Communications:
Vital to Successful Organizational Change and Performance

What went wrong with your last systems implementation? Change program? Reorganization? New product launch? Marketing campaign? For many companies, faulty or ineffective internal communications are the main culprit contributing to unrealized results in many corporate initiatives. Too often, managers and change leaders do not heed proven lessons regarding organizational communications. And by failing to plan and manage communications, their change initiatives don't gain the awareness, support, involvement, and commitment needed to succeed. In this issue of Innovations, we explore the communications challenges that many organizations face when implementing major changes. We also provide planning and implementation steps for developing an effective communications strategy that will contribute to your organization's success. Kendall Consulting Group has successfully worked with many companies to create, plan, and implement change and communications programs. Please contact us if you would like to talk with us about communications planning or share your own experiences in this area.

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Consider the following situation in which a weak communications program contributed to a company's costly failed venture: Market forces and a changing business climate mandated that one division of Lincoln Electric*, an aerospace systems conglomerate, make immediate structure and process changes to its operations. Crucial to the change process was a communications program that informed and enlisted support for the impending changes from middle managers and the overall workforce.

Changes were well designed, yet implementation was weak and desired results were never achieved. Ultimately, after several shifts in top management positions, the division was sold to a competitor at a loss. The competitor combined the division with a similar group of their own, and many jobs were lost or relocated as a result.

Subsequent analysis identified the weak points of Lincoln Electric's change program. An ineffective communications program topped the list.

Identifying Weak Organizational Communications

Employees in organizations which have weak communications programs are usually uninformed or confused about the reasons for the changes taking place around them. Further, they do not understand the responses or changes that are expected of them. Typically, morale and productivity are low. Managers complain that employees are acting contrary to company strategies and values. Conflicting messages are sent or heard. Messages are often one-way announcements or dictates of change. Slogans, frequently used as a communication shorthand, are not understood or are greeted with cynicism by most employees. "Rumor mills" substitute for missing or confused communications. Inappropriate mechanisms are used to send vital messages. In one large corporation for example, a company newsletter was used to announce a major company restructuring, robbing employees of the opportunity to discuss these important changes and impacts with senior management.

Mistakes occur when communicators assume that their audience has common values, attitudes, and understanding of a situation. These can be compounded when the communicator fails to realize that their audience is besieged with other messages from many sources on many topics; new messages must compete with these other communications to capture "share of mind" and be heard.

Another source of weak communications is when organizations use inappropriate communications processes for the type of change program underway. Many business situations mandate an urgent and rapid response, however, managers attempt to develop widespread participation and enrollment in the change process. Widespread consensus and cooperation are difficult to develop in short time frames. In such situations, decisions need to be announced, changes powered through the organization, and resistance acknowledged and managed in the context of the case for action. Employees will usually accept directives in lieu of involvement when shown that a crisis exists and the business situation demands fast action.

Organizations with weak communications usually have senior and middle managers that do not confer with supervisors or employees about intended changes. Discussions around key issues facing the company or individuals are avoided. Executive communications seldom reach front line staff and staff-level concerns, opinions, and suggestions seldom reach executive decision makers. There is often no communications management or communications plan.

Good Communications Don't Just Happen; They're Planned

Based on our experience developing communications plans, we have identified seven fundamental characteristics of good communications programs:

Good communications programs ensure that the context for the changes taking place is clear to involved individuals. The context of change usually includes an organization's competitive situation, market position, strategies, goals, and tactics. For each person or group involved across an organization, communicated messages should answer the "who, what, why, where, when, and how" regarding the change.

Good communications make clear the purpose or objective of the message. Is the communique to inform, clarify, motivate, obtain opinion or viewpoint, seek help, align, change behavior, or create some other action? Further, the communicated message should directly relate to the audience. "This is how the change will affect you," must be part of the message. A top priority of recipients is communications that help them do their jobs. In order to be heard, messages need to be made relevant to each recipient's job or how they work. Communications by managers frequently fail to recognize this point.

Good communications are open, honest and carefully worded. They proactively share bad, as well as good news in a timely fashion. Timing is important, since most organizations have a "rumor mill" that rapidly carries even highly confidential information. While acknowledging that the truth can be difficult to communicate in certain situations, the tone of the news can often be managed to fit the situation. For instance, a blunt announcement of layoffs would not be appropriate in an organization noted for its caring culture. Instead, communications should show sensitivity to people's feelings and fully address their concerns. Establishing and communicating the context for change helps.

