Any major change in a company’s organization, staffing or outlook can be tough to navigate. The business leaders may feel uncertain, and employees may get nervous. Keeping the communication lines open through those changes may help to ease some of those concerns. Here are a few ways to get started.
Define the roles.
A business leader should make it clear how the message will be delivered, and by whom. If the message is muddled at the top, it’s only going to get worse below. Alison Davis writes about this for inc.com, using a telecommunications company as an example. “
The CEO brought VPs together to provide an overview of an upcoming organizational change, and to emphasize how important it was that they meet with employees in their areas,” writes Davis. “VPs were then provided with a leader guide that further articulated their role, and gave them essentials tools to fulfill that role, including key messages and Frequently Asked Questions.”
Keep all levels in mind.
A major change can be unsettling, so it’s important for those at the top to know how it might affect their employees. Davis explores this in her inc.com story, and uses a bank merger to illustrate her point.
The communication team heard that VPs and directors were hiding out — not communicating at all with their employees,” writes Davis. “Why? Interviews revealed that leaders didn’t know what they should be communicating, especially since key decisions had not yet been announced. The response was a two-hour workshop for leaders that helped them understand why employees needed contact, even if definitive information wasn’t available, and that helped leaders communicate in a time of ambiguity. As a result, 95 percent of leaders agreed that the session gave them what they needed to facilitate dialogue, address anxiety and gain buy-in for the merger.”
Watch your body language.
The words a business leader uses are crucial, but their gestures and expressions are equally important. Employees won’t respond positively to a major announcement that is accompanied by awkward shuffles and stammers. Author Carol Kinsey Goman writes about this for Forbes.
“It is especially crucial for leaders to communicate congruently — that is, to align the spoken word with body language that supports an intended message,” writes Goman. “When nonverbal messages conflict with your verbal messages, the people you are talking to become confused. Mixed signals have a negative effect on performance and make it almost impossible to build relationships of trust. And whenever the verbal and nonverbal channels of communication are out of sync, most people will rely on the nonverbal message and disregard the verbal content.”
Don’t leave employees hanging.
One of the worst things about major change in a business is the rumor mill. The chatter is to be expected, but the leadership should make every effort to be forthcoming, so that employees don’t hear about it through the grapevine or on social media. Sarah Fenson wrote about this idea for inc.com.
“There’s a real dilemma in public companies, where investor communication is a priority and employees hear about a merger or reorganization on their car radio while commuting to work,” writes Fenson. “Once fear and insecurity are heightened, you waste a lot of time getting back to a place of order, understanding, and productivity, and many people head for their desks to update resumes and to call employment recruiters.”
