Communicating Change To Employees

Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

Communicating change Rumors are rife, productivity’s down and staff are in denial or resistant! Change is a fact of life in business today. Organizations which resist change risk losing their competitive edge. When things are going well, it’s easy to become complacent and settle back into our ‘comfort zone’. But in the business world ‘comfort zone’ often means ‘stagnation’. Senior managers who recognize this know that their organisation needs to innovate and improve constantly to stay ahead of its competitors. Change is a complex process. We often feel threatened by it. But without change we might still be living in caves. Change can be exciting as well as challenging: it stimulates innovation and creativity, which is good for business and good for the people involved. The people side of change matters. Many organizations focus on the technical aspects of change. For example, how can we implement the change, what processes, procedures or approaches do we need? Buzzwords like ‘process re-engineering’ and ‘corporate re-structuring’ appear to deny human involvement. But change doesn’t happen in a vacuum: it affects people and it is ultimately people, not processes and structures, who make your business succeed. So what can we do, as internal communicators, to help our organizations and their people change without the drama that so often seems to go hand-in-hand?

Ten tips to communicate change and minimize negativity 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Understand the psychology of organizational change. Read more Think strategically and make your messages clear. Read more Listen. Read more Build engagement. Read more Get the right message to the right audience. Read more Communicate, communicate, communicate. Read more Use the right communication channels. Read more Use story-telling to paint a picture. Read more Make it easy for managers to communicate effectively. Read more Measure results and celebrate success. Read more

Snap – Internal communications solutions

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Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

Understand the psychology of organizational change Don’t let the change curve become a roller coaster “During times of organizational change, employees can become less productive and question their job security.” (Ref 1). To manage change well you need to understand how employees respond to it and your role in the process. While your senior management team will have spent hours analyzing the business and agreeing the changes they need to make, most employees will know nothing about these changes until you announce them. Many will respond emotionally. For example, they may fear that they will lose their job or have to take on more responsibilities. Or they may become frustrated with the process or a lack of information. An effective internal communications program will manage these emotions and encourage staff to support the change rather than reject it. There are various formal models (‘methodologies’) available to help you manage change and change communications. The best follow a proven, step-by-step approach which takes account of how people react to change. Choose an approach that suits your company’s culture and the type of change you are introducing. For more information on change management models see Appendix A.

The change curve Employees facing change typically move through the range of stages shown on the change curve (Ref 2) below: ·

Satisfaction (“I’m happy as I am.”)

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Denial (“This isn’t relevant to my work.”)

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Resistance (“I’m not having this!”)

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Exploration (“Could this work for me?”)

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Hope (“I can see how I can make this work for me.”)

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Commitment (“This works for me and my colleagues.”).

These stages and the emotions staff experience at each stage are genuine: people need time to grieve for what they are losing (or think they are losing). To communicate effectively, you need to recognize where your employees are on the change curve, the emotions they are feeling and the issues they need resolved. Understanding this will help you develop a communications plan that supports staff, affirms their feelings and moves them through to the commitment stage as quickly and painlessly as possible. AHS Communications have built their intuitive change communicate model based on this psychology of change. It suggests activities to put in place at each stage. (Ref 3)

Try these Snap Internal Communications tools Use these tools to find out where your staff are on the change curve. You will find them useful at the start of the change too, to challenge staff to think about what lies ahead. ·

Snap Staff Poll is a simple online staff survey. Its format and features ensure a high rate of participation: Snap Staff Poll is quick and easy-to-use; it ‘pops up’ on staff’s computer screens, avoiding their overloaded email inboxes; you can choose which staff you send it to; the survey includes options for staff to complete it immediately or defer it for later. Use Snap Staff Poll to gauge staff’s attitude to the changes and how well they understand them. When they are in the ‘comfort zone’, challenge them to think about the changes ahead.

Snap – Internal communications solutions

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Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

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Snap Staff Quiz is a similar format to Snap Staff Poll. Use it to challenge the status quo and make employees aware that the organization needs to change. This is an example of a question you might include: “In our changing industry, which will be the most effective way to do business in the future? A, B or C?”

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Snap Shots interactive screensavers are a great way to communicate important messages without being intrusive or adding to the email burden. You can target them to specific staff and set them up to play in a sequence that supports your message. Use a screensaver to show the change curve and allow staff to click to plot their current mood.

These communications tools are useful during the denial, resistance and exploration phases: ·

Snap Staff Poll lets you involve staff by asking them questions and finding out their views. Consider letting staff respond anonymously for maximum candor. They may tell you things they would never say face-to-face. Every problem you uncover is a problem you can address.

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Snap Q&A This interactive online staff forum tool is valuable when staff want quick answers to their questions (e.g. they are at the exploration stage). Pop-up desktop alerts can be automatically sent to moderators when a question is posted. Staff will see a quick reply as a sign that your organization cares about them. By contrast, a slow reply will fuel dissatisfaction and anxiety.

