Lecture change communications

Change communicationThe changing organisation and

PR as the ‘change agent’

Friday, 7 January 2011Last week we left off with the prospect that there is a brave new world out there for PR people in the field of change communication.

For instance, economic downturns can cause companies to merge. When two or more previously separate organisations must work together to accomplish the same goals, the skills of communication consultants become in real demand to build the new shared culture or dominant values and themes that must be communicated up, down, and across the organisation.

Public relations professionals with some training in organisational communication are pivotal corporate change agents. They often begin with communication audits or diagnostic tools designed to assess the effectiveness of various internal communication processes. Audits uncover mismatches between information sought and information received, between channels used and channels preferred, satisfaction with the communication climate, and the most appropriate communication networks for different types of information.

Results from communication audits help public relations practitioners and communication managers to improve organisational effectiveness by incorporating new ideas more quickly and by being more responsive to changes in the overall environment(s) in which the organisation operates. The need for this type of public relations expertise appears to be supported in findings from the 2002 Middleberg/Ross survey showing that 81 per cent of respondents agreed that the ability to manage change would be the most fundamental component of business success in coming years.

Examples of change

• Sale• Takeover• Merger• Share crisis• Downsizing

“He who rejects change is the architect of decay.” – Harold Wilson.

Friday, 7 January 2011Just as birth, death and taxes are inevitable, so too is change. Nothing stays the same forever. This is increasingly so, with the rapid advancement in technology. In fact, information technology is changing faster than the management of information technology.

The hub of this module is how PR practitioners go about communicating within an organisation during times of change.

Change is a fact of life. Itʼs a natural organisational response to competition and to shifts in the socio-economic environment, as well as being a route to gaining advantage and building business performance proactively. But organisational changes are complex – each stakeholder group has itʼs own part to play and the most important of these are the employees, because, without employees there can be no organisation. For the change to be successful, managers need to ensure that employees both understand and support it. Itʼs not surprising that for many internal communication managers and practitioners, communicating change is perhaps the most demanding aspect of their work.

Change can manisfest itself in many ways. Can you think of some examples of when an organisation might undergo change?

• Being sold• Takeover or merger• Share (trading) crisis• Simple downsizing (reducig the size of the workforce for whatever reason)

• Harold Wilson: British (Labour) PM, October 1964 – June 1970 and March 1974 – April 1976

I would also direct your attention to the PR course textbook, Kim Harrisonʼs “Strategic Public Relations”. Ch 12 deals with change communication.

Topics

• Systems theory & organisational change• Traditional & modern social systems • Barriers to change

• Forces resistant to change• Manager’s role in communicating change• Effects of implementing change• Developing a change program

Friday, 7 January 2011In this module we will discuss the following:

••••••

Theories of change can give us a good general insight into the reactions we can expect from people and the factors that make the difference in managing transition effectively. But every situation is different, and the approach has to be right for the organisation and the change scenario concerned. So what does successful change communication look like in practice? What can we learn from how other organisations do things?

Weʼve already discussed organisational culture (the way we do things around here); so think of this module in terms of “what if the organisation I belonged to suddenly changed direction?” How would you, as a communicator, go about contributing to the change?

Causes of change

• Globalisation• Technology• Emphasis on efficiency

Friday, 7 January 2011• Globalisation, as we all know, is a constantly hot topic. in a literal sense it is international integration. The effects of globalisation are many and varied. It is a combination of economic, technological, sociocultural and political forces. However, itʼs most often used to refer to economic globalization, or the integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, and spread of technology.•  Technology moves so swiftly these days that, inevitably, organisations have to introduce new HR, financial and customer- management systems from time to time. Meanwhile, as organisations grow through mergers and acquisitions, they often need not only to consolidate and integrate systems, but also to reshape its senior leadership teams and develop whole new strategic objectives for the resulting business – the results of which could be perceived very negatively by employees.• 

In all this, also keep in mind there are two types of change: the ongoing and the immediate. Itʼs all to easy to think that organisations can freeze their culture in time. Culture develops, shifts and changes all the time. So change should be an ongoing process, constantly under review. In many ways fits neatly with one of my commonly-held beliefs about PR, which is that it is about the long term.

