Communication in times of change
A healthy internal communications (IC) process brings people together, binding individual efforts into a focused and cohesive whole. IC provides the forum for organisational messages, encouraging meaningful dialogue at all levels and enabling all employees to make contributions to both the strategy and goals of the organisation.
IC also offers an opportunity for the CEO to visibly support large initiatives and maintain open contact with department managers and staff. Healthy, regular conversation between upper management and staff helps keep morale and productivity high, especially during tough times. And when isn’t change a “tough time”?
Building a successful IC process requires the dedication of resources and the results aren't instantaneous. But the reward of an excellent IC process is hard to beat: employees who understand and contribute to the organisation's goals and a co-ordinated workforce where individual efforts add up to create a quantum leap in productivity.
In 1998 the World Bank, a global organisation with more than 100 offices and more than 12,000 workers, was full-swing into an institution-wide change initiative that would unite 60-plus systems into a single framework. The effort took advantage of the best of modern technology, literally bringing the organisation into the 21st century. The changeover to the new system occurred just six short months before January 2000, with the implementation spilling well into the following year. It was a massive effort that would touch everyone in the organisation. It would require tremendous changes in the ways people work.
Dr. Michael Hammer, consulted with the organisation to lecture and educate staff members about what was involved. He told everyone he addressed - more than 1,200 people, including the president and several vice presidents - that this change effort could drop the organisation to its knees. But it wasn't technology that could cause such trouble; it was people. As Hammer put it, "The soft stuff is the hard stuff." Training, support, and communication - not technology - were the controlling factors of success.
Today, the World Bank relies on the integrated system that was implemented. It connects more than one hundred country offices and operates in real time. During that process the Internal Communications team discovered twelve core principles that made the process a success.
Avoid surprising people. Begin with the assumption that every employee wants to carry on with his or her work as the change initiative successfully takes the organisation into a new era of productivity. Ensure staff has easy access to what they needed to know. At World Bank this meant understanding the different ways the system would interact with people and designing communications to support the varied target audiences.
Gain full support from senior management. Ask senior managers to take an active role in preparing staff for the change. This could include video-streaming appearances of senior staff that are carried to all offices around the world. Holding "town halls". Having individual members of the steering committee host question-and-answer sessions with groups that will be affected by the new business processes.
Bring in an outside communications professional. Their experience will allow them to make snap judgments when the team is under pressure, allowing them to respond effectively in difficult and time-sensitive situations. The consultant also brings their professional network of vendors to your service.
Create a project plan and get it ratified by the leadership team. This ensures that their needs were being met and establishing common expectations. Review the plan with the change initiative leadership in a detailed presentation, allotting time for discussion and amendment. This will allow the IC team to move full speed ahead without constant review.
Secure a pre-approved budget for your project plan. This will enable you to plan strategically and move forward without approval delays.
Aligned the communication team 100 percent with change initiative leadership. Forge a dotted line relationship with the leadership team. Or better yet, for the duration of the change initiative volunteer to report directly to the organisation's change management lead.
Streamline the approval process. This will allow you to respond quickly to changing circumstances. Arrange to answer to one person, the change management lead – get them to agree to provide a 24-hour turnaround on all decisions.
Establish a clear graphic identity for the change initiative. Make the process fun. Mouse pads, polo shirts, posters, and all other collateral will make it easy for people to visibly demonstrate their support by choosing a look and feel that they wanted to be associated with.
Use multiple media in synchronised releases to create impact. Any one media reaches only 20 to 40 percent of employees. By using different types of media (e.g., Web, e-mail, posters, meetings with managers, and newsletters) simultaneously, you can reach the majority of staff all at once.
Evaluate your effectiveness. This will help you to find out which media were most effective.
Have a communications team member attend all change initiative team and steering committee meetings. This ensures the communications team is "in the loop" and "up to the minute" on the needs of the initiative. This allows your team to act as a clearinghouse for all information and the point of first contact for anyone wanting to know something about the change initiative.
Implement extensive team building within the communications team. This will pay dividends as you work closely together, often while under pressure for the duration of the change initiative. In order to respond quickly team members will have to help each other, and responsibilities between members of team often blur. Teambuilding will give you the necessary cohesion and flexibility to deliver quality results consistently over time.
Building a successful IC process requires dedication and investment, but the payoff is significant, especially in the face of change. Workers who understand the larger effort in which they play a role are able to make a greater contribution to the organisation's goals and participate in the successful implementation of new ideas and business processes. Internal communications provides the mechanisms that make this increase in performance possible.
Adapted from GL Now