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Snap Staff Forum lets you set up a secure, interactive online forum quickly and at low cost to explore ideas. Encourage staff to use it, to build engagement. Alternatively, they can use it to have their say or ask questions. If they want to speak out against the change (i.e. are at the denial or resistance stages) without jeopardizing their future in the organization, they can post their opinions anonymously. You can measure and grade their comments to gauge current feeling in your organization.

These communications tools are useful during the hope and commitment stages: ·

Snap Staff E-Mag is an electronic staff magazine that pulls together users’ content in a visual way. Use it to profile stories of success and feature staff who have reached the hope and commitment stages.

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Snap Shots interactive screensavers are a great way to portray a vision of the future and celebrate small wins in an engaging, visual way.

Snap – Internal communications solutions

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Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

Think strategically and make your messages clear Why are we changing? Make your internal communications work for you. Start with a plan, think strategically and craft clear, logical messages. Without these, you could spend a lot of time and money communicating without getting the results you need. The rumor mill will crank up; staff may become demotivated, suspicious and uncommunicative. Change will stall.

Aim to engage staff Your internal communications strategy should aim to motivate staff through inspiration, not desperation. As Roger D’Aprix puts it, to inspire your staff to change you need to engage them. These are his six tips for crafting and delivering messages that engage.

1. Build trust – be open and honest It takes time to build employees’ trust but only moments to destroy it. Signs that trust has been eroded include lower productivity, poor morale, resistance to change, a strong rumor mill and good staff leaving. To build trust, you need to be honest and open. 2. Build a compelling, logical case for organizational change Even when your employees trust you, they won’t change unless you give them a compelling, logical reason to. Miss this chance and employees will concoct their own – usually less flattering – reasons for the change.

3. Match actions and words ‘Walk the talk’ and make sure all managers do the same. Actions speak louder than words.

4. Involve the people affected Involve people who are directly affected. Don’t assume that negative people will necessarily sabotage your project. They will if you let them, but it’s your job to win them over. Converts can become your greatest allies. You may not like some of the messages they tell you, especially during the denial and resistance stages. However, acknowledging people’s fears is one way to minimize their anxiety.

5. Communicate a sense of confidence Accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative (or at least keep it to a minimum).

6. Repeat your main messages Repetition is a powerful tool. People hear a message when they are ready to hear it. Many people who are constantly bombarded with information become good at screening out “noise”. So, repeat your main messages until everyone gets them. Match your messages to the groups affected and to how staff are feeling at each stage of the project.

Snap – Internal communications solutions

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Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

Try these Snap Internal Communications tools ·

Snap Staff Poll lets you to keep your finger on the pulse and test that your strategies are working every step of the way. It is an excellent way to measure progress. You can set up a Snap Staff Poll to target specific groups of staff (e.g. to check whether you are making progress with the resistant group). Snap Staff Poll can help you measure how well your managers are communicating too. Use a short poll to understand how well each employee understands the main messages about the change, and link the results back to individual managers. What gets measured usually gets focus and priority.

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Snap Staff Forum When staff feel unsure they may clam up or communicate in rumors. Use Snap Staff Forum to let them post their concerns and comments (anonymously if you wish) so that you understand and can address the rumors that are circulating. You could even name a forum ‘the rumor mill’ and encourage people to post any rumors they’ve heard.

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Snap Staff E- Mag Collect feedback and act on it. Include a section in Snap Staff E-Mag called “Great feedback we’re working with”. Highlight how you are using staff’s constructive comments to improve the business and the way you manage the change.

The Snap internal communications tools let you repeat your main messages in a range of ways that appeal to staff, without their becoming boring or seen as ‘wall paper’. The Snap Content Management lets you customize and target messages to specific groups in your organization.

Snap – Internal communications solutions

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Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

Listen Do staff need to offload and should you let them? Many change projects launch into the details of the change too quickly. This approach can leave employees feeling shocked and ambushed. And this initial shock is often “followed by behaviors such as denial, anger, ‘blocking’ and in some cases depression.” ( Adrian Cropley). Staff need time to understand what the changes mean to them before they can move on. If they think they may lose their job, be relocated or be redeployed, they need to voice their concerns. So give them a chance to have their say. Listening to them and acknowledging their views will help both them and you. Even if you have to communicate bad news, listening actively and with empathy can help you manage the process with dignity.

Create opportunities to listen Create opportunities for you, the project team and managers to hear what people are thinking after you announce the changes. You can use a variety of approaches such as team meetings, interviews and open forums. While you’re listening to feedback, probe deeply to make sure you really understand the issues and how they affect people.

The value of face-to-face meetings Use face-to-face meetings to discuss sensitive issues. Allow plenty of time to hear how staff are feeling and to answer questions. Have the right people in the room. Staff often see the communications person as the “management stooge”. Be there, but make sure your senior managers, line managers and HR team are there too. They will make the decisions during the change, so they need to front. If you need to comment, keep your message brief and clear.

Other ways to listen Staff may think of extra questions or want to comment further once they have had time to digest the basic information. So follow up meetings with other ways that let you and other managers listen. For example, set up a suggestion/question scheme or open an issues register on a shared network drive. Encourage managers to make themselves visible and available.

