My Thoughts

You can't declare that things will change and then expect the Organisation to refold itself politely, the way chairs fold into position at a meeting's close. Change comes messily to us, loudly and frequently without offering much in the way of choice , you have something to say about how it arrives, or whether people are ready for it when it does, and its content will either soothe the room or make noise unbearable. I've seen more transitions than I care to tally: head office restructures in Adelaide, digital rollouts across Melbourne branches. What differentiates successful shifts from chaos that lingers isn't the scale of the program or even how polished the slide deck is , it's an underpinning communication architecture. Good communication turns resistance into curiosity and curiosity into action.

Why this matters now

More than ever, we live in what's known as a VUCA world , volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous , but that label doesn't mean to excuse leaders from their leadership duties. If anything, it heightens the premium on communicating clearly and decisively. "Organisations that communicate change well don't simply get through one: they build capability for the next." Prosci's research into change management is quite stark on this: companies that use effective change management are 6 times more likely to achieve their desired objective from a project. That's not fluff. That's impact.

Get the lay of the land before you speak

Too many leaders see communication as an afterthought , something to tack on after decisions are made. That's backwards. First, understand the territory: who is directly affected, who sets people's morale, where previous changes succeeded or failed and what cultural norms are going to carry or shatter your message. But stakeholders are not a homogeneous mass, board members think strategic; team leaders operational and the frontline practical and immediate. Your CFO will want numbers. Your call centre team will be wondering right now what a new system means for their day tomorrow. Map these audiences. It takes five minutes and saves weeks of confusion later on.

There's also organisational memory. A Company that's suffered two failed restructures in as many years is going to be sceptical , and quite rightly so. Acknowledge that history. Don't deny the past. It's more convincing to say, "We've learnt from our previous tries" than merely to insist, "This time it's going to be different."

Change brings loss , of status, habits, simplicity

Change exposes hens and snollygosters. Fear is a natural response. One of the major leadership blind spots is not actually being blind to our own emotions and only seeing logic. People require facts as much as reassurance. They want the "why" and the "what it means for me." One simple template: tell them why, tell them what's going to be different, tell them how you'll help, and tell them what's next. Repeat. Repetition is not manipulation; it is the scaffolding that holds people steady in the face of uncertainty.

Be candid about trade offs. Honesty breeds trust , even when the news isn't all good. Say you are going to have to make some hard resource decisions; explain how you're trying to save jobs where feasible. Some readers will insist that leaders should refrain from saying negative things; I dissent. Tell the truth. You can handle complexity if you explain it empathetically.

Have a clear, compelling message , and stick with it

Clarity isn't the same as simplicity. It's about reducing complexity to a few essential truths without thinning out nuance. Start with the core narrative: what we're doing differently, why we're doing it and how success will appear. Make it tangible. A leader stating "we'll become more efficient" isn't quite as powerful as "we're going to cut processing time by 30 per cent, adding up to an extra two hours per week for each of our branches to focus on making customer calls". Specifics build trust and belief.

Two unsettling notions:

• More transparency on financial metrics is required. Suppressing projections to "prevent panic" typically backfires. Transparency makes it possible for people to see relationship between strategy and their roles.
• It's OK to communicate explicit trade offs. If cost cuts are needed, say that , but accompany the tough talk with some about what you're doing to help affected teams.

Adjust the message for different audiences

One size fits none. Your exec town hall is going to look very different from the pre shift huddle in a warehouse. Managers want a different level than individual contributors. Translate strategic speak into real life for the people who will inhabit the change. Practical tip: draft two versions of all important communications , one for executives and an equivalent one for the front line. This executive brief includes KPIs, governance and risk. The front line brief addresses the fundamental daily questions: "What will I do differently tomorrow?" and "Who do I talk to if I'm stuck?"

Storytelling works , but don't over egg it

People retain stories. Use them to humanise the abstract. Write a story about a Customer who will benefit from the change. Or show a day in the life of an employee post embedded change. But beware the grand narrative that smooths over reality. Stories need to be real, not all shiny. If your story requires unrealistic optimism, slash it. "We have found that the smell of spin is very strong among employees and authenticity works better than marketing," Cardos said.

Channels: choose intentionally

What and where you publish could be as important as the content itself. You need face to face or live video for high impact news because it conveys tone and permits immediacy. Written update (email, intranet) is required for detail and audit trials. Small, regular touchpoints are better than infrequent marathon ones. Leverage multiple channels at once: town hall to start the story, manager briefings, FAQs on intranet and small team sessions for hands on walk through. An email will have to do the heavy lifting.

