What’s the business benefit
for the change?
Employees want to know the
business reason behind the change.
Presumably there is one, or a major change
wouldn’t be initiated. You don’t have to get
down in the weeds with business analysis,
but be clear about why this change is
necessary for the organization.
What will employees see
as bad news?
Employees want their leadership to
be honest with them about what’s going to
happen — especially if it’s bad news. In our
research, employees of large companies say
they want to know the bad news as soon as
possible so they can prepare in two ways,
emotionally and logistically.
What’s in it for employees
that they’ll see as positive?
Look for a real answer here. Don’t
try to spin things to pretend something is
great for employees when it’s not. If there
isn’t a real benefit to individual employees,
focus instead on the benefit to the
organization overall.
Preparing the company
to successfully weather
change requires first
building a culture that
helps employees feel in
the loop and aware of the
company’s goals.
Interested in better change communications?
Tribe can help.
A temporary free-standing microsite
can provide that go-to place for
employees to feel in the loop.
A microsite can be quickly written, designed and
built outside the company, going live only when the
change is annonuced.
This online resource can decrease employee stress
regarding the change by providing accurate and
current information. You might include leadership
videos explaining the change, an FAQ page, a
downloadable manager’s toolkit, up-to-date
status of the change and some form of two-way
communication that allows employees to ask
questions or express concerns.
A survey can sometimes offer a necessary venue
for employees to share their opinions of the change
and how it’s going, as well as provide leadership
and internal communicators a gauge for which way
the wind is blowing — and how stiff that breeze is.
These sites should include both quick and easy
overviews of the change and deeper dives into
how the change impacts employees and the
business, but they don’t have to be cumbersome
to develop or take a lot of time to execute. Tribe
once created an entire change management
strategy and program in just 21 business days.
That program included a microsite with leadership
videos, interactive org charts, online surveys and a
mechanism to have anonymous questions answered
by the leadership team.