How to listen effectively Staff may be exploring their feelings as well as their options. Coach managers to avoid making comments that begin with ‘but’ or trying to answer their questions. This may not help staff or you to understand the issues. Listen first, try to get to the heart of the matter and acknowledge what staff feel. Sometimes staff just need to let off steam. By listening to them and letting them air their feelings and voice their ideas, you can prevent rumor and resentment from growing.

Snap – Internal communications solutions

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Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

Try these Snap Internal Communications tools Snap internal communications tools can be your ‘ear.’ They are effective ways to gather personal or anonymous feedback. Since these tools are easy to use, you can set them up to ‘talk’ and listen to different stakeholder groups. This avoids the ‘one size fits all’ approach. ·

Snap Staff Poll lets you to ask for information on specific issues. Use it to back up your face-toface channels and keep information coming in.

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Snap Staff Forum lets you run virtual meetings where people can share ideas and opinions and, if they need to, let off steam. Snap Staff Forum lets people post ideas anonymously. This is a good way to find out what staff really think. Snap Staff Forums are secure. You can moderate the conversations and target them to specific groups, preventing negative feeling from infecting the whole organization.

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Snap RSVP is a meeting request that ‘pops up’ like a desktop alert. It is an ideal tool to make sure as many staff as possible attend face-to-face briefings. During times of change, it can be difficult to get everyone in a room at the same time: staff still have jobs to do and they can be particularly busy. Snap RSVP lets you give options for available times and venues. When staff accept an invitation, Snap RSVP automatically enters the chosen date and time it in their Outlook calendar. Use the reporting tools in Snap Content Manager to see which staff are attending which sessions. This helps you plan your logistics (e.g. room sizes, catering) and closes off specific time slots as rooms fill up.

Snap – Internal communications solutions

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Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

Build employee engagement I’ll just keep my head down and get on with my job Don’t let managers ignore the people side of managing change. According to a Harvard Business Review study, 70 percent of change initiatives are unsuccessful because organizations fail to manage the human reaction to change. All managers, from the top down, are responsible for building staff engagement. Start at the beginning of the organizational change process. It takes time and patience.

Get your managers involved Get all levels of your management team involved in planning and shaping communications. This will make them better project champions and result in better employee communications. Employees would rather communicate with their immediate manager or supervisor. In other words, this level of management plays a vital role in communicating and putting organizational change in place. Steve Lemmex (Ref 5) suggests you follow a two-part strategy to help managers engage their teams. The first part involves managing staff’s resistance to the change. Encourage your managers to be open and honest. Advise them to give people time to express their feelings and understand what the change means for them. The second part of the strategy involves taking time to make sure staff are ready for the exploration stage of the change. Encourage managers to involve staff by asking for their views: what needs to be done, why, when and how? This inclusive approach helps staff feel valued and moves them along the change curve to accept and commit to the change. And staff often find innovative ways to make things work that managers would never have thought of.

Be sensitive, honest and positive Be sensitive to how staff are feeling, especially if the changes mean bad news for some. Where there is loss (e.g. staff leaving or projects being abandoned), give staff time to grieve. Acknowledging loss helps people move on. Tackle issues honestly and positively. Try to see circumstances dispassionately. Emotions can cloud issues.

Learn and improve If you are working on a project that has had communications problems in the past, acknowledge the issues. You may want to signal that you will be making a radical change and commit to improving communications from this point on. Bid the old way a formal farewell and welcome a new beginning with a celebration.

Try these Snap Internal Communications tools Support your managers by getting them information before it goes to their teams. This gives them time to think about how the message applies to their staff and how they can support them. ·

Snap Staff Forum and Snap Interactive Helpdesk are great ways for managers to share ideas and help each other in a secure, interactive way.

Snap – Internal communications solutions

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Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

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Snap Staff Forum is a powerful way to hold virtual meetings. Staff in different locations can take part, anonymously if they want to. Use Snap Staff Forum to involve people and hear timely, honest feedback. Snap Staff Forum is also a useful way for focus groups to ‘brainstorm’ their ideas.

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Snap Employee Blog Get respected managers to blog about the change. Encourage staff to ask questions and raise issues. This will help them accept the changes. Snap Employee Blog will help staff realize that managers are human too: they are not forcing change on people to make life difficult.

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Snap Shots screensavers. Show staff that you are serious about communicating well. Use engaging, visual screensavers to get your main messages across.

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Snap Staff E- Mag is an electronic magazine that lets staff contribute their own content quickly and easily. Use Snap Staff E-Mag to signal a radical change or celebrate new beginnings. Since anyone can contribute, it is a good way to get staff involved. Encourage them to tell their own stories about how the changes are working for them.

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Snap Staff Quiz Celebrate new beginnings with Snap Staff Quiz. Involve people by asking them to name new ways of working (e.g. new systems, projects) or suggest improvements. Offer prizes for the best ideas and recognize them using Snap Shots screensavers and articles in Snap Staff EMag.

Snap – Internal communications solutions

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Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

Getting the right message to the right audience So what’s this got to do with me? People are good at hearing what they want to hear. We screen out messages we don’t want to hear or are not ready to hear. This makes your role in internal communications a challenging one, particularly in times of change.

