Page 55 - Warwickers Fresh Thinking v2014

What sort of change? – 1. Culture (changing the way 1 we do things – specific attitudes and behaviours); 2. Structure (restructuring, merging); 3. Initiative (long term impact on behaviour); 4. Campaign (business objective and time specific). Each requires a different communication approach using differing levels of information and interaction depending on how it impacts individuals. Create a sense of urgency in parallel with a 2 sense of continuity and stability – focus on what is creating the need for change, frame it as moving towards something, say what is changing (process and behaviours) , how the change evolves from where you are now and what is staying the same. Think ‘Endings, Transitions, New Beginnings’ (William Bridges) Communicate the business context, the ‘why’ 3 and then the ‘what’ – business literate employees, with a grasp of the wider context, who understand the thinking behind the change, will adapt more easily. Seek to separate big picture from implementation communication. Only communicate task related information and implementation details once the context is clearly understood. Do not rush it. Make face to face communication the main 4 channel – people prefer to receive communication on change from their immediate manager. However for major change messages they prefer a senior manager followed by their manager for questions and updates. 55