Insights into Successful Internal Communications and Change Management Programmes
Navigating organisational change and minimising the negative consequences of such actions is critical for prolonged success. Unfortunately, change management initiatives start with high energy and excited teams, but this soon wears off, and the challenge quickly becomes daunting. We have found that an essential element needs to be included, even with a well-conceived strategic plan, and that is a robust internal communication programme. Along with the change management programme, leaders should also monitor staff commitment.
There is growing literature on the strategising of professional service firms. For example, in the preface of my co-authored Management Consultancy Through an Academic and Practitioner Perspective book, we propose that management consultancy firms that can handle knowledge management effectively reap economic and societal benefits. In addition, we provide a fresh perspective on how management consultancy firms must stay relevant to compete effectively. With the proliferation of heuristic consulting models, the mark of a global consulting organisation remains the ability to identify, acquire, codify, capture, and reuse knowledge effectively and globally at speed. But staff remain a key enabler.
Peter Block, in his seminal Flawless Consulting book, goes even further, suggesting that each consulting opportunity consists of two elements: technical problem-solving and the interactions of people around the problem. We observe that local adaptation for different cultural, regulation, and historical contexts is essential at the firm level to get the key messages to flow throughout the hierarchical levels.
The ability of consulting teams to apply logical, systemic approaches to deliver value from consulting regarding problem identification and solution generation is paramount. This is supported by front-end Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to ensure client engagement through expectation management and project management skills. However, when employees face unprecedented challenges, the leadership team must improve their internal functioning.
Effective internal communication can help ease the change management transition and ensure everyone is rowing in the same direction. By creating a transparent programme with consistent messages that reinforce desired action, listening to employee feedback, and providing appropriate interventions, training and resources, you can successfully navigate the critical bottlenecks so that your firm emerges more robust than before.
Professional service firms are among the most vehement proponents for transforming organisations. Yet the irony is that they need to keep pace with the disruptions in their business environment. The strategy literature suggests that old recipes tend to fail in evolving, integrated, and dynamic business environments. There has been increasing practitioner interest in promoting holistic economic and societal value for sustenance. Client organisations expect demonstrable evidence of economic and social values and experience. With no appropriate approach for all engagements, there is a need to tailor each client engagement.
However, how professionals work, where they work, and how work has fundamentally changed, the impact of employee well-being, more distributed workforces, with hybrid and flexible working is present. Negative symptoms include high staff turnover, low morale, and evidence of quiet quitting. Effective internal communication is the driver for pushing through the necessary change management programme to explain both the planned and unplanned changes.
During change management initiatives, internal communication should engage teams around values, purpose, design and strategy. Other issues to consider include:
1. The holistic strategic vision should cascade and be broken down into playbook-type strategies for employees at all levels.
2. Find good change management news stories within and external to your sector. Finding the North Star will help to galvanise staff focus, culture and sense of belonging.
3. The triple As of Agility, Alignment and Adaptability enables you to create clarity and desired actions around your corporate and business strategy.
4. Scepticism, lack of openness, and engagement will adversely influence decision-making and harm the internal communication message.
5. When employees identify with their organisation, they tend to be supportive of the inherent value of the change management programme. They are more likely to be advocates for the change initiative.
Lastly, measurement and evaluation are critical to gauge the effectiveness of internal communications and change management initiatives. Organisations should establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and regularly assess progress against those metrics. Adopting such an approach will enable leaders to identify areas for improvement, adjust strategies if necessary, and celebrate successes!
ENDS