Understand your audience During your planning, you will have drafted up the general messages you need staff to understand. Before you communicate them, audit your audiences. Your aim is to understand not only each group affected but also the individuals in these groups and how they are likely to react to the change. Consider how they are currently feeling, the way changes may affect them and what they need to know to move them through the change. Adapt your general messages to make sure each group understands them as you intend them to.

Match the channel to the audience Different channels suit different audiences. Your best approach is to use a range of channels to send and receive information. Use a mix of push and pull strategies. Push some information out to staff (e.g. by email) and have other information there waiting for them when they need it (i.e. a pull strategy, like your intranet).

Get the timing right for the audience Make sure staff receive the right information at the right time. Repetition is important. Keep the momentum up but don’t bombard staff with information. Where your managers have a role to play (e.g. to answer staff’s questions or pass on important information), make sure they do this promptly.

Enlist the right messengers for the audience Enlist the right people to help you communicate the change. Staff will listen to people who work as a team, who understand the business and whom they respect. The right people will smooth the way for you: they can help their team understand the context to the changes, model the new ways of working and champion the project. So when your staff ask What’s this got to do with me?” you have the right people on hand to answer their questions.

Try these Snap Internal Communications tools SnapComms provide a range of tools to help you get your message across to your audiences. Use Desktop Alerts to draw staff’s attention to important or urgent messages and updates and Snap Shots interactive screensavers to get across important themes. Use Snap Staff E- Mag and Snap Staff Forum to involve staff in the change, by letting them express their views. Snap Employee Blog lets you to enlist people whom staff respect to write blogs, answer questions and provide context. The Snap Content Management system lets you tailor and target messages to different groups of staff.

Snap – Internal communications solutions

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Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

Communicate, communicate, communicate Nobody told me! Human beings often screen out what they don’t want to hear, or what they are not ready to hear. No matter how many times you tell people about the changes and how many different ways you do it, you will always find someone who says ”Nobody told me!” What does this mean for your communication strategy?

Get your message across Prepare people to receive information. Listen to them, acknowledge how they are feeling, ask for their ideas and feedback. Gaining their trust in these ways will make them more receptive to the information you give them. Repeat your main messages. To prevent boredom setting in, try delivering the same message through different communications channels or presenting it in different ways. Keep it short. Staff are busy dealing with their work and the changes ahead. They don’t have time to decipher complex, lengthy or irrelevant reports. Be prepared. When staff become aware there is change ahead, the rumor mill fires up. Have a range of channels in place, be reading to update staff regularly, make it easy for them to ask questions and give feedback and prepare managers well. Get staff to acknowledge (sign off) that they have received and understood information. At some stage you might need to be able to show this. Sometimes you have to communicate bad news. If you have built up trust, communicate honestly and clearly, and have strategies in place to cope with staff’s reactions, you and your staff are in the best position to deal with the situation in a productive, dignified way.

Get the timing right Communicating well is about timing. Make sure staff affected by a change hear about it before it leaks internally or to the media. Learning about major changes in this way is demoralizing. Staff may be shocked and angry and feel they have lost face (which can be devastating, especially in some cultures). Sometimes, however as much as you would like to, you cannot brief staff before you release the information publicly (e.g. to the stock exchange). If this is the case, organize a staff briefing to coincide with your public announcement.

See it through Keep communicating even when the change project is reaching its final stages. Reinforcing new skills, practices and ways of working is a vital part of making the changes stick. Don’t let staff go back to their old ways by cutting the communications cord too soon.

Try these Snap Internal Communications tools Snap Tools are easy to set up in advance to help your internal communications team prepare for and respond quickly to staff’s feelings and feedback. Use them to make sure staff hear about changes at the same time as you advise the market or the media.

Snap – Internal communications solutions

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Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

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Snap Shots screensavers and Snap Staff E- Mag are innovative ways to keep the project in people’s minds.

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Snap Desktop Alert highlights the latest updates or urgent news. It bypasses email and achieves fast, effective message cut through. Reporting options let you check which recipients have opened the message. Message acknowledgement options allow you to ensure communications compliance.

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Snap RSVP is a meeting request that ‘pops up’ like a desktop alert. It is an ideal tool to make sure as many staff as possible attend important briefings and hear the latest announcements, together and as soon as possible. Snap RSVP lets you give options for available times and venues. When staff accept an invitation, Snap RSVP automatically enters the chosen date and time in their Outlook calendar.

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Snap Ticker is a scrolling format that delivers updates directly to the computers of selected employees. Use it to update staff in a more subtle way than a desktop alert.

