changing course Steady 26 Communication World March April 2011

Transcription

1 changing course Steady 26 Communication World March April

2 as you go 10 things that have not changed about change communication and the one big thing that has by Linda Sadlowski, ABC, Cheryl Fletcher, ABC, Denise Curran and Edith Galinaitis Fourteen years ago, RBC, one of Canada s biggest companies and among the largest banks in the world, introduced a center of expertise called Organizational Change Communi cations. Housed within the corporate communications department, it was created to help manage communication for significant change initiatives. Projects undertaken by the Organizational Change Communications team over the years have ranged from major transformation programs lasting several years to divestitures to outsourcing all of which have considerable potential impact on employees and on RBC s reputation. The nature of change initiatives presents unique challenges from a communication perspective. Reflecting on more than 14 years and dozens of initiatives, we ve discovered that there are some timeless change com munication principles that haven t changed, no matter the size and scope of the project. There is one notable exception a big change that has GETTY IMAGES Communication World March April

3 changing course It s tempting to think that once the change is announced, the major work is done. Experience tells us that post-announcement is when the real work begins. become a key factor from both a strategic and tactical perspective. Here are our top 10 tips about communicating change plus one. 1. Always have a guiding coalition. For a change to be successful, from vision to communication to operational implementation, a key executive sponsor and core team members with a variety of skill sets are essential. These are not figureheads, but rather leaders with the decision-making authority to move each aspect of the initiative forward. The size and scope of this team will depend on a number of factors, including the type of announcement, the number of employees affected and whether outside organizations are involved. Some people may be involved for only a short period of time, or a large team may divide into subgroups to reach the various audiences. Communicators who know the organization well are in a good position to suggest roles and identify gaps. Other team members might include representatives from the business group initiating the change, human resources, legal, and representatives from external parties (purchaser, outsourcing company, merger partner, etc.), if applicable. 2. Don t surprise people. Planting the seeds of change may sound like a cliché, but it is a critical tool in the change cycle. While many initiatives may be confidential until they are officially announced, leaders can begin sowing the message that the world is constantly evolving, and so, too, are many roles and responsibilities. Enlightened leaders integrate the change message into their communication for months leading up to the event. They encourage professional development, the broadening of skill sets and effective career planning. Leadership com - munications can serve to educate employees on competitive, technological, regulatory and environmental trends that might influence their company over the short and long term. Dramatic events may not be cushioned entirely by a consistent theme of change in a company s ongoing communications, but employees will be better prepared to move through the process faster and with far greater resilience if they more easily understand why it is happening. 3. Integrate don t segregate. Have you thought of everyone? Probably not, but at least try to identify every primary, secondary and even tertiary audience that has a stake in the change. Then make sure they are all integrated into one plan. It is complicated, painstaking and often frustrating, but worth the effort. An effective stakeholder analysis and plan can make or break the implementation of any change. It should identify large and small areas of resistance, and highlight potential allies, advocates and early adopters. Equally important is ensuring that communication is integrated from both timing and messaging points of view. While an organization s structure may be siloed and teams may work separately, it is the communicator s job to ask questions to help identify where those activities intersect, the impact and issues created for each group, and the communication that will most effectively address the concerns of these stakeholders. 4. Take a three-phase approach to announcements. Most major change initiatives should be approached in three phases: pre-announcement, announcement day and post-announcement. The sequence forces planners to ensure they have identified all appropriate audiences before the event is announced, and decided who will do the advance communication and when. It also provides the discipline to assess all the elements that will occur on announcement day audiences, other events, external influences, and anything that might affect the announcement and the audiences. Finally, it forces important thinking about the post-announcement stage. It s tempting to think that once the change is announced, the major work is done. Experience tells us that post-announcement is when the real work begins (see No. 10). 5. Timing is everything. The plan looked good on paper and was a great achievement considering all the schedules that had to be coordinated until someone realized the big announcement falls on the day the quarterly results are released. Timing can make or break the success of any announcement. There are some tried-and-true guidelines, such as not announcing on a Friday or on the same day as a cultural or religious celebration, or in December 28 Communication World March April

