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An improved framework to guide communication through organisational change.
Project Mission
Project Mission
We are in a VUCA world that is rapidly changing and evolving. How do we handle the changes? How do we communicate the changes?
As businesses are still trying to navigate the ongoing and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies unfortunately will need to consider changing the way they operate at an organisational level. Such changes can cause a lot of pain and disruption. Various sources suggested that such pain and chaos can be avoided by taking a strategic approach to communication.
This framework is created to focus on the communication aspect of the change management and to answer the question you might be wondering: How to communicate better in organisational change.
This framework is developed based on the classic 3-step model.
View the Full Framework here: Full Framework
Come back and follow the structure below to go through the framework in detail.
Planning
Planning
To begin with, the planning stage should start by identifying issues and goals to create a change management plan that includes a communication plan.
After this, the change initiator should perform a stakeholder analysis s that is as detailed as possible, including but not limited to the change recipient.
At the same time, anticipate power and resistance that would involves and evaluate from the stakeholders’ point of view.
With a thorough understanding of stakeholder’s standpoint in mind, the initiator should seek feedback from stakeholders for the change goal and the change management plan.
Useful Advice for Planning
Useful Advice for Planning
A Research by US Army war college (Galvin, 2019) suggested six essential questions a change initiator should have in mind for planning a communication campaign, i.e., a change communication plan.
1. What’s our narrative?
2. What are the opposing narratives?
3. Whom are we communicating with?
4. How do we communicate?
5. What are the leader’s roles?
6. How do we implement a campaign?
Execution
Execution
The execution stage is the main part of the change where the initiator will communicate changes to all the change recipients, i.e. the Information dissemination.
The information dissemination, don't forget to capture the communication in both formal and informal contexts.
Feedback should be collected, and feedback to feedback should be given as part of the 2-way communication.
This helps to manage uncertainty and continually improving the communication.
Useful Advice for Execution
Useful Advice for Execution
People prefers to listen to communication that is intimate, interactive, inclusive, and intentional (Kotter, 2012; Groysberg & Slind, 2012).
Intimate: Leaders relate to and engage employees by emphasizing listening to employees rather than just speaking to them or telling them what to do. Employees engage in a bottom-up exchange for collective ideas.
Interactive: Leaders use communication channels such as video and social media tools to facilitate two-way communication. Employees interact with colleagues and contribute through blogs and discussion forums.
Inclusive: Leaders develop organisational content by involving employees in telling the company story. Employees function as brand ambassadors and thought leaders.
Intentional: Leaders convey strategies by building their messaging around company strategy. Employees take part in creating strategies via specially designed communication channels.
Closure
Closure
The closure stage is as important as the execute stage. In fact, some argues that closure might be more important as it could also leave a damaged workforce behind if not managed properly.
Communication should be focused on helping people-environment adaptation, which is vital to minimise the aftermath of the change and ensure an effective “bounce back”.
Feedback should be collected to:
sustain the change.
For future improvement.
Useful Advice for Closure
Useful Advice for Closure
On-going communication is significant to support changes to achieve long-term, sustainable results. Throughout the pursuit of change, several studies and business reports (Capece, 2010) (Lewis, 2019) suggested that managers and leaders should incorporate below aspects for change closure communication:
Start with a vision: Integrate values into organisation’s mission and strategic plan.
Providing guidance: Show commitment to the transformation process.
Changing the audience’s opinion: Find meanings and stories through peer reviews.
Changing the audience’s behaviour: Incorporate new behaviours into the day-to-day operations of the organization.
Gaining support: spending just as much time on listening as the talking.
Provide emotional support: Engage hearts and minds.
Behind the Sence
Behind the Sence
Hi there, thanks for reading through my findings.
Follow any buttons below or on the left column to know more about me, and see what's behind the scene
Acknowledgement
Acknowledgement
Research supervisor: Mr. Bruce Marks.
Research Partner: Mr. Willson Su.
Experts: Mrs. Atsuyo Kawaguchi-van Mil, Mr. Remy Charbonnel, Dr. Tristan Williams
A very special thank you goes to my lovely wife, Ying Yang, for her constant encouragement and support.
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