Snap – Internal communications solutions

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Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

Use the right communications channels I found out my job was under threat by email! As internal communications experts, you know how important it is to choose the right communications channel. But it’s easy to get so caught up in a busy project that you overlook some of the basics. So when you’re planning your communications strategy, take time to choose the right tools for the job. There are many communications channels to choose from. It’s a good idea to list the ones you have available and match the message and the audience to the channel. Use a range of channels to repeat messages, in slightly different ways each time. This will prevent staff ignoring the change. Consider which information you need to ‘push’ out to staff and which they should ‘pull’ in. If you are pushing information (e.g. by email or pop-up alert), you need to make sure staff receive it. And if you have provided information for staff to find and use as they need (e.g. on an intranet), you need to measure whether they are, in fact, using it. You may not want to front up to people when you have to communicate bad news. But if you are honest and empathetic and show that you are prepared to listen, note feedback and answer the hard questions, you are delivering unpalatable news in the best way you can. Staff may not like the message but they will respect you for fronting up.

Face-to-face Face-to-face communication is the best way to encourage staff to adopt new ways of working. It is also the best channel to use to plan and deal with sensitive issues. Face-to-face lets you gauge reactions, get instant feedback and make sure everyone has received and understood the message.

Written materials Don’t forget paper in your quest to save trees. It is still the best way to convey complex, detailed, lengthy information which people need to study. Written materials (e.g. FAQs) are also useful to back up face-to-face and phone conversations.

Intranet The intranet is great for searching for and retrieving information. But it lacks the personal touch you need to make people change the way they work.

Email Email is quick, convenient and overused. ‘Communicating change via email or voicemail is like ending a relationship that was – it’s just bad form. It leaves the recipient bewildered and angry, and whoever is delivering the message looking very bad.’ (Veronica Apostolico, Ref 9). Email is not always effective. The Massachusetts District Court found against a company that used email to communicate a change in procedure, ruling that it did not communicate the message effectively. If you do choose to convey important information by email, get staff to acknowledge that they have received and understood it.

Snap – Internal communications solutions

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Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

Project champions Project champions can help you communicate subtly and informally. Encourage them to talk to their colleagues, to show them how the changes will work and to model the new ways of working.

Try these Snap Internal Communications tools Use the right channel and right tool for the job. Avoid adding to email overload or cluttering up your intranet. Encourage staff to explore more effective ways of communicating. ·

Snap Video is a type of desktop alert that lets you deliver video directly to employees’ computers. So your CEO can’t be at the meeting? No problem. Use Snap Video to let staff see the commitment and intent in your CEO’s eyes and hear the passion and empathy in his or her voice. Snap Video’s targeting features mean that you can deliver the video alert to different groups of employees at different times.

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Snap Ticker Do you need to send updates or alert staff to relevant new information, but fear the message will get buried? Use Snap Ticker to push updates to the computer screens of your target groups.

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Snap Desktop Alert This tool makes sure that urgent or important messages get the attention they need. Use the reporting options to make sure that messages ’cut through’.

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Snap Staff E- Mag makes it easy to collate general news and simple updates in one place. Use it to avoid confusing staff with 20 or 30 emails received at different times from different parts of the business. Snap Staff E-Mag collates the information into an easy-to-read one-stop format. It’s also a good way to involve and engage people in your change project by letting them have their say.

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Snap Staff Forum is a blank canvas that you can use to let everyone air their views.

Snap – Internal communications solutions

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Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

Use story-telling to paint the picture I just don’t see how that’ll work ”… truly flexible, fully integrated, adaptable IT infrastructure using an SOA approach to develop modular, easily integrated and reused…blah blah blah…” Does this mean anything to your staff, apart from those in IT? How can you make this message sound exciting – and intelligible? Try adding creative visualization to your toolbox. Getting staff to visualize the changes ahead is a powerful way to help plan and implement change. In everyday life, most people tell stories to get their point across. Many cultures prefer a narrative approach rather than the abrupt, business-like way we often adopt. So paint a picture with words. Here’s an example: ”Just think. After go-live, all you have to do is to click on the client contact, and from there you can complete all the transactions. You no longer have to open several applications, or photocopy documents, or scan in information. Our new system will do all that for you behind the scenes.” Story-telling is relevant to all stages of the change process. At the outset, use it to encourage staff to visualize what the changes will look like. Visualization is very powerful when it captures a positive view of the future. This is especially useful when you are trying to get staff to move from ”Could this work for me?” to ”I can see how I can make this work for me.” Illustrate your points with concrete examples and scenarios. Many people are not comfortable with abstract ideas and theory. Making your project concrete makes it real, and making it real makes it happen.

Try these Snap Internal Communications tools ·

Snap Staff E- Mag Include articles that show how employees are modeling new values or putting in place new strategies.

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Snap Shots A picture paints a thousand words. Use screensavers to show a positive picture of the future. Broadcast it round your organization to capture people’s imagination in an appealing, visual way.

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Snap Staff Quiz Help people visualize the change working for them. Ask scenario questions. For example, “The new technology (etc) will help me do A, B, C, or D or all of the above?” Offer prizes to encourage staff to take part. Include humorous or trick questions and answers that make the quiz fun.

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Snap Help Desk Use an interactive online helpdesk to let staff ask questions about how the change will affect their role.