4 before the holidays. To avoid adding unnecessary grief or complexity to your plans, scout out all activities that could potentially take place, internally or externally, on a proposed announcement date. If at all possible, avoid peak work times for your primary audiences. 6. Leaks happen, so be ready. Some might call this contingency planning. Quite simply, it s about being prepared. It encompasses key messages and tactics in the event that information becomes known before the official announcement is made. The guiding principle is respect and consideration for the affected employees, and a commitment to notify them before anyone else whenever possible. Contingency planning includes Q&As, media leak strategies, a standby for employees and an understanding that you may need to accelerate the communication. Preparations should also include responses to speculation about any further changes, keeping in mind legal and shareholder obligations for public companies. 7. Coordinate internal and external communication. There is one communication principle that continues to guide both our internal and external messaging and content: Assume that whatever gets distributed internally will get external attention. With blogs and Twitter, and even old-fashioned , consider it a given. Write internal communications knowing they will be read by people outside of the organization anyone from an employee s relative to a competitor to a journalist to a local politician. Key external audiences need to be notified in the right way and at the right time. It s critical that they hear the news directly from your organization, rather than from a secondary source. This might involve, for example, a confidential meeting with local government just prior to an announcement to assure officials that employee-care strategies are in place, and to reinforce the company s commitment to the region despite some changes that may involve downsizing or layoffs. 8. There is no substitute for face-to-face conversations. When it comes to delivering difficult news, there is no substitute for face-to-face communication. Employees should hear about major announcements from a senior leader, in person, whenever possible. Think about the reputational impact of how employee conversations are handled. Employees who are affected will tell friends, family and neighbors about how they heard the news and how they are being supported. At a minimum, they should feel they were treated with compassion and respect. Consider voice-to-voice communication via phone if time zones or distances make face-to-face communication impossible. In one case, RBC made a simultaneous announcement in five locations over five time zones with a conference call led by a senior executive, to ensure the message was heard by everyone at the same time. We also prepared local leaders in advance to meet with employees in person immediately afterward. 9. Coach your lead communicators. In an ideal world, there is time to plan for the change, time to prepare managers to communicate the key messages, and time to provide leaders with change management training. For changes that will have significant impact on employees, make time to coach the leaders who will be delivering the news and who may be having difficult conversations with employees afterward. This can be done days or sometimes even hours beforehand, depending on the sensitivity of the announcement. Even the most seasoned leaders welcome the chance to practice specific messages and run through various scenarios and potential employee questions and resistance. How those conversations are handled can affect a company s reputation, so the time and effort are well spent. Communication World March April

