Change Communication Strategy

Entering a major change without some sharp conversation is akin to setting out on the high seas without a compass, you'll sail around for a bit, but you're not going to leave port with any real confidence. Organisations all over Sydney, Melbourne and a little bit further out also tell us the same thing: technology moves at warp speed, stakeholder expectations change overnight, but we're still speaking about change like it's 1999. That divide, between technical readiness and human readiness, is where the vast majority of change efforts either succeed or run aground.

Why talk about communication first? Because every structural redesign, ERP roll out or cultural pivot succeeds or fails on the strength of how well people get it, how safe they feel going through it and how clearly they can see their own line in the new picture. You can have the best strategy in the world on paper and see it slowly dissipate over a logjam of unaddressed questions, rumours, and disengagement. This hub is not an optional add on; it's the scaffolding that enables everything else to work.

One blunt truth for boards that don't want to hear it: change fatigue is real. And it's often self inflicted. Leaders promise big, shiny programmes and then vanish. No follow up. No visible wins. No space for doubt. That's why the most effective change communication strategies are functional, not theatrical, they're truthful, repeatable and made for humans who meet information in a world of noise.

Begin with landscape, the who, what, why and how of it all

Before you start slinging out emails and producing slick slide decks, take a moment to map the landscape. Who will feel the change? Who will resist? Who will be thrilled? The same change is experienced differently by different groups. Because the front line customer service personnel think of process impact and customer scripts; the middle managers concern themselves with workload, even as executives care about timelines and ROI. Address the message to each of those truths.

It comes down to the audit: channels, cadence and culture. Ask: Which communication channels do people actually use? In most Companies that shiny intranet is a cemetery. They like the watercooler, team group chats, floor huddles or fast