Communication of change

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It was already here. It won't work. There are too many risks. These are common reactions that managers hear when trying to implement change. The author's enthusiasm is perhaps the worst driving force in the way of communicating change. Often his enthusiasm to overlook the concerns and resistance, or an entirely different interests of students. I then great change is doomed. Be careful, you can't try it again right away, sometimes you can try it in a year or even with a new team. I have prepared a small guide on how to handle change communication.

Change usually starts with a great idea. The author is as enthusiastic about it as he would not, because he invented it himself. It calculates all the benefits that will certainly exceed the costs needed to implement the change. Convinced by his own enthusiasm, he throws himself into communication with others. He believes that as soon as he hears the change and its benefits, others will light the same fire of enthusiasm as he does, but here he often has a cold shower.

The worst thing is to think that if change makes sense to you, then others will also welcome it with open arms. 99% of people make this mistake. I was convinced of that at communication trainings, which I have been leading for more than 14 years. Usually this is manifested by the author throwing out to the audience what change they should implement, and then proving the evidence of how great the change is. In fact, it just pushes and beats the others with a series of arguments. They resign after a certain time and agree on everything. They don't really do anything and prepare a series of excuses, an alibi why the change could not be implemented "yet" (yet = never). This way, you often slam the door and never make a change with the team again. If you really need a change, then you need to replace the team to implement it.

It is good to realize that, for example, Czechs are great searchers for risky places and therefore critics of any solution, if it is not their own.

Really putting change into practice requires masterful communication skills and a pre-prepared plan and strategy. Once you put the change out of your mouth, there is no going back. Errors are not forgiven here. If that doesn't work, you only have 3 options:

Wait a long time

Abandon change

Try it with someone else

There is no change as change

You probably already feel that communication of change is very demanding. Logically, you ask yourself the question - "Should I prepare a plan and strategy for its change for each change?" Of course not!

You do not need to prepare any communication plan where the target group has the following attributes to implement the change:

Change is close to their routine
They initiated the change themselves
The benefits are so tempting and so within reach that they like to jump on them themselves
…

Conversely, you must pay special attention to communication where:

The change evokes resistance
The change has failed several times
There is a conflict of interest
There is a strong risk of endangering their habits
…

Attention needs to be paid where there is a new one and the need to leave the comfort zone. In this case, the change causes most people to worry, resentment, negative emotions. There is a barrier that you can imagine as a wall. A wall that people have to overcome. The more new information you add, the higher the wall you will help build. The higher the wall for others, the higher the risk that they will fall from it or not want to overcome it at all.

The Real | Interim Manager for Your Changes

Manager work model

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Modelling and setting the processes and procedures - ISO 9001

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IT staff communication

How to communicate change

It is not possible to write a completely universal communication guide. To achieve practical results, it is necessary to have knowledge and correctly identify situations with respect to the target group. Still, it's a good idea to follow this little guide:

Find out the attitudes of the listeners to change - be careful, if you lead a team, you will have more attitudes
Discover how much new knowledge and effort listeners have to expend to bring about change - then find a way to help them (not do it for them!)
Create an individual or team motive to overcome change
Decompose the change into smaller changes - decompose the "wall" of the changes into small steps so that they can go up more easily
Start communicating change with those for whom change is easier, make them your allies
Don't forget to praise for every step you take
Make sure that the new information makes sense to the target group and that they really understand it
Take the initiative to get involved in the implementation of change
Never push the saw, everyone handles new things differently
…

There are more rules for communicating change. A lot depends on the situation you have. For example, in a crisis situation (but not in everyone), you can completely omit the gradual steps of communication and change the environment so that others have to adapt. Don't encourage discussion and just demonstrate the benefits. In a crisis, the company and its employees are concerned with survival and they are willing to unite and realize almost anything.

Mastering the communication of change requires practice. Here I can warmly recommend specialized trainings, but those where you have to communicate your own cases and manage them in terms of content and non-verbal. Change needs charge for realization and it is helped by inflammation and therefore emotions.

What to add in conclusion? The best way to implement change is to prepare and communicate it by:

others do not even realize that they are making a change.

#change management #communication skills