Change Communications

Source: Melcrum Publishing, with thanks to Margaret Helsabeck, Lockheed Martin

Follow this checklist of questions to help you assess the potential impact of organizational change.

Do I have support from the top?

This is a “must have” if the change is to affect the entire organization. Without it, even the most passionate cause will fail. You also need more than a verbal commitment: you need active demonstration from the responsible executive that this is an important change.

How will the change impact people?

Try to determine how the change will make people feel. There is usually resistance to any change. For a successful change project you need to understand the likely level of resistance so you can plan how to deal with it.

How will resistance look?

Your aim as an agent of change is to get support and acceptance of the change. The biggest obstacle to successful change is resistance. If people are negative, don’t want to listen and seem to want to attack you, then you need to spend some time understanding their position and responding to their feelings before you bombard them with more information.

What actions can I take to manage resistance?

Resistance occurs on different levels. Your response needs to be appropriate for the level of resistance encountered. Information overload may strengthen the resistance, not resolve it. If resistance is high, you will need to rely on good listening skills to better understand the issues associated with the change.

How do I gain support from colleagues?

Spend time with people who have influence to explain the proposed change and your plans for communicating it. Get your employee involved and actively helping you in the communications. Face-to-face communication between managers and employees is highly appreciated and should not be underestimated. Try to get as much of the management team as possible repeating the key messages of the change and talking to employees about it.