The credibility of the messenger strongly influences whether employees believe communications to be open and honest. Leaders who have consistently demonstrated sincerity, openness, and respect for the company culture will be excellent messengers. Overall, first-level supervisors are the best messengers of communications to front-line staff. Employees prefer to hear news that effects them through their own departments before they hear it from other places within the organization.

Well-planned communications programs ensure consistency of the messages. Regardless of the source or media used for the communications, the messages that are sent regarding change in the organization must be consistent. Planning and care must be used to ensure that the same messages are sent by senior, middle, and front-line supervisors, regardless of method or timing. Having one set of managers talking about a change that "will" happen and others discussing options that "might" happen results in confusion, rumors, and produces morale problems.

Good communications are appropriately timed and synchronized with the stages of a change program. Well-executed change programs progress through an orderly set of steps and activities, from identifying the need for change, through derivation of a workable solution, to implementation. The communications associated with a change program needs to recognize these stages and make the messages relevant and timed to coincide with the change program stages. Initial messages should focus on the need for change (the case for action). Later, information about the solution should be communicated, and still later, information about solution deployment will be important to the audience.

Communicators should remember that initial messages will need reinforcement and explanation. Questions will arise that need addressing and adequate time must be allowed for discussion and clarification. Good communications programs can't be rushed.

Communications programs must include mechanisms for two-way communications and feedback from the organization. Employees must have an opportunity for face-to-face communications and discussion about the messages they are receiving. It is important for them to have the opportunity to ask questions; get additional information; express their opinions, concerns, and suggestions; and sometimes even vent or "blow off steam." The more complex and difficult the change, the more opportunities for discussion and dialogue are needed. Many communication channels common to corporations (e.g., newsletters, videos, memos, and training sessions) don't provide the opportunity for important feedback.

Studies have shown that communications from top management do not change behavior nearly as well as communications or discussions from a direct supervisor or manager. Successful communications programs ensure that first-line supervisors are adequately involved, well-informed, and supported throughout an organizational change. In addition, the programs usually give supervisors clear responsibility for communicating key information to their employees.

Good communication programs use multiple channels, messengers, and mechanisms to get their messages across. The programs should account for the individual styles and attitudes of the recipients. Few program or project managers ask participants, "What would you like to know?" or "How can we best communicate with you?" Middle managers can often be poor conduits for upward and downward messages; they are a "sponge" for communications, absorbing but not necessarily forwarding important information. Because most middle managers already give themselves high marks as communicators, simply telling them to "communicate better" is not an effective approach for improvement. Good communication programs utilize a variety of channels, and often include direct contact between senior executives and front-line employees.

Communications programs work best when messages are conveyed through a variety of different media. Different people are receptive to different types of media, and one medium reinforces the message that is delivered from another. Some individuals need to read a message, while others need to see it, hear it, discuss it, or even interact in some way with it. Care must be taken not to overuse technology such as e-mail or voice mail for communications, even though they may be the easiest way to get information out. Employees can quickly become overwhelmed and cease to absorb to the messages through that medium. At one company for example, some employees complain of receiving over one hundred e-mails a day. Their schedules don't allow them the time to read and absorb every message.

The communications vehicles that are typically used in combination in a successful communications program are: one-on-one sessions with line managers, executive briefings and "Q&A" sessions, team problem solving, testimonials by outsiders, feedback and discussion forums, speak-up programs, team meetings, seminars and training sessions, newsletters, videos, e-mail, road shows, best practice visits, customer forums or focus groups, and coaching or counseling sessions. Every approach has its strengths and weaknesses that need to be weighed carefully in crafting a communications program in each organization.

Getting Organized: The Communications Plan

Excellent communications plans are anchored in the market situation, strategy, and vision for the organization. A communications team should research and understand these areas and use them to explain why change is needed. Questions to be answered include, "What do we expect will change in the external environment? What will be the impact on us if we change (or if we don't)? How will we respond? What will our planned changes mean to our markets, customers, and staff?" These answers form the context for communications. Without context, changes and communications don't make sense and employees won't accept the changes. Context builds understanding and buy-in, and helps minimize misinterpretation and resistance.

A communications plans must also include explanation of planned changes to the internal organization. We often use the business system diamond as a framework by which to organize planned changes. This framework deals with five business elements: business processes; management processes; information and systems; organization, skills and jobs; and the culture, values and norms. A communications program needs to convey the existing and future state the organization, and then personalize the changes to each set of recipients. For example, how will each department or division be affected?

