rich communication should be used for complex change and routine communication for routine change. 

Management did not use communication to drive the vision of the change. 

The late great Dr. Myles Munroe said that “vision is the capacity to see further than your eyes can look.” Management must recognize that vision is that vital tool that inspires people to believe. Management must first envision the change and communicate that vision to their staff. John P. Kotter’s 8 step change model, also indicated that a strong vision would help determine the success of a change. According to Kotter, it is vital to communicate the vision frequently and powerfully, so it can act as a deterrent to resistance and use to win the hearts and minds of staff, and generate that positive excitement about the change. 

Grapevine communication was the formal channel for communication 

Informal communication will penetrate your company like a virus, and derail the whole process; this must be eliminated especially in a changing environment. Information about the change must be formal; there is no sense emphasizing the consistency of the information when staff has to learn about any new development via the grapevine or talking with someone in the corridor. The management team must recognize that this is a significant hindrance to the change and they must lead by example and adopted a formal communication strategy to keep staff continuously inform about the changes.

 It is important to note, that informal communication will occur at some point during the change. However, all steps should be taken to limit this type of communication. There is always the difficulty in substantiating this kind of information, and as mention before if the information has no consistency, all elements of the change will be broken down.

Management did not use communication to limit resistance

Management handled resistance poorly, as a matter of fact, management never considers using communication as a strategy to mitigate resistance. Moreover, in the initial stages of the change, resistance was very high, and communication was not used to reduce the resistance brewing among staff. As mention above the vision can be used to inspire people about the change but the prevailing culture of the company did not allow for that type of inspiration. One must remember that people may be in shock or denial in the early stage of the change and, as a result, to allay the fears of employees; top management communication at this stage is critical. Again consistent communication during the change is vital.

To Conclude

Employees will never remember everything in a general staff or departmental meeting, and as a result, other mediums can provide useful backup for different group of employees. A leadership culture, which is ill-defined, can create unclear cues for what is important and how employees should act as it relates to the organizational culture. Many changes efforts are poorly led merely because the leadership is unclear about or have no clue about the importance of communication in a changing environment.

Communication should never be a dark horse in the race; it should always be the front-runner. Regular communication with staff will provide an essential platform for generating support among employees. It makes employees feel part of the solution, and as such a workforce, that knows all the facts, will become much more involved, proactive and desirous of seeing a different result in the company bottom line.

Ford, Starbucks, Xerox, and Apple experienced phenomenal turnarounds because communication was used to inspire their company to believe in the impossible. The research from this book proves that communication should never be an afterthought when planning and implementing change. When you read this book, you will learn:

•  How your change complexity determine your communication channels during the change 
• How to conduct a stakeholder’s analysis,
• How to use communication to mitigate resistance, 
• Why communicating the why is so important, 
• How the culture of the company influence your communication strategies, 
• The devastating effects of grapevine communication and the importance of formal communication.
• Top leadership commitment and a lines manager role 

As the leader, you are required to understand the crucial role communication plays during the change process because it will determine if your change fails or succeeds. When you read this book, you will become an inspirational leader, who can develop and implement a successful communication plan for any type of change in any industry or sector. 

Available here on Amazon