When change happens within an organisation it’s easy to send out a blanket update to your entire workforce. Especially when your workforce spans tens of thousands of employees from across the globe, it seems impossible to create intimacy and ensure every person feels understood.
More often than not, a broadcast from HQ is pushed with the same message across multiple channels in the hope that the message reaches every team member – this however is a pitfall in change communications as, if the language is wrong, it doesn’t really engage anyone.
At B. Inspired: Engage and Lead Through Change, Broadsword’s event for communications professionals, the panel tackled how to create more intentional, purposeful communications that unite your workforce rather than overloading them.
Speakers stressed the importance of making the time for two-way dialogue within internal communications, as if your employees feel they have news sprung on them, sooner or later this dialogue could be happening in public relations instead. For example, would you tell employees they now have to work a shift on a Bank Holiday, when they would usually have been off, or ask which groups of employees would be happy to take on this extra day for an alternative perk? The panel suggested creating employee personas to understand the challenges, demands, and what will motivate your employees whether it be the opportunity to train or the chance to have a meaningful impact.
Communications leaders don’t just need the skills to present news – but the ability to create experiences that connect and resonate. Storytelling is central to learning, creating empathy, and encouraging behaviour change. But when it comes to engaging a large workforce or planning a business event for a varied audience, communications can be sterilised to ‘suit everyone’ when these experiences should be used as an opportunity to deliver your core messages with a bigger impact.
RADA Business worked alongside events agency Broadsword to create a leadership experience using Verbatim Theatre. A cross section of a global corporate’s workforce was interviewed on the challenges they are facing within the business. From there actors from RADA performed these stories as part of a global leadership offsite. What would usually look like a survey and data on a screen, was suddenly a productive conversation that created a direct connection between leadership and the workforce. It was a powerful method to give employees a voice and ignite emotional investment for leadership who became invested in a positive outcome and real change in follow up workshops.
Change communications often fall flat because leaders make assumptions about their team, forgetting to bring people into change. Communications made this way feel credible; they resonate and speak directly to the audience. “Sweating the small stuff” when it comes to employee engagement make people feel seen and heard. Active listening and open communication can create psychological safety in which team members can speak up and be themselves.
