[00:00:08.130] - Imogen
Hello and welcome to Dear Comms, the coffee break podcast where we tackle your biggest corporate comms challenges. I'm Imogen.
[00:00:15.590] - Amanda
And I'm Amanda. We're here to give you practical, no-nonsense advice so you can focus on the things that matter most: driving influence, engagement, and impact.
[00:00:26.650] - Imogen
Now, today's challenge comes from Sam. Sam says, we're going through a big change at our company, like most companies, I think. I'm keen to keep employees up to date with everything, but also worried about overwhelming them. There's so much going on, but I don't want to cause panic or confusion. How do I strike the right balance?
[00:00:44.950] - Amanda
This is a tough one, Imogen, because during times of change, employees want and need transparency. We know that there mustn't be a a gap or a void in the information flow. But too much information at once can create confusion or even panic.
[00:01:04.380] - Imogen
And the fact is, change is ongoing. I think if I was, at the risk of sounding incredibly pretentious, but to paraphrase Greek philosophy, I would say, you know, change is the only constant in business. Any company that wants to succeed needs to adjust and adapt to the world around them. To technology, to expectations of their customers, of society. And so therefore, we need our employees to embrace change, get on board, and see these changes as evolution, not revolution. If we're going to do that, we need to strike a very fine balance in our communications.
[00:01:43.500] - Amanda
Exactly. I mean, if updates are too frequent, too detailed, We know employees can feel overloaded and tune out completely. On the flip side though, if your communication is too limited, uncertainty can fuel speculation and fear. We all know what happens around the water cooler, right?
[00:02:05.400] - Imogen
Yes, so we have that unenviable task really of keeping them informed, engaged, reinsured, without making them feel like they're drowning. Updates and emails.
[00:02:17.790] - Amanda
Yeah, I mean, the good news for you, Sam, is it sounds as if you are being involved in the change planning process.
[00:02:24.530] - Imogen
Which isn't always the case.
[00:02:26.140] - Amanda
No, it's not, quite frankly. But if comms is involved when the idea is being mooted, it means that we can help guide our leaders to ensure that change is successful. I mean, the good news for Sam is that it sounds as if they've been involved with the change planning process. Having comms involved when changes is just an idea is absolutely key. It means that we can guide our leaders to ensure the change is successful.
[00:02:56.710] - Imogen
Yes, communications is there to act as that voice and reason of the employee base. We're there to think about how employees are going to react to change. We're there to anticipate questions, make sure that we have answers to those questions. As a slight aside, if you've not read Kotter's 8 Steps for Leading Change, I'd really encourage you to set some time to read that. We'll add a link in the show notes. It's very straightforward, but it does take you through the reasons why change fails and the ways in which you can mitigate those risks.
[00:03:32.790] - Amanda
Yeah, and when we started thinking about this question, Imogen and I were thinking about the sort of fundamentals, the focus you can put to communications, and that is clarity, consistency, and relevance. Not every detail needs to be shared, but employees do need to know what's changing, what the vision is, and the benefits of this change. They also need to understand how this will impact their day-to-day and the role that the company wants them to play in making that change happen.
[00:04:09.160] - Imogen
For me, the key elements that you've just pointed out there is that kind of what's in it for me and what the hell does that mean. We need to be able to translate change from the boardroom gobbledygook into language that people understand and connect with. Don't ask me to explain what a responsive organization looks like. Don't ask me what scalable means. I don't have the answer and your employees don't either.
[00:04:37.280] - Amanda
And let's throw in solutions-focused as well whilst we're At it.
[00:04:40.790] - Imogen
Why not?
[00:04:42.380] - Amanda
This is where your line managers can help though. They can help translate the direction from leadership into the day-to-day reality. I'm a big fan of having a structured approach, and I think it's all based around need to know. What's happening? A clear, simple update on what's changing. Why does it matter? Connect it to the bigger picture, so employees understand the purpose and vision of what you're trying to do. How does it affect me? You know, focus on what's relevant to their roles. And then conclude out with what's next. Outline the next steps and when they receive more updates. And if you haven't got all the information to hand right now, just let them know when the next update will come.
[00:05:30.280] - Imogen
Answering that so what question is so important. If we look at Simon Sinek and his starting with why theory, this is really the same thing. Change isn't something that leaders do.
[00:05:42.480] - Amanda
Alone.