Snap – Internal communications solutions

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Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

Make it easy for managers to communicate effectively I don’t know how to tell them. ”Data from 25,000 employees, in diverse industries, consistently rank front-line managers No 1 in credibility. Employees are also more comfortable speaking up with questions and ideas to their immediate manager than with any other management level.” ( Ref 7). Your managers play a vital role in preparing staff for change, building their trust and getting the message across. Some leaders ignore or try to squash any resistance they encounter. To avoid this, help your managers understand the approach you are taking to manage the changes. Enlist their support and make it easy for them to communicate with their teams, clearly and tactfully.

Start at the top Involve your CEO and other senior managers from the start. Ideally, get them to deliver sensitive messages face-to-face. This can instill confidence and enthusiasm and stall the rumor mill. If this is not possible, an audio-visual presentation (i.e. video or DVD) may be an effective alternative. Staff will still be able to hear the emotion and see the passion behind the change.

Involve your managers “Success can be enhanced if managers play an active role in both planning and delivering messages about change initiatives.” ( Ref 5) Involve managers at the planning stage. They know the audiences you are trying to reach and will know the best ways to do this. And ask for their feedback regularly during the project. Encourage them to submit a short article to your company newsletter or magazine. Using this informal channel will make them appear ‘human’ and their article will appeal to staff more than a formal project report.

Coach your managers Coach your managers to deliver the right messages in the right way and make it easy for them to do this. Help them understand the role they play in putting local context around the changes and making sure messages suit their team’s style and emotions. Remind them of the communications channels available; give them a set of standard messages to work from and help them customize these for their team; coach them to use suitable language and get the messages across clearly and sincerely. Remind managers that resistance is a normal reaction to change and that staff may need time to come to terms with it. Help them prepare their staff for change, so that they move quickly along the change curve. Useful training topics include motivational techniques, team building, negotiating, delegating and dealing with conflict.

Try these Snap Internal Communications tools ·

Snap Staff Forum or Snap Interactive Helpdesk These tools let managers meet online to discuss strategies, share ideas and plan. This is especially useful when managers work in different locations.

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Snap Ticker Setting managers or their PAs up as administrators in Snap Content Manager lets them use Snap Ticker to send their teams scrolling news feeds. This is a good way to make sure staff get information that is directly relevant to them as soon as it is available.

Snap – Internal communications solutions

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Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

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Snap Staff Poll can be used to measure how well managers are communicating.

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Snap Staff E- Mag It’s easy for managers and staff to contribute. Encourage and help senior managers share ideas with their staff.

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Snap Video delivers video directly to staff’s computer screens. Work with managers to make the messages as relevant as possible to different groups of staff. Use the reporting options to see which staff have watched the video.

Snap’s targeting and scheduling features let you update managers before their teams receive the information. This gives them time to plan how they will react when their team hears the news and to prepare answers to their questions.

Snap – Internal communications solutions

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Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

Measure results, celebrate success I’m sure we got the message across. But what did actually happen? So how do you know whether your messages are hitting the mark? A good internal communication strategy measures results regularly. Is it achieving what it set out to do? If not, what needs to change and how? Regular staff surveys give you a useful snapshot of how people are feeling about the change. They reduce the risk of ‘squeaky wheels’ in your organization coloring your opinion of progress. Gather qualitative data as well as quantitative, and find effective ways to present and use the information. Use it to test your planning, update and coach your managers and motivate your staff.

How to measure results Know what you want your internal communications strategy to achieve. Then decide how to measure whether it has achieved these results. Do you have current data to compare the results to? Among other things, you probably want to measure: · · ·

staff’s attitudes (e.g. to the project, to how well their managers get the message across); staff’s emotions (i.e. where they are on the change curve); how well staff are developing new skills and gaining new knowledge (e.g. have they received, read and understood your messages? Which channels are working best? Where should you be putting your effort?)

Try these Snap Internal Communications tools ·

Snap Staff Poll is an effective way to assess what’s working, measure attitudes and understanding and track trends. It is quick to set up and simple to use to across your organisation. As it pops up on the computer screens of selected employees, it does not get lost in their email inboxes. Built-in reminders encourage staff to take part. This helps make sure that the results represent the views of all staff, including the important but often ‘silent majority’.

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Snap Staff Forum is a good way to let staff discuss issues online. It can provide valuable, qualitative information that measures how staff are feeling and how well they are engaged in the change.

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Snap Shots screensavers are a visual, engaging way to highlight and celebrate success during the change. Snap’s targeting features mean that you can use Snap Shots to celebrate small, local wins too, to motivate and engage staff in specific parts of your organisation.

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Snap Staff E- Mag is an electronic staff magazine. This format is an engaging way to document success and is particularly useful for staff who respond best to the written word. Snap Staff E-Mag is easy for staff to use. Encourage them to submit articles that talk about what they have achieved (e.g. simpler ways of working, important milestones met). You can distribute the finished magazine across the whole organisation or to specific groups.

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Snap tools: an overview Snap’s innovative tools help you communicate with your staff and involve them in your business in engaging ways that best meet your needs and theirs: · · ·

Right time: the Snap tools let you contact staff and let staff respond at the time that suits them best (e.g. during logical pauses in their work); Right people: the Snap tools let you target different groups of staff in different ways; Versatile and easy to use: the Snap tools connect with other tools (e.g. the intranet or SharePoint), letting staff click through to them quickly and easily.

