Driving Project Readiness Through Communication

What's the best way to ensure a project is ready to go?

Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. I hear this recommendation frequently as companies prepare for upcoming change, yet repetition is only one communication consideration to get the organization ready. Besides repetition, people need to have information presented in the manners that they best consume it. To influence change, communication must be:

• Focused

• Informative

• Observant of culture

• Respectful of leaders

• Requiring of action

• Calming and energizing at the same time

• Planned

Focused. With increasing competition for our attention, many of us morphed to having the attention span of a goldfish. Hence, messages must be as direct and easy to read as possible. When appropriate, highlight in bold or a different color the key action item, deadline, or key directive.

Informative. Repetition is good to catch people who missed it the first time or didn’t pay enough attention. To prevent our audience from ignoring messages, each additional communication should be a bit repetitive and include a new information that rewards consumers for taking a minute to absorb the content.

Observant of Culture. Know your organization’s communication patterns and vehicles. Whether information is sprinkled from a saltshaker over the organization or cascaded like a flowing stream through leaders, intended audiences will judge the change initiative by the communication. Credibility and respect for the initiative is easily obtained by following established pathways, styles, flow, branding, and presentation of the messages.

Requiring of Action. All employees and leaders want to be informed about what matters and know what is expected of us. The opportunity to share information is almost always more effective when coupled with an action item or a request. Action produces engagement with the initiative and drives greater change adoption. And, lack of action directed by a communication will be a great indicator of where to target additional change management activities. When challenged with a “to do,” early adopters will hop on it. Laggers may remember the request, and they may need a little extra push.

Respectful of Leaders - Leaders usually want to know information before direct reports start asking questions. Equipping leaders with information about upcoming changes reinforces their role as leaders and positions them to become stronger project champions. Providing leaders a path for communicating feedback is also a communication technique that shows respect for leaders who are expected to support company messages.

Energizing and Calming. Communications to get employees revved up for change must appeal to people who think the organization needs to move faster and those who fear change and think everything is fine the way it currently exists. Highlighting benefits for individuals and cheerleading for the audience must simultaneously accompany reassurance that help is on the way. For example, a “Coming Soon” communication may highlight features to bring excitement along with reassurance of additional plans to provide further information and training.

Planned. Project milestones should be used to initiate communication planning, and it’s worth saying that communication planning and ongoing management does not end until the project has been successfully implemented. Thinking through project milestones, planning outlines what needs to be communicated, to whom, when, for what purpose. In addition, planning who will write the communications, approve the communications, and send the communications greases the slide for timely distribution of messages. Solid planning also considers competing organization activities, such as holidays, All Company meetings, open enrollment period, and more when planning the timing of distribution.

Communication influences how a change initiative is perceived. The desired impact is to instill confidence in your audience and demonstrate that the initiative is well planned, well managed, and will be successful. Consideration of the factors listed above will be a great start to kick the project off on the right foot and provide timely messaging to support its success.

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Looking to get your organization ready for an upcoming change? Contact us here or by email at laura@fearlesschange.org.