STEP SEVEN

Communicate Effectively

It is in times of change that leadership is required most.

—General Colin Powell

Change leaders need to be experts in dealing with people. Effective communication is a must, as is a firm understanding of your organization and its culture. Employees will want information, answers, and reassurances. In today’s workplace, this is complicated further by the need to communicate effectively with a diverse range of individuals and cultures.

Do You Have the Ability to Communicate Effectively?

As a change leader, one of your most important skills is the ability to communicate. Remember, communication goes two ways. Not only must you be able to get your message across, you also need to listen to and understand the communication of others.

A good starting point to keep in mind is the level of communication a person or group needs. Too little communication may cause individuals to wonder what is missing. They may not be capable of performing their job function or may perform it incorrectly by trying to fill in the missing information with their own interpretation. Too much communication may cause them to miss the most important points. They may not do the right things, or they may assign a priority that is different from what is intended. Consider what you need from such individuals or groups. Do you want to build their understanding or cause them to take action? The levels of communication include the following:

• Awareness—This level requires only a surface-level understanding of the information being addressed, but to know where to go for details and from whom.
• Understanding—This indicates knowing about and being able to understand how things work.
• Input—At this point, you want individuals to get involved and to not only understand but be able to respond and give input.
• Action—You want individuals to take action based on communication they have received.

Also be aware of the levels at which individuals are listening to you. Do they understand your message? Are they engaged? Could they repeat back to you what you said? Sometimes asking questions helps to check the extent of their engagement; refer to Step 6 for how to interview stakeholders at all levels. 

Creating a Communication Strategy

An overall communication strategy should be built for any major change initiative. The strategy should include all the appropriate stakeholders and be based on the reason for the change initiative, the goals of the change initiative, the roles and responsibilities of individuals involved in the change process, and a way for them to have a voice. Openness, honesty, and sharing of updates should be the underlying principles behind the strategy.

The basics of creating a communication strategy include determining the goal of your message. While you may know what you want to say and how you want others to react, it may not come across so clearly to others. Start by encoding your message, or determining how you believe recipients will understand it. Then decide how you will transmit the message. What medium will be most effective in getting your message out and your point across? Is your message a simple one, or will you need to cover a number of points in detail? Finally, how can recipients ask for clarifying information or provide feedback?

Medium

Your communication strategy should include the method of communication. As technology has developed, it has both positively and negatively affected communication. Determining what channels to use can be as important as the message itself. See Table 7.1 for some guidelines on choosing your communication medium.

TABLE 7.1

Communication Channels

Audience

It is also important to keep your audience in mind. A brief message is best. Link to more details if necessary, but provide a summary that covers the main points. Check to make sure the message is clear. Can it be easily understood? Is it better to focus on the qualitative or the quantitative, or a combination of both? Remember the higher up you send a message in an organization, the less chance the recipient will look at it unless it has an attentiongrabbing point. Along with this, the credibility of the source is important. Do others respect this source? If not, find a sponsor to forward the message with an endorsement. Is the message compelling? Why would the receiver care about the message or take action as a result of receiving it? Does the message need to be altered to the different stakeholder groups receiving it? Is the change message compelling enough to get the receiver to act? These are small points, but they can make a difference in whether communication succeeds or not. Understand what success looks like. Can you define and measure it?

Keep in mind whether you are communicating with a group or an individual. Communication to an individual may be more effective in one way than communication to a group or an entire organization. Add in the global organization and the challenges that go with different geographical regions, and the communication effectiveness factor increases. Also keep in mind the organization’s structure. Communicating to a group that is organized around product lines is different from communicating to a group that is industry aligned or matrix designed. Deciding what messages go to which groups helps clarify how each should be communicated.

Getting and Using Feedback

Not just about “speaking,” communication involves “listening” as well. In some cases, listening means monitoring the environment to see what issues and challenges people are facing. In others, listening means proactively seeking input for ideas and suggestions the organization should consider. In still other situations, listening means receiving and acting on feedback from earlier communications.

When soliciting feedback, change leaders must genuinely listen for understanding, not just for an opportunity to respond. They should let all individuals finish their thoughts and try not to be judgmental. The point here is not necessarily to agree with them but to understand them—and to be able to acknowledge that you have heard what they have to say.