Snap is a cost-effective, hosted, fully managed solution. In-house versions are also available.

Snap Shots Screensavers – digital signage on the screensaver When staff are overloaded with information, communicating with them becomes a challenge, especially if they do not see your messages as urgent or important. Screensavers are a great way to make staff aware of your main messages without intruding, annoying them or adding to the email burden. Think of them as engaging, regularly changing, interactive billboards around your business. Snap Shots work like standard screensavers – with some important advantages. · · · · · · ·

You can:

change them quickly and easily; target them so that different groups receive different content; communicate without interaction or solicit a response from staff; deliver messages at times when staff are most receptive (e.g. outside busy times of the day or during natural pauses in their work); tempt staff to find out more with clickthrough links; brighten up office areas. Think of it as changing billboards around the business; let staff upload a personal image as their own screensaver.

Options for engaging screensavers include: · · · ·

sequencing images with text; countdown clocks; flash animation; Html screensavers.

You can also upload PowerPoint slides and animated sequences. You can design screensavers internally, typically in less than half an hour. Websites like www.bigstockphotos.com make it easy to find useful images. You can also develop templates (e.g. in PowerPoint, Photoshop or similar applications) to advise staff about events, issue invitations and announce breaking news, and update them on the screensaver in just a couple of minutes.

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Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

Snap Staff Quiz – staff quiz In thirty days people typically forget 80% of what they have learnt if it is not reinforced. One answer is to back up the information you give staff with a short, engaging quiz. The Snap Staff Quiz tool was developed for this purpose. It has the bonus that it can be fun for staff and build morale. Snap Staff Quiz is quick to set up and easy for people to answer. It ‘pops up’ on employees’ computers with options to complete now or defer. You can choose which staff you send it to, theme quizzes with logos or images and set automated reminders. All these features encourage staff to take part. Think, too, about offering a prize or setting up ‘silent quizzes’ that staff can opt into through a hyperlink. Snap Content Manager is easy to use. It updates data every minute and reports automatically. When the staff member submits an answer, an optional personal pop-up display shows their individual score and the correct answers. This is a good way to reinforce information.

Snap Ticker – scrolling news tickers The growth of the internet and other technologies has brought an explosion in the information available to us. The challenge is to find the correct, most up-to-date information without wasting time ‘wading through treacle’. Snap Ticker builds on the power of RSS but is more flexible and easy to customise. When a scrolling news feed appears along the bottom of their computer screen, staff can choose whether they read it immediately. If they are ready for an interruption they’ll take a look. If they are deep in thought, they can ignore it and it won’t interrupt their flow. They can click through on it later at a time that suits them better. The most powerful feature of Snap Ticker is that you can write your own feeds and push them out to selected groups of staff. Use Snap Ticker to update staff quickly. It’s easy to use: simply type in a headline, add the details of a link (e.g. to an intranet page, website or document on a shared network) and decide your target groups. This format is ideal for call centres as it lets you keep people informed of the latest updates without interrupting their flow of work. Snap Ticker lets you take advantage of external sources of information too. It can push out information updates from any source that is RSS-enabled (including your own intranet) without requiring staff to opt in (although this is an option). This helps keep staff informed and be effective in their roles. Snap Ticker contains other useful features. You can nominate staff from different departments (e.g. the sales team or engineering department) to manage the Snap Ticker for their own audiences while, as overall administrator, still seeing all the messages posted. You can set the ticker to continue scrolling on-screen until the staff member clicks on it. This is a good way to guarantee that staff view important content.

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Tips for Internal Communicators – Change Communications

Snap Staff Poll – Staff survey tool Involving staff is one of the best ways to build engagement. A Snap Staff Poll or Survey lets you do this. Use it to take a “temperature check”, for initial research before you launch a more comprehensive (and time-consuming) survey and to measure how well your communications are working. Understand what’s hitting the mark, which areas you need to improve and how well your managers are communicating (e.g. in cascading information or building engagement). This information is useful to convince senior managers of the value to the business of what you are doing. Snap Staff Poll is different from other surveys: it is easier to use and is pushed directly to the desktop (not delivered by email). It ‘pops up’ on the employee’s computer with options to complete now or later. Your Snap Administrator can specify how often the pop-up reappears until staff fill in the survey. You can also set up ‘silent surveys’ that staff can opt into through a hyperlink. Snap Staff Poll is quick to set up and works best for short, punchy surveys: up to 10 multi-choice questions (though other options for answers are available too). A prize incentive and the automated reminder encourage staff to fill in the poll. You can set up Snap Staff Poll to allow confidential responses. These can be valuable in times of change and uncertainty. Click here for examples of Snap Staff Poll questions.