Systems theory & change

• Org. changes affect processes• Org. change takes place over time

Friday, 7 January 2011Weʼll try to move away from more theory in this module. However, since we have looked at the organisations as a system, we have to understand that when one part of an organisation, or variable, changes, it will most likely affect other parts of the system.

• Changes in an organisation can also affect the processes in the organisation, which impact directly on the way the communication will be delivered; because if processes change, then the changes have to be explained.

Changes can include the introduction of new equipment, or changes to personnel. New equipment will affect not just the prime user, but people down the line. Accounting data may be entered differently, but the report presented to sales staff will involve (changes) new learning for them. Similarly, changes in supervisors may cause subordinates to change their behaviour. People will have to adapt to a new style.

• For the most part, organisational changes take place over time. This is particularly the case in formal (large) organisations, where the goals do not change noticeably, and the processes and systems are highly-developed and, in many cases, unwiedly and are sluggish to respond instantly.

Type of change

• Ongoing• Immediate

Friday, 7 January 2011In all this, keep in mind there are basically two types of change: the ongoing (constant) and the immediate.

Itʼs easy to think that organisations can freeze their culture in time. But culture develops, shifts and changes all the time.

So change should be an ongoing process, constantly under review. In many ways fits neatly with one of the main facets of PR, which is that it is about the long term.

Of course there are always the crises that develop, and these can be reflected in change. Some examples ... takeover, mergers, acqisitions, new staff, new procedures.

But how does change occur?

How change occurs

Type Description Time

1 Indoctrination Deliberate change. Power not balanced. O

2 Coercive No mutual goals. One-sided. O

3 Interactional Mutual goals. Reasonable power-sharing. O

4 Socialisation Kinship type of change (e.g., parent/child, teacher/pupil) O

5 Emulative Common in formal orgs. Subordinates emulate manager. O

6 Mutual Spontaneous, accidental. No goal-setting. I

7 Planned Equal power, mutual goals, deliberate. O

O=ongoing, I=immediate

Friday, 7 January 2011Bennis, Benne and Chin outline seven ways that change can occur:

1.# Indoctrination, which is a deliberate attempt to change both from the point of view of the social system and the communicator of the change, as well as a case of mutual goal setting. The power, however, is not balanced. Organisational examples would be prisons, schools, and many large corporations.2.# Coercive change is a method involving the lack of mutual goal setting, imbalanced power and so, of course, deliberateness on one side only. The best examples of coercive change are the well-known brainwashing incidents during recent wars.3.# interactional change involves mutual goal setting, fairly equal power distribution but has little or no deliberate intent. There may be an unconscious attempt to change the other party such as within married couples.4.# Socialisation change is a kinship kind of change which is like a parent-child or teacher-pupil relationship.5.# Emulative change is most common to formal organisations and is brought about when subordinates attempt to identify with and emulate their superior with goal setting by the subordinate.6.# Mutual changes are spontaneous, accidental changes which are not deliberate and have no real goal setting.7.# Planned change, as we have already indicated, is usually most effective, involves equal power, mutual goal setting, and deliberateness on the part of all concerned.

••••••• REVEAL LAST COLUMN (NOTE most type of change is long-term)

The process of change

Friday, 7 January 2011In the organisation, the process of change follows a relatively simple five-stage process, best described by Rogers and Shoemaker, who refer to the group driving change as the “decision unit”.

1.# Initial Knowledge – people need to know about the need for change and the effects the decision will have.2.# Persuasion – How people can be persuaded to accept the program put forward the “decision” unit. The techniques that might be used.3.# Decision – Has the program been accepted or rejected?. 4.# Communication of the decision from the decision units to the adoption units in the organisation.5.# Action or implementation of the decision: adoption or rejection of the innovation by the adoption unit.

We will look at the text boo model in more detail further on.

Barriers to change

1. Centralised power, control2. Lack of planning3. ‘Little empires’4. Fear (of failure/loss) &

insecurity/anxiety5. Habit6. Limited loyalties7. Poor communication

Friday, 7 January 2011There are many barriers that hinder organisational change. But itʼs the last one that concerns us.

Of course, any change effort will be doomed unless there is already a functioning communication system that can be used to distribute information about the change.

Change reactions

1. Ignore2. Resist3. Adapt ‘falsely’4. Create

{Friday, 7 January 2011When change occurs, the system can react in one of four ways:

1. Ignore the change - pretend things are just as theyʼve always been.2. Resist the change - a sort of bird in the hand mentality. COnditions are not as good as they could be for fear they might be worse than they are.3. You accept the changes and delude yourself youʼve taken action. 4. Design the future - Positive changes implemented and mistakes will occur, but not by those who do nothing.

