Communicating change--the essentials'

The path for organisations undergoing change can be a lot smoother if they get their internal communication processes right. When people are faced with uncertainty about an organisation''s future and their own, internal communication is far more important than external, even in times of merger or acquisition. Of course, in addition to its motivational impact, communication has an important informing function. For example, when people know what''s happening with an organisation, they are able to answer customer''s questions honestly. If they are informed and feel secure, they are in a better position and frame of mind to provide feedback to management about the impact of strategies on clients. When an organisation is in uncertain times, feedback to management is vital, and an effective communication strategy comes into its own. In working with hundreds of organisations experiencing change, eight factors that help the more successful ones navigate the uncertainty have been identified. These are principles for developing and implementing an effective internal communication strategy. 晻 Ensure the CEO is the champion of communication and the champion communicator. Top management''s attitude and behaviour influences the behaviour of other managers. Often top management, and particularly the CEO, is focused on achieving good financial results, which is important. But in many cases, while "communicating with the troops" is described as important, the reality doesn''t match the rhetoric. Can we justify communicationas a return on investment? When asked about this, one senior executive said: "Enormous! We can move faster, jump higher, dive deeper and come up drier than anybody else in the business. When we hang a left, everyone goes left. It gives us an enormous ability to work as a team. Other companies in our industry are yet to work that out." 晻 Match actions and words. People judge the performance of CEOs not on what they say, but what they do. Organisations that spout values such as "our people are our greatest asset", then lay-off staff at the first major downturn in the economy, are sending very mixed messages. 晻 Ensure your communication is twoway. If an organisation is serious about internal communication, it should devote as much time and resources to upward as it does to downward communication. Staff opinion surveys are one form of upward feedback, but their effectiveness depends on how well the feedback is managed. 晻 Place emphasis on face-to-face communication. As they say, it''s not what you say, but the way that you say it. An employee said recently, about a CEO''s address to staff: "I didn''t understand a lot of what he said, but it did give me the chance to take the measure of the man, to look him in the eye, ask some questions and see how he responded." On the other hand, what you say is also important. A CEO addressing staff needs to talk about the big picture, the future and how the organisation is progressing in broad terms. Whereas the specifics of current and projected performance come into it when talking with senior managers. One manager said of face-to-face communication: 揧ou get to be seen as a person who understands what''s happening, who is cognisant of other''s feelings, who doesn''t have all the answers but is willing to listen and learn. Someone who has a vision so that their people will say, ''I''ll give this person a go. They seem to have an interest in me." Face-to-face communication does not obviate the need for other forms of communication, but other forms can''t substitute for face-to-face. 晻 Ensure responsibility for communication is shared. Communication梔ownward, horizontal and upward梞ust be the responsibility of all managers, not just the CEO. Staff need to be encouraged and supported to accept the responsibility for upward and horizontal communication. For example, a manager''s responsibility is not tLevis X Jordan 6