How change plays a role in communicating with your team
Effectively communicating is one of the key strengths of a leader, but effectively communicating change is absolutely crucial to the success of the change, and the leader. Which is why we’ve dived into the crucial role of leaders in communicating change alongside providing valuable insights for both leaders and communication professionals. Here are the top tips:
1. Get clear on the change:
Make sure you understand the change thoroughly before communicating it to your team - your team may ask questions, and you need to be prepared to answer them!
Really make sure you understand the change implications and provide relevant context to each of your team. If there is an impact, especially a large one, to any of your team, you need to be across it and address any concerns.
Try to instil a sense of certainty with your team by highlighting any aspects of the organisation that will remain unchanged.
2. Get granular!
Get down to the nitty gritty and clearly articulate the purpose behind the change alongside its alignment with the organisation's strategic goals.
Personalise, personalise, personalise - always tailor the message to resonate with the team's specific roles, responsibilities, systems, and processes and do this to foster ownership and engagement.
3. Own the change:
Leaders are ultimately the ones who need to take ownership of the change or changes, before they communicate to their team. So make sure to do this authentically, even if you’re not necessarily on board with the change!
Be sure to acknowledge and address any team concerns empathetically while committing to address them transparently.
As a leader, make sure to take advantage of any training and support provided for the change to build confidence in navigating and leading change.
4. Personalise your approach:
Try virtual meetings for less impactful changes and prioritise one-on-one discussions for significant shifts in roles or responsibilities - or, do one-on-ones as much as you can to provide a sense of responsibility and accountability.
Take advantage of decision-making frameworks and templates! Don’t try to reinvent the wheel.
5. Challenge the broken cascade:
Recognise the limitations of traditional communication cascades and explore alternative channels to disseminate information; such as team workshops on the change and its relevant impacts across the board!
Empower your team with easy-to-use tools and templates personalised to their roles.
Provide supplementary sources of information, like intranet updates and town hall meetings, to ensure team members receive vital messages even if communication cascades falter.
Effective change communication requires proactive engagement from leaders and strategic support from communication professionals. Leaders can navigate change more smoothly and foster greater resilience and engagement among their teams by making sure to hit each of these five tips!
Nail your change comms
If you’d like to learn more (a lot more) on everything change and everything change comms, leadership and more - you can grab a copy of Mel’s book “Change Isn’t Hard!” right here. Fresh off the press, this book is new and ready to order right here.