• The first three are all forms of resistance to change

Uncharted waters

• Managers not trained to deal with change

Friday, 7 January 2011While the previous slide dealt with “tangible” barriers to change, there is also a factor that impinges on an organisationʼs ability to manage the process.

• The one thing that managers are trained to do is to keep their organisations stable. For the most part, they arenʼt trained in adapting to change. So when they are confronted by having to drive change, more often than not it can be a case of “sink or swim”. Itʼs just as difficult for them to implement it, as it is for the members to adjust to it.

The logic is that successful organisations are stable, so it unlikely they have developed structures which are highly flexible.Conversely, a highly flexible organisation is poorly adapted to stability as they are always changing.

So thereʼs this conflict within: that the successful, smooth-running, stable organisation, in order to survive, must suddenly reject all its patterns of learned behaviour in order to survive. Of course, you could argue that today, most savvy organisations, while outwardly “stable”, would be aware of the changes confronting them and prepare in advance.

Stability v change

• Open system resilient, flexible

Friday, 7 January 2011So how do we resolve the conflict in needs for stability and change at the same time?

• The answer lies in the principles of system theory and, more specifically, in the characteristics of an open system.

One of the important characteristics of an open system is that the organisation is flexible enough to allow for change without any major effect on its steady state and its accompanying organisational stability. This ability to adjust or correct itself allows an organisation to accept and assimilate change and move to a new steady state at another level. Once again the organisation functions smoothly as before, but it will most probably look and behave differently because it will have new operating procedures, or “norms” (a shared way of behaving, established bahaviour patterns, the status quo, but not written down). “ought to”, “should”, “must”, “had better”

Modern v traditional systems

Positive attitude to change Don’t embrace change

Advanced technology More simple technology

High value on education & science Lower educational standards

Rational, business-like relationships High value on personal relationships

Receptive to outside influences Low external communication

Members adaptable Members inflexibleFriday, 7 January 2011

They type of norms in an organisation may serve as an incentive or restraint for people to accept or reject change.

The norms vary between the two types of social systems: traditional and modern. NOTE: These are “extremes”. The norms of organisations fall somewhere between these two, with elements of each varying.

MODERN1.# A generally positive attitude toward change.2.# A well-developed technology with a complex division of labor.3.# A high value on education and science.4.# Rational and business-like social relationships rather than emotionaland effective.5.# Cosmopolite perspectives, in that members of the system often interact with outsiders, facilitating the entrance of new ideas into the social system.6.# Empathetic ability on the part of the system's members, who are able to see themselves in roles quite different from their own.'

TRADITIONAL1.# Lack of favorable orientation to change.2.# A less developed or "simpler" technology.3.# A relatively low level of literacy, education, and understanding of the scientific method.4.# A social enforcement of the status quo in the social system, facilitated by effective personal relationships, such as friendliness and hospitality, which are highly valued as ends in themselves.5.# Little communication by members of the social system with outsiders. Lack of transportation facilities and communication with the larger society reinforces the tendency of individuals in a traditional system to remain relatively isolated.6.# Lack of ability to empathise or to see oneself in others' roles, particularly the roles of outsiders to the system. An individual member in a system with traditional norms is not likely to recognise or learn new social relationships involving himself; he ususally plays only one role and never learns others.'

- Break -

Friday, 7 January 2011

Management’s role

• Confidence, control• Feelings

• Own and members’• How in touch

• Trust• Direction

Friday, 7 January 2011We already looked at the fact that the “wildcard” in the process of change are managers. As mentioned, they are trained to keep things stable. So it goes against the grain for them to be harbingers of change. The last thing they want is instability. As we saw last week, they are also usually not trained to commuinicate change

In any event, leaders have a critical role to play in managing change. And it involves more than explaining whatʼs happening and why from a set of PowerPoint slides.

While every leader in an organisation (supervisors, departmental heads) have a role to play in managing change, the CEO is the leader people ultimately follow. So the signals they send are crucial.

Even in the best of times, communication can motivate people and contribute to company performance. So it would be wise to accept that in times of crisis, this become even more crucial.