The focus of a communications plan should be on the individuals or groups, internal or external to a business, who will be affected by the proposed changes. We call these individuals "stakeholders." The foundation of a communications program is a stakeholder analysis.

A stakeholder analysis identifies each of the major stakeholders or stakeholder groups that will be affected by proposed changes, documents their interest or stake in the change, anticipates points of support and resistance, and lists key actions that can be taken in order to facilitate a smooth transition. Communications help develop understanding, create a positive climate, and build support for a successful change implementation.

When developing a communications plan to address an upcoming organizational change initiative, there are nine elements to consider:

Receivers/stakeholders. Who are we trying to communicate with? Who are the stakeholders or groups of stakeholders affected in our change program?

Sender. Who will be the communicators? Who will deliver the messages?

Purpose of communication. Why are we making this communication? What do we hope to accomplish? What is its purpose?

Message. What is the specific message that we want to transmit? Which tone is most appropriate? In crafting the message, have we taken into account what we know about the stakeholders?

Media. How will we communicate? On paper? In person? Electronically?

Timing and frequency. When and how often will we communicate this message? Are there critical time frames that need to be adhered to? Do we need the news out by a certain date? Can we synchronize communications from different messengers or with other programs?

Measurements. How will we measure or test the impact of our message? How can we ensure that the message was understood? Can we ensure that our communications are having the effect we want?

Noise. What factors will get in our way? What might distort our message or block the accurate receipt of our messages? How can we deal with this? What other program's messages compete with or contradict our messages?

Feedback mechanisms. How can we make our communications two-way? Can we do it face-to-face, or is there some other equally effective mechanism? What feedback do we need? What feedback do we expect? Which forums or communication vehicles will be used to gather feedback?

Figure 1 - Communications Planning Model

As you start to build your communications plan and fill in the details based on your stakeholder analysis, you should look for similarities across stakeholder groups, e.g., different stakeholder groups requiring the same message, media, and timing. Where possible, for the sake of efficiency, one communication can be developed and given.

Communications Principles; A Key Planning Element

Effective communication programs honor an organization's communications principles. These principles represent the values and beliefs for communications within the company. They include such things as the intent, responsibility, approach, and frequency of communications.

Typical communication principles include such statements as:

• We will communicate messages regarding organizational change "seven times, seven different ways" (the "7x7" principle).
• Communications on strategy development and implementation mechanisms will be "two-way." Employee comments are encouraged and solicited by top management and supervisors.
• Urgent messages will be originated by the president or one of the vice presidents. Middle management has responsibility for ensuring that everyone hears and understands.
• The communications team will measure the effectiveness of each mechanism and message as part of our communications program.
• Multiple mechanisms will be provided to get employee messages to management (e.g., e-mail, Q&A board in cafeteria, lunches).
• Communications will be "open and honest." We will communicate what we know even when we don't have all the answers.

Communications principles clarify the intent of the leaders of the company regarding the communications program. They establish the ÒrulesÓ for a communications program. For the planners, these are a vital tool that help refine plan contents and aid in implementation.

Implementation

Communications are critical to organizational success and should be planned and managed throughout a change program. Armed with a good communications plan, change leaders find it much easier to build awareness and understanding, engender support, enlist involvement, and create commitment to a change program.

A communications plan without resources cannot be implemented. People are necessary to design, craft, deliver, and coordinate the communications. This can be a time consuming and skill-dependent process. Senior management must commit resources (including their own time), effort, and leadership. They must also provide funds for events and other media. Management should insist on feedback and measurement to ensure that the goals of the communications program are being achieved and that they are getting value for the time and effort invested in communications.

Summary

Developing a good organizational communications plan is not a simple task. It requires resources, effort, and skill. However, a well-planned and executed communications program will significantly improve the success of any change initiative, and will improve an organizationÕs overall performance.

Some of the pitfalls that companies must avoid in defining their communications program include a "one size fits all" approach to communications; over-emphasis on "one way" communications; over-reliance on senior management as the source for key communications; and belief that "once and done" communications are adequate.

A commitment to strong, open communications and a plan to guide communications are critical to organizational changes and the well-being of a company. Companies that create effective communications programs are well on their way to success in every business endeavor.

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Innovations is KCG's publication focused on organizational and technological change. Each issue of Innovations presents one or two case studies on a key topic as well as an approach or methodology relating to the situation. A recent issue is published below. Other articles at this web site may be obtained from links at the bottom of this page.