[00:05:43.360] - Imogen
Everyone in the organization needs to be involved.
[00:05:45.940] - Amanda
Yeah, it can't be a vacuum or a void, can it?
[00:05:48.980] - Imogen
No, so making change happen is going to be a personal choice for each employee. Therefore, they need to understand why they should engage with the change and what the effect, hopefully positive effect, at the end will be.
[00:06:05.370] - Amanda
Yeah, they need to know where they stand. Once you know what your priority messages are and you've agreed that across the board, we need to talk delivery. And we know what works for one group of people may not work for another. And I think that's particularly relevant if you're communicating across language, culture, working practices. You know, you're in an international multinational organization. What works for some is not going to work for others.
[00:06:34.580] - Imogen
And that's where things like comms audits come in. If you haven't already, you can do a comms audit of your channels and understand which mediums work best for each of your different employee segments. And then you can start to get creative. You can use multiple channels to reach the broadest range of employees that you have.
[00:06:56.320] - Amanda
Yeah, we also don't want to sort of deluge information. Throw all at once. We need to think about how we can drip-feed information so that there is a constant buzz and employees take information bit by bit, like osmosis, I guess.
[00:07:13.980] - Imogen
It's about little and often. It's about repetition. This is something we say the whole time in communications. Just because your leadership, just because you have seen something 10,000 times, it doesn't mean that your wider employee base has. And this might be the first time they've ever heard of the change.
[00:07:32.650] - Amanda
Yeah, that's very true. And I think this is where leaders and line managers come into play. If they have key messages that they can refer to, the hymn sheet if you like, they can personalize them to suit their own style, but they also can bring them into every interaction or conversation they have, and it's consistent.
[00:07:54.440] - Imogen
Yeah, Kotter brings this up actually. He suggests leaders use routine discussions, so that could be performance reviews or solving business problems or coffee conversations. And they— he suggests that they use these discussions to link it back to the change vision, the transformation, the new goals of the business. He sums it up by saying, use every possible channel, especially those that are being wasted on non-essential information.
[00:08:24.490] - Amanda
One of the other things you talked about right up front was relevance. And it's important to remember, not everyone needs to know everything at the same time. If we put aside the purpose-based big vision communications that everyone needs to understand, specific groups have very specific needs.
[00:08:42.590] - Imogen
Yeah, your leaders, for example, they need to not only understand that bigger picture, but then understand what they have to do to translate that to their teams.
[00:08:52.860] - Amanda
Right, yeah. And your frontline employees need to know what clear steps they need to take, you know, what are the actions and when.
[00:09:01.270] - Imogen
They don't need to know everything immediately, but they do need to trust that they'll be kept in the loop. This is the ongoing FOMO of business communications.
[00:09:12.720] - Amanda
It is. And, you know, let's not forget, we can invite feedback. We can ask employees, create space, you know, ensure that they feel heard rather than just informed.
[00:09:27.640] - Imogen
Yeah, it's one of the easiest ways to test whether employees are overwhelmed or not. I think it's important though, if you are going to invite questions, have this two-way communications, which you absolutely should, you need to answer the questions that are being asked. There's nothing worse than people taking the time to ask a question only for leadership to decide, actually, we don't want to answer that one.
[00:09:53.140] - Amanda
And sometimes, you know, it stems from not knowing all the answers, and I think that's okay. I think you can acknowledge uncertainty where it exists. I think people would much rather you say, we don't have all the answers yet, but here's what we do know and what we're working on. I mean, that's the fundamental of building trust, right?
[00:10:12.490] - Imogen
Absolutely. And that's what you need in order to make change successful. It's that trust from your employees that they know where they're going, they know their role in that change, and they know that this is for a better future for the organization. So, I think if I was to To sum up our discussion, we need to keep our updates clear, relevant, and consistent to help our employees feel supported and informed and not overwhelmed.
[00:10:43.930] - Amanda
Yeah, and change is challenging, but the way you communicate makes all the difference.
[00:10:50.020] - Imogen
And I think that's it for today. If you've got a comms challenge you want us to tackle, drop it in the comments. We'd love to help. Give us 5 stars, follow us on Apple and Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts. Um, but until next time, goodbye.
[00:11:05.600] - Amanda
Cheers.
Useful links mentioned in the episode:
Related reading:
)