Often leaders assume, because they have a communication team, that their communication is provided for. So we need to remind them that communication competencies are embedded in their performance criteria.

What does the leader communicate?:

• a sense of confidence and control (or lack thereof) to employees. • his or her own feelings about the change, and also the degree to which he/she accepts the reactions and feelings of members, and the degree to which he/she is "connected to" employees situations and feelings or is "in-touch" with them. • the degree to which he/she trusts the abilities of the employees to get through the change. • a sense of purpose and commitment (or lack thereof).  • expectations regarding behaviour that is seen as appropriate or inappropriate (ie. rumour-mongering, back-room meetings).

As you can see, there is not much here about processes, equipment and outcomes. Itʼs all about people.

Communicating major change

• Change from the top

• Requires managerial structure

• Manager a ‘change agent’

CEO

Snr. managers

Mid. mgrs.

Mid. mgrs (2)

Supervisors

‘Workers’Larkin, 1994

{Rely on traditional

communication methods

Friday, 7 January 2011• In most organisations, change comes from the top. If the system is working, they flow downward. • No matter where power resides, the the impetus for change must always be implemented through a managerial structure.• In communication jargon, the manager in this instance is known as a change agent.

For instance, economic downturns can cause companies to merge. When two or more previously separate organizations must work together to accomplish the same goals, the skills of communication consultants become in real demand to build the new shared culture or dominant values and themes that must be communicated up, down, and across the organization.

Public relations professionals with some training in organizational communication are pivotal corporate change agents. They often begin with communication audits or diagnostic tools designed to assess the effectiveness of various internal communication processes. Audits uncover mismatches between information sought and information received, between channels used and channels preferred, satisfaction with the communication climate, and the most appropriate communication networks for different types of information.

Results from communication audits help public relations practitioners and communication managers to improve organizational effectiveness by incorporating new ideas more quickly and by being more responsive to changes in the overall environment(s) in which the organization operates. The need for this type of public relations expertise appears to be supported in findings from the 2002 Middleberg/Ross survey showing that 81 percent of respondents agreed that the ability to manage change would be the most fundamental component of business success in coming years.

Skills needed

• Licence to change• Wide AO• Judge processes• Determine efficiency• Improve relationships• Conceptualise, evaluate & appraise

Friday, 7 January 2011As mentioned, the reality of having to implement change will test any manager’s total abilities. It’s recognised that change is a time that best exposes a person’s real managerial talent.

These people then become what’s known as change agents. And yes, there are books devoted to this subject.

• A change agent is someone who intentionally or indirectly causes or accelerates social, cultural, or behavioral change.• The manager who become a “change agent” must be able to operate over the organisation’s area of operations (AO) and then • judge the standard of problem-solving processes• determine levels & standards of efficiency• improve interpersonal relationships

• In broad terms they must be able to conceptualise, evaluate and appraise (known as cognitive skills).

Time for action

• Study the climate• Control the situation• Implement strategy• Evaluate & correct

Friday, 7 January 2011Those cognitive skills of conceptualisation, evaluation and appraisal must then be integrated with another body of knowledge known as action skills. These determine whether the agent will be able to manage the change plan. As a mimimum the agent should be able to:1. Observe & detect the situational climate2. Organise and control the factors present in a given situation3. Implement the strategies4. Evaluate outcomes and make ongoing corrections (if needed)

However, none of these will count for much if the change agent doesn’t have the support of as many people as possible in the organisation. Gaining support then depends on the agent’s ability to PERSUADE, INFLUENCE and MOTIVATE others in the right direction

The change process

• Relative advantage• Compatibility• Complexity• Trialibility

Friday, 7 January 2011During change, people go through processes that will ultimately determine whether the change will be accepted or rejected. People will consider things from several points of view before making a decision (we all have). And yes, there are names (bestowed by Rogers and Shoemaker, 1971) for these four positions, or viewpoints:1. Relative advantage – what level is the change an advantage, compared to the status quo2. Compatibility – To what degree is the change consistent/compatible with current norms and values3. Complexity – how easy or hard is it to understand the change4. Trialability – to what extent can the change be tried without risk (economically or personally). This could be a tradeoff in hours worked for increased pay.