Snap Desktop Alert – desktop alerts Snap Desktop Alert is a powerful tool to broadcast breaking news (e.g. a security alert or important update). It is a desktop alert that pops up on the targeted employee’s computer screen. Snap Desktop Alert is persistent: you can set it up so that the message stays on the screen until staff have seen and acted on it. You can report on who has or has not opened the full message and clicked on the links that it contains. This is a useful feature if you need to be able to show that you are complying (e.g. with an internal policy or legal regulation). Other features include ‘read now’ or ‘read later’ options, and options to display the full message immediately. You can preset the size, position and prominence of the desktop alert window for each message.

Snap RSVP – RSVP alert tool Snap RSVP is a meeting request that behaves like a desktop alert. This tool is ideal for getting the best out of events like briefing sessions or CEO road shows. You can include explanatory text and ask employees to select the session they want to attend. When they reply, Snap RSVP will automatically enter the appointment in their Outlook calendar. Simple reporting tools in Snap Content Manager let you see which staff are attending which sessions. This helps you plan logistics (e.g. room sizes and catering) and lets you close off specific timeslots as rooms fill. Snap RSVP is particularly useful in times of change or crisis when it is so important to communicate faceto-face. Use Snap RSVP to make sure that staff come along to these sessions.

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Snap Video – video alert tool Snap Video is a desktop alert that delivers video to employees’ desktops. So your CEO can’t be at the meeting? No problem. Use Snap Video to let staff see the commitment and intent in your CEO’s eyes and hear the passion and empathy in his or her voice. Snap Video’s targeting features mean that you can deliver it to different employee groups as they need it.

Snap Staff E-Mag – electronic staff magazine with an important difference Research shows that the average office worker is interrupted 11 times each hour with messages that have nothing to do with the task they are performing. For example, most emails, particularly those sent to all staff, contain general information that does not need to be read there and then. Each interruption has a cost. It takes time for the employee to focus back on their work. Snap Staff E-Mag lets anyone in the business enter this general information into a one-stop magazine format which an editor can approve before publishing. This format reduces interruptions and emails, helps you get information across in an engaging, visual way and, by encouraging staff to become involved, builds a sense of community and engagement. Snap Staff E-Mag is not delivered by email but in a way which is more likely to attract staff’s attention: each time you publish Snap Staff E-Mag, a ticker bar appears and scrolls three times at the bottom of staff’s computer screens. Staff can click-to-read there and then, or go to their message history to read the latest issue at a time which suits them better. Snap Staff E-Mag is designed to be scanned, and ‘read more’ links take people to your intranet or documents on the network to get more information. Snap can report on these links to show you how popular a particular article is with staff. This lets you know what type of articles you need to provide to attract your readers. Embedded email links let readers reply to authors directly. Depending on the number of responses, they may decide to take the topic further, calling a discussion group, summarising comments in the next edition of Snap Staff EMag or setting up a Snap Employee Blog or Forum for more debate. You can display the magazine as a logon screen. This is a good way to make sure staff read it. (Most of us like to start our day with something engaging to read!) You can target SnapMag to different groups. For example, individual departments may want their own version of the magazine. Your company culture and demographic may mean that senior managers are reluctant to use tools like blogs and forums. They may fear losing control or fuelling dissent. Under these circumstances, Snap Staff E-Mag can be a great alternative. It lets you distribute ‘safe discussion’ directly to staff’s computer screens.

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Snap Interactive – blogs, forums, helpdesks and Q&A spots If your company culture and demographics suit using social media tools consider Snap Interactive. The Snap Interactive tools have the following features. They are: · · · ·

developed specifically for employee communication; cost-effective and easy to put in place; secure, hosted solutions authenticated to each employee’s computer (or logon profile); easy for busy people to use

They include: · search tool to help you find important information; · promotional tools to encourage use; · reporting tools to let you measure value and ROI. You do not need to enlist the help of IT to set up these tools. The Snap Interactive tools are communication tools, designed specifically for the communications team to use and manage easily and quickly. Setting up a new forum or changing a blog does not become an “IT project”. This lets you try out new concepts quickly and easily. The Snap Interactive tools are easy for administrators and end-users to use too. Administrators can set up new forums or blogs quickly and simply, and specify which employee groups have authoring, commenting, and reading rights. End users do not need to remember and enter user names and passwords: automatic user authentication keeps your network secure. Extensive reporting options make it easy for you to measure value and show ROI. You can report on the total time individuals spend using the tools, their demographics and the forums they find most useful, as well as the more traditional traffic statistics.

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Appendix A Further information and resources 1.

Delivering successful change communication, Melcrum

2.

The Change Curve, from http://www.Simply-Communicate.com

3.

AHS Communications

4.

www.cropleycomms.com

5.

Managing changes in organizations: It’s management’s responsibility. Steve Lemmex, Global Knowledge

6.

Get your motor running: how to do communications at the speed of corporate change. By Tracy Harlow & Stacy Wilson

7.

Trends and tactics: Want your change initiatives to succeed? Create communication action teams. Linda M. Dulye

8. 9.

TOOL: Sun Microsystems' Knowledge, Attitude, Action model from http://www.internalcommshub.com/ How to ensure smooth and painless change. Veronica Apostolico, Senior Manager Employee Communications RTI International

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