Harness the power of the informal

Formal channels set the story straight. Informal channels move culture. Encourage managers to engage in honest conversations, whether it's in team rooms, on coffee catch ups or via internal collaboration platforms. Barely a day goes by without an announcement from corporate headquarters about some new software platform, but informal endorsements , the well respected site manager who says, "this will make our lives easier," for example , often carry more weight than 10 executive memos.

Two way communication is not optional

If you are communicating and it's all one sided then silence could follow as well or worse yet, mutiny. Genuine two way conversation allows you to hear misinterpretation and adjust your message. Create safe spaces for feedback: anonymous surveys, live Q&A sessions, focus groups of the kinds of workers who get left out. Feedback isn't merely for venting. Use it to iterate. If a common theme emerges in feedback, respond publicly. That signals you are listening and helps narrow trust gaps.

Measurement, in practice. Form of measurement: what success looks like

This isn't the soft art of communication, it's a measurable one. Measure things such as message recall, scores on comprehension questions from pulse surveys, adoption metrics for new systems and ratings of manager confidence in an initiative. Connect these to the project's KPIs. Prosci's data actually shows that structured change management in fact leads to material results. Take that as a benchmark , not an excuse to let yourself off the hook.

Facing resistance , it's not the enemy

Resistance is information. When people are resisting, they're trying to signal something , a risk that they can see (that you might not have), or some lack of capability, or that for whatever reason the incentives just aren't aligned. Use resistance as a piece of the diagnostic puzzle, not a source of deviance. Meet resistance with compassion and facts. Give them the training, shadowing and role definition they need. If a team is worried about losing their job, make clear the plans for redeployment and supports that are in place. Wherever you are able, give people agency , engage them in pilot programs, solicit feedback and implement tangible changes based on that information.

Celebrate early wins , and display them

It's all about building momentum. Small, quick victories provide proof of progress as well as pain reduction. Point out a team that has been recovering time or saved time, or a branch that's increased Customer ratings since they started doing something differently. Visibility converts sceptics into advocates. But be honest about pace. Don't manufacture success. Genuine, modest sized victories make an Organisation ready for the larger battles to come.

Training and capacity building

Change minus capacity equals reshuffle. Invest in practical and just in time training; training too early is lost. Experiment with blended methods , a few short face to face sessions, followed by on demand micro learning and coaching clinics. Leaders must role model behaviours. If you want teams to work differently, attend cross functional meetings , and not as a passive observer.

Digital platforms , use them, wisely

Digital mediums offer reach and dilution of nuance. Leverage collaboration tools for a steady drumbeat of updates, but supplement with live touchpoints when it comes to the heavy stuff. Interactive elements , polls, Q&As, forums , turn digital communication into a conversation. Watch for digital fatigue. Too many contradictory channels fracture attention. Consolidate where possible.

Governance and cadence

Establish a communication governance framework. Who approves messages? Who does the manager briefings? What's the cadence? Too many times conflicting messages become the enemy of clarity. A regular cadence of executive updates, manager huddles and frontline briefings also builds predictability: People know where to find information and when they can expect it.

A couple of nuts and bolts mistakes I often observe

• Including too much in a manager's briefing: Prepare managers with scripts and FAQs, but don't throw the kitchen sink at them. Waiting for them to ad lib in crises results in mixed signals.
• Assuming understanding: People nod their heads in meetings, yet still walk away baffled. Follow up with small quizzes or pulse surveys.
• Ignoring the front line: Leaders brief middle managers, then forget to give the broad base of employees more practical "what this means for me" stuff.

Culture eats strategy for breakfast , but communication can feed culture

Culture: it's not an airy fairy HR word, it's patterns of behaviour. Communications that role model the behaviors you want will slowly change culture. That's why small gestures , leaders revealing their vulnerability, admitting when they err, giving credit to teams , are more powerful than memos promising cultural overhaul.

Two controversial positions:

• I believe that there is too much underinvestment in the capability of managers during change. Managers are the pivot of adoption, train them as change agents, not task delegators.
• And I also think organisations are too polite about timing. If something has to happen in three months, announce it sooner rather than later , and just be specific about what you know versus what's being considered. People appreciate rhythm and honesty.

Final note , not a tidy bow

It's hard to communicate change well; it requires thinking, discipline and at least some level of recklessness. It's not glamorous. It's the unsexy work of having the same hard conversation, many times over, to slightly different audiences until it lands. Map your audiences. Write out the one line "why" statement that you can say under pressure to remind yourself why this work is hard but worth it for now. And put in place a weekly cadence of briefing managers. Leave space for listening. Do those three things and you'll stop finding resistance to be so surprising.

We do this exercise with clients all over Sydney and Melbourne, they always tell us the same thing , those who prepare win. Not because they possess magic, but because they made change a conversation, not an edict.

Sources & Notes Prosci (2018). Best Practices in Change Management. Prosci Research.