Types of approaches

1. Decree2. Replacement3. Structural4. Group decision5. Data discussion6. Group problem-solving

Friday, 7 January 2011Here are six types of commonly-used methods of introducing change. These include:1. The decree approach. What the boss says goes.2. The replacement approach. Key personnel are replaced with new people who believe in the desired change.3. The structural approach. A change in the organisation chart and the subsequent relationship of who is working for whom.4. The group decision approach. Emphasises group participation and agreement on a predetermined course.5. The data discussion approach. Change data is presented as a catalyst and members are encouraged to discuss them.6. The group problem-solving approach. Problem identification and problem solving is accomplished through group discussion.

Steps to change mgt. (1)

MELCRUM

Contracting: Define objectives

Research: determine audience mindset

Messaging: chart key messages

Developing: create, test & produce communications

Assess: Gauge & present results

Friday, 7 January 2011We looked briefly at a five-step process early in the lecture. Here are two more.

Just remember that No matter what approach or method you use to introduce change, you will still have to go through a logical planning process to implement a successful program.

We’ll contrast two methods. The first is Melcrum Communications’ simplistic five-step method (based on Andy Szpekman of US communication consultancy AHS Communications); the second is from Prof. John Kotter (Harvard School of Business), considered to be one of the gurus of change communicataion.

Interesting to note that the aim of change, according to Szpekman, is about “altering employees’ perceptions and beliefs” – while this is change management, the fact you are altering perceptions is a key component of communication (and I hark back to the first lecture).

Steps to change mgt. (2)

1. Identify crises/opportunities

2. Form groupto lead change

3. Develop vision& strategy

4. Communicate vision

5. Changesystems

6. Generate wins

7. Consolodategains

8. Embed newculture

Kotter, 1992

Friday, 7 January 2011Harrison cites Kotterʼs eight-step method of implementing change, is regarded as one of the more widely-practised.

1. Establish a sense of urgency• Examine the market and the competitive realities• Identify crises, potential crises, major opportunities

2. Create a powerful guiding coalition• Put together a group with enough power to lead the change.• Get the group to work like a team.

3. Develop a clear vision and strategy• Create a vision to give focus to the change effort and align people's actions.• Develop strategies to achieve that mission.

4. Communicate the change vision• Use every possible means to constantly communicate the vision and the strategies.• Get the guiding coalition to role-model required behaviours and attitudes.• Communicate by words and deeds 10-100 times more than you think you have to.

5. Empower employees for broad-based action• Change systems, structures and people that are incompatible with the new vision.• Encourage risk-taking, non-traditional ideas and actions.

6. Generate short-term wins• Be pro-active in creating and defining win' opportunities as stages within the long haul.• Celebrate, by overt recognition and rewarding of people who made the wins possible.

7. Consolidate gains• Leverage off the credibility of initial changes to produce more and deeper changes.• Recruit people who will be able to implement the vision.• Reinvigorate the process by reviewing and renewing projects, themes and change agents.

8. Anchor the new approaches in the culture• Clearly demonstrate the connection between the new behaviours and the organisational success.• Ensure leadership development and succession

Itʼs step four weʼre most interested in. How to actualy commuicate the change.

Communicating change1. Identify goals2. Define stakeholders’ actions3. Interview supervisors4. Focus groups5. Survey stakeholders6. Analyse behaviours7. Design campaign8. Key message survey9. Chart changes10. Quantify the values

Friday, 7 January 2011Step four in Kotter’s change management process is communication. Harrison (p336-337) outlines Angela’s Sinikas’s a 10-step model, which you should familiarise yourself with. While the steps on the previous slide dealt with the overall management approach, this model deals with the specifics of what PR people do.