5 changing course When it comes to delivering difficult news, there is no substitute for face-to-face communication. 10. It s an end and a beginning: ongoing communications. With all the work done leading up to the change, you might think you can rest easy once the announcement is made, but for affected employees, there are new communication challenges. The post-announcement phase of communication is often led on the ground by a project manager or the head of the affected department. Collecting employee feedback and questions and sharing updated Q&As help ensure consistency of information and facilitate ongoing dialogue. This also helps in identifying any roadblocks or issues that may arise. Communicating successes and short-term wins, internally and sometimes externally, can help with employee morale and the company s reputation during a period of change. During a longer-term change, planning for celebrations at key milestones helps keep momentum going and maintain employee morale. The big game-changer While many change communication principles have not changed substantially over the years, one thing that has changed and that affects our approach is technology. With the proliferation of social media, we have to assume any announcement will be communicated almost instantly, internally and externally. We no longer have the luxury of a few hours to make an announcement to all audiences; now it s down to seconds. Information may need to be shared at an accelerated pace, and resources assigned accordingly. The news media response may be waiting for you before you have a chance to end your employee meeting. The good news is that we have new tools and Change communication in practice How do you announce to more about the likelihood that some of absorb the information and than 500 people in five cities the centers would need to close. receive change management across four time zones that the She arranged for workshops to training. While this was risky from learn more For more about best operations centers they work in will be closing? How do you demonstrate that you care about ensure that everyone had an upto-date résumé and skills assessment on file so they would be a leak perspective, the team felt the managers could be trusted (the announcement was not practices for announcing them and keep them engaged ready to put their Plan B into financially material) and would be major change, check out the IABC manual The Com plete throughout a lengthy transition period? How do you protect the play if they were affected. Detailed planning: The plan critical to the post-announcement period. The managers helped Guide to Inte grated Change company s good reputation with was split into three phases: pre- refine the announcement mate - Communica tion: Best Practices government and with clients in announcement, announcement rial key messages as well as for Major Announce ments, available on IABC s online those communities? Those were the challenges facing the RBC and post-announcement. The goal was to make the announce- employee questions and answers. Support for employees: On library Discovery (discovery corporate communication team. ments as simultaneous as possi- announcement day, the executive.x.iabc.com) or in the IABC The team had eight weeks to pre- ble across four time zones. The leader flew to the largest center, Knowledge Centre pare a plan and communication team spent two weeks mapping and the rest of the centers were (iabc.com/knowledge). materials. Here s what they did. The guiding coalition: The out the logistics of who would be where, down to every minute, on a conference call, with a senior manager (who had been briefed) working team included represen- over a 48-hour announcement and human resources representa- tatives from human resources period. Contingency plans were tives at each site. While it was and corporate communication put in place should there be difficult news, the teams appre - and two project managers. Round ing it out was an executive internal or external leaks. Coaching the leaders: The ciated that they d all had their Plan B discussions. leader who, over the course of week before the announcement Each employee received a pack- the preceding year, had been there was a briefing for the man- age of information that included completely honest with her team agement team to allow them to Q&As and other resources. 30 Communication World March April

6 resources to help employees deal with a change, and we can tailor our delivery methods to match our audiences needs and preferences. We can provide everything from online chats with leaders, message boards, executive blogs, job forums for employees, up-to-the minute progress reports on change initiatives, and other online tools that allow for timely two-way communication. To make sure we reach and engage our audiences, we continually have to adapt our best practices to reflect new technology. Technology should be used to enhance, but not replace, face-to-face communication when it comes to change. Because while technology may have changed the playing field, the players in any change effort are still people. about the authors Linda Sadlowski, ABC, is manager of enterprise employee communications and online engagement for RBC, and Cheryl Fletcher, ABC, is senior manager of internal communications for RBC Insurance. Denise Curran is senior manager and Edith Galinaitis is man ager of RBC s Organizational Change Com munica tions. They are based in Toronto. Employees were given several months notice of the closures, providing time for them to find other positions. They had sig - nificant support from human resources and a career counseling firm; the team was able to place about 30 percent internally prior to the final closures. Coordinating internal and external: The team worked with the RBC government relations team to arrange phone calls to mayors, members of parliament and councillors while the employee announcement was being made so they would hear directly from the company versus the media. Key messages were customized by city and region to include statistics about local employment, community donations, sponsorships, etc. Those same messages were used for media releases sent in each community, and media training was provided for local spokespeople to respond to media and government calls. Media coverage was mostly in newspapers and was neutral in tone. Due to employing good change management principles, and a great deal of planning, the announcement and subsequent transition plan went as smoothly as anyone could have hoped. Employee satisfaction survey results showed affected centers had a 90 percent satisfaction rate higher than the organizational average on the statements My manager helps the team adjust to organizational change and My manager responds to employees in a timely manner. No internal material was leaked externally, and media coverage was balanced and lasted only two days. L.S., C.F., D.C. & E.G. Communication World March April