Change leaders may choose to arrange face-to-face meetings specifically to allow for stakeholders to provide feedback. Feedback from employees can also be gleaned from regularly distributing a newsletter that allows readers to send in comments or submit their own stories. In other cases, surveys can be used to solicit specific input. Internet tools such as SurveyMonkey (www.surveymonkey.com) and Zoomerang (www.zoomerang.com) make the posting and retrieval of survey data much easier than in the past. In other cases, a simple suggestion box can be used to allow individuals to give their input.

In addition to providing everyone with an opportunity to make comments and provide feedback regarding the change initiative, you must address the comments and deliver your response to the appropriate individuals. Today an organization can easily put something like a blog in place as a communication channel. Also remember that not everyone may have access to all media, so it is important to determine how individuals in an organization get their information. You may have to use multiple channels: bulletin boards, mailings, emails, and so on. When using open media, such as a blog, plan for responding to inappropriate comments (will they be removed, ignored, or commented on directly?).

Responding to feedback is important; if done correctly, it can help increase support for the change effort. Ignoring feedback can negatively affect, and even eliminate, support.

Evaluation of the feedback should therefore be a priority. How do individuals’ suggestions realistically fit in with the project? Answering this question can help you determine whether it can be incorporated and, if so, conduct an analysis of its potential impact. Project completion time, cost to incorporate, and available resources are a few things to keep in mind.

Showing individuals they have a voice and that leadership cares about what they have to say does a lot to strengthen the culture of an organization.

Addressing the cultural aspects also goes a long way to helping you as the change leader understand the environment and identify supporters and detractors and why. Check to see if you need to focus on the change effort itself or the organization’s reaction to the change initiative; this will help you determine what type of approach to take.

Communicating Across Cultures

If you work in a global environment, it is important to understand the culture, customs, and behaviors of your co-workers. U.S. customs and courtesies do not always work well in other parts of the world, and in some cases, what is considered an acceptable way of doing business in other parts of the world is looked down on by U.S. culture.

If your change initiative is global in nature, note that many studies have examined differences in cultures and how to work with individuals from other cultures. Some of the most recognized work is from Geert Hofstede (2001) on what he calls “cultural dimensions.” He points out that going into another country and trying to do business like we do in the United States can lead to misunderstandings and bad decisions. In his work, he looks at five dimensions and their ratings in different countries. A website that provides a number of related interactive tools is www.geert-hofstede.com.

Being aware of different cultures can make you more effective in working with them. On the softer side, consult Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands (Morrison & Conaway, 2006), a book that has some good hints and tips, along with its companion website: www.kissboworshakehands.com.

An Example of Global Understanding

I remember my early and sometimes embarrassing encounters with Japanese businessmen—and at that time, they were all men. We Americans would come into a meeting, quickly flip our business cards across the table, and start talking about our products and services. The Japanese would start by individually presenting their business cards vertically and bowing. Each then provided such personal details as where he went to school.

After the introductions at one particular meeting, things went from bad to worse. We presented our objective, with the Japanese often nodding and saying “hai” (which we translated as “yes”), and we felt very confident we had just made a deal. In follow-up discussion, however, we found we were wrong. By nodding and saying “hai,” the Japanese were acknowledging what we said and that they understood, but were not necessarily agreeing with us.

From a U.S. perspective, we had been making a transaction. From a Japanese perspective, they had been building a relationship—something to keep in mind when you and your organization are preparing to communicate with individuals from a different culture. Cultural relations have come a long way, but this gives you an idea of the challenges involved.

Key Points to Keep in Mind

Communication is often the make or break factor in the success of a change initiative.

• What is the overall goal of communicating related to this change initiative?
• Are stakeholders targeted and to what degree: to inform, to get input from, or to drive action?
• Does the communication plan address the who, what, when, where, why, and how?
• Have you asked stakeholders if they have a preference in how they are communicated with?
• If the project involves global coordination, have the customs and courtesies of others been addressed?

WORKSHEET 7.1

Building a Communication Strategy