Common mistakes

1. Complacency2. Weak team3. Vision4. Under-

communicating

5. Obstacles6. No short-term wins7. Early victory8. Changes anchored

Friday, 7 January 2011Just as Kotter described eight steps to successful change management, he also listed eight common errors:1. Allowing too much complacency – Leaders underestimate how hard it is to drive people out of their comfort zones. They avoid the conflict in reducing complacency.2. Failing to create a sufficiently powerful guiding coalition – No one person can carry a major change. Organisations without a history of strong teamwork undervalue the need for a team of many to work together. Management must also be committed.3. Underestimating the power of vision – Without a clear and sensible vision, people can't easily make sense of what is going on. The many projects within a change program can become confusing if they aren't understood as part of the overall vision. In other words:: why are we doing this?4. Under-communicating the vision – Without lots of credible, clear communication, employees' hearts and minds are never engaged. Words and actions must be consistent.5. Permitting obstacles to block the new vision – Some organisations are bad at confronting and getting rid of obstacles to change, whether they are people or structural obstacles. The process simply gets bogged down.6. Failing to create short-term wins – Real change takes time. Most people won't take to the long march unless they experience some successes along the way. It gives people a chance to celebrate7. Declaring victory too soon – It's tempting, especially given the short-term performance measurement cycles of most organisations and people within them, to call victory at the first improvement. This will inevitably reduce urgency and momentum. Major change is a long-term effort.8. Neglecting to anchor changes firmly in the corporate culture – It takes time for new behaviours to seep deeply into the values and social norms of an organisation. Along the way, they are always subject to degradation. Many analytical managers find values and social norms too 'soft' for their tastes, so they foolishly ignore culture.

Communication required

• Clear strategy• Open communication• Involvement

• Use supervisors• Face-to-face• Performance

Friday, 7 January 2011And so we return to the premise that while it’s not the only component, the key to a good change strategy is communication. Everyone has their own theories about what the best strategies are. Here we contrast another two – one based on a survey, the other on the work of New York-based TJ Larkin

First, what are the key elements necessary for communication to be able to work. A survey of UK executives found:

• Clear business strategy – People want to know the organisation knows what’s it’s about, where it’s going and what it’s doing to get there• Open internal communication (aka communication climate)• Empowerment/involvement & ownership – People want to feel they are part of the process and have contributed something. I would take it to mean something stronger: that they are valued.

On the other hand, Larkin concludes there are three rules for successfully communicating change (in a large organisation):

• Communicate directly to supervisors as the privileged receivers of information.• Use face-to-face communication.• Communicate relative performance of the local work area.

Once again, the best method is probably a combination of some, or all of the above. However, they are all excellent rules to follow.

Planning change

• Participitative• Interaction

• Shared decisions, consultation, equality

• Authoritative• Power at the top

• One-way

Friday, 7 January 2011With those tips in mind, we now move on to the nuts and bolts of producing a change communication plan. But why have a plan if we know change is inevetable?

With all the variables that can be affected during change, far better to direct and control change, than to just sit back and say: “oh, well, it’s going to happen anyway”; particularly if you’re working for an organisation which is going to be affected by loss of production (i.e., loss of profit). With no planning, things happen haphazardly. With planning we should be able to make things happen on cue and with reasonably predictable outcomes.

There are two types of approach you can take:

• The participative approach, which involves a great deal of organisational interaction, especially between levels. Decision-making power is shared by all those who are affected by the change. It’s characterised by consultation, sharing, and equality.

• On the other end of the spectrum is the authoritative approach in which those affected have nothing to say aboutwhat changes will be made; not how or when they will be made. The authoritative approach may be characterised by one-way communication, heavy power at the top, and very little interaction, with orders being given and obeyed.

However, we find most real organisations lie somewhere in the middle. And very few organisations totally relinquish control to a system of total participation, just as few organisations can afford to be totally authoritarian.

Critical areas

• Lack of urgency• Fear

• Lack of credibility

Friday, 7 January 2011There are two main areas that need attention when undertaking change communication.1. Lack of urgency (recall that was on slideFirstly, Kotter states that many organisations vastly underestimate building sufficient urgency when preparing change programmes. Managers often say to him, “Our people understand how important it is to solve this problem. Weʼre beyond that.” They are keen to move on to communicating about the team or, more likely, they want to talk about communicating the vision for the future. So what can we do to build urgency? Here are a few ideas from my past experiences. What has worked for you?# 1.# Honest and factual communication between management and staff about the current situation. Facts, figures and industry comparisons can help to explain the thinking behind the change of strategy.# 2.# Workshops based on a co-development model help teams to get to grips with the issues, understand and feel the need for change themselves.# 3.# Listening and take the temperature regularly: donʼt just assume that everyone understands and agrees with the need to change. A short survey, poll or a conversation over coffee can shed a lot of light.# 4.# A clear switch or cut-off point. I have heard of IT system changes where the management are reluctant to switch off the old system and the possibility of maintaining parrallel systems is actively considered. This is crazy. You canʼt build urgency around something that itself is not clear.# 5.# Lastly, something a bit more fun: a clock that counts down to the change can help make the urgency visible. You would be surpised by the reaction and discussion something this simple can generate.2. Fear and a lack of credibilityAt the heart of any change is, of course, fear. However, the problem is that words, images, arguments and promises on their own cannot alay fear.As Kotter says, “The ultimate way to help people believe in what you are doing is not words, but deeds. Every time you do something well, fear goes down because credibility goes up.”. Effective change communication can support a competent team in building this credibility. It can provide a reliable source of information and serve to build trust around the team and initiative. And this is where I have a problem with the idea of “marketing” change internally. By making ridiculous promises or appearing to “over-sell” the change, fearful staff will often become suspicious. If messages donʼt correspond with everyday reality, if the promises made are hard to believe, then your credibility goes down and fear is increased. If communication serves to reinforce daily reality or illustrate something has gone right, then trust can be progressively built. As Kotter says, people start to think “Maybe thereʼs a chance that they can pull this off and Iʼm not going to be pushed off a cliff after all.”

Tips for successful change

• Personalise• Consistency• Awareness• Honesty• Share• Listen

Friday, 7 January 20111. Use face-to-face communications (personalise). Putting leaders in front of employees to provide information and answer questions helps them gain credibility with employees. It can go a long way toward alleviating stress for employees and keep them focused on the business. 2. Communicate, communicate, communicate (consistency). Donʼt stop. Donʼt lull. Employee stress levels arenʼt pausing. 3. Be aware of employee anxiety (Awareness). When a significant change is announced, employees will be focused on themselves and their futures with the organisation. Anxiety will shift their attention from doing their jobs and the company, so communicate with them to help them through this time. 4. Donʼt lie (honesty). When employees ask questions, donʼt lie. If you donʼt know the answer, get it for them. If the answer to a difficult question is unknown, donʼt be afraid to say, “I donʼt know.” Employees will appreciate the honesty. 5. Use FAQs and talking points (share). Share talking points with supervisors and keep FAQs current to make sure everyone has the same source of information. Consider posting information on your intranet site as a great way for instant information and a place for employees to ask questions. 6. Listen. Itʼs easy for leaders to get into a “tell” mode and forget to listen for reactions, discussions and emotional hot points.

But what to use?

Effective Created conflict Reduced conflict one-on-one and group

meetings

articles in employee publications

Face-to-face communication

managers training together employee manuals and rules managers walking around

joint telephone directory videotaped message from CEO joint volunteer activities

informal employee get-

togethers

posted signs and logos of new firm

Friday, 7 January 2011Accordig to Harrison, The most effective communication tools 

Informal tools:

one-on-one and group meetings

managers training together

joint telephone directory

informal employee get-togethers

Created conflict

Formal, impersonal communication about the merger: articles in employee publications employee manuals and rules videotaped message from CEO posted signs and logos of new firm

Reduced conflict Face-to-face communication managers walking around joint volunteer activities

Keep it personal

• WIFM?• PR has to convert ‘big picture’

into a ‘wallet photo’• Generate understanding• Continual process

• Reminders, progress reports

Friday, 7 January 2011• (WIFM) The old adage of “what’s in it for me” applies when undertaking change in any organisation. It’s great to have all the goals in the world, but they need to mean something to members, and on a daily basis. The PR manager plays a vital link role in communicating the big-picture ideas into relevant information for members.

• Analogy – Big picture to ‘wallet’. Some of the questions the PR person will have to answer are:- How do people tie in with the big picture? - Why are they being asked to do things differently? - How will it benefit them? (i.e., what’s in it for me).

EGs: Workers can focus on reducing manufacture time, but they should be told how it will impact on the company’s bottom line (profit).

• Customer-service workers need to know the reason they should try to reach a target of 70% reorders is because it will help the company reach its share-market objective. They can be told about all the factors that play a part in the process (customer satisfaction, on-time brochures mailout and abandoned call rates). By playing an active role in the process they get a feel for the effect of the inputs and feel more involved in the process. It’s called understanding.

• Many new programs are launched with great fanfare, but this can fail if there is no follow-up. People just need to be reminded of the reasons. One of the key players in this regard is the supervisor, which we’ll look at shortly. – Ways of providing this include showing progress results on a scoreboard (walls or internet), graphs & charts of target summaries.

Middle managers & supervisors

• Most effective channel• Upward influence• CEO not an option

• Feel threatened• Perception as poor communicators

Friday, 7 January 2011A few slides back (#23), I referred to TJ Larkinʼs three rules for communicating change, one of which was to use supervisors. Obviously this only applies to medium to large organisations (for example, the production facility).We also discussed seniors managersʼ roles (#14).

Itʼs here that we compare and contrast the roles of the two most important links in the communication process – the supervisor and the middle manager.

SUPERVISORSsupervisors are close to the top as employees' preferred source of information about most subjects

• Surveys in the USA, UK, Canada and Australia shows that 80-90% of employees want to hear from their supervisor, compared with around 50% from the top executive and about 30% from the union. Why do you think this would be the case? Answer: Theyʼve been there, done that. They have work credibility.• Supervisors with upward influence influence are shown to have high credibility with employees.• No evidence to show a CEO going to the font line affects employee behaviour. However, that could change if there was an issue or crisis – something weʼll be look at later this semester.

MIDDLE MANAGERS

Middle managers are not a good source of information during times of change, because:

• Most middle managers feel threatened and uncomfortable with the improvement efforts in their organisations• Most employees believe middle managers are poor communicators

Harrison (p331) outlines his reasons why you shouldnʼt rely on middle managers. What are they?• Divert info. to suit their own purposes• Threatened by change• Subordinates believe them to be poor communicators

Don’t stifle change

• Accept all ideas• Limit approvals • Accept criticism• Limit control• Open decisions• Take responsibility• You don’t know everything

Friday, 7 January 2011A list of DONTS:

1. Don’t Regard any new idea from below with suspicion - because it is new and because it is from below.

2. Don’t Insist that people who need your approval to act first go through several other layers of management to get their signatures.

3. Do Ask departments or individuals to challenge and criticise each other’s proposals.

4. Dont Treat problems as a sign of failure.

6. Control everything carefully. Count anything that can be counted, frequently.

7. Make sure that any request for information is fully justified and that it isn’t distributed too freely (you don’t want data to fall into the wrong hands).

8. Don’t Make decisions to reorganise or change policies in secret and spring them on people unexpectedly (thikng that it keeps people on their toes)

9. Don’t Assign to lower-level managers, in the name of delegation and participation, responsibility for figuring out how to cut back, lay off or move people around.

10. Never forget that you, the higher-ups, already know everything important about this business

Imagery & change

RATIONAL(words)

EMOTIVE(senses)

Arguments Colours

Rationales Voices

Analysis Sounds

Information Smell, taste

Numbers Objects

Graphs, charts Pictures

Friday, 7 January 2011All communication contains a rational element (that which is coherent, sensible, or plausible. It appeals to the head. Its logical) and an emotional element (that which appeals to the heart).

Most communication from management is expressed only in rational terms. Rational language is based on words, arguments, rationales, analysis, information, numbers and graphs. Emotive language is based on the senses: pictures, colours, voices, music, small, taste, atmosphere, pain, sensation, aesthetic objects and songs.

Only a small number of these human motivations can be seen during a change process.Management can tap into some of these motivations by using more emotive language about the change process. Emotive appeals can help establish a sense of urgency for the change, for delivering the vision to accomplish the desired objectives and for forming a strong alliance of employees who accept the change plan.

• Core messages• Method of delivery• Managers’ personalities

• How they interact

• Physical location

Areas of influence

Friday, 7 January 2011To influence the emotions of those involved in the change process, managers should consider all aspects of their interaction with those who are going to be affected by the change. Five main areas should be considered:

• the core messages about the change;• how the messages are packaged;• the characteristics of the change leaders; – the interaction of the change leaders with their audience;• the setting in which the interactions with employees takes place.

Summary

• Listen• Obtain feedback• Identify issues early• Correct

Friday, 7 January 2011I’ve only attempted to outline some of the important parts of the communication process. Short of writing a book on the subject (which many have done) it is difficult to discuss all the subtleties and issues about human communication.

There is no substitute for good judgement, and change communication leaders need to be reflective and thoughtful about the ways they communicate. • As in all aspects of PR, there is also no substitute for LISTENING, and receiving feedback from your staff and colleagues about how you communicate. You may make communication mistakes, but the mark of an effective change leader is that these mistakes are quickly identified through feedback and discussion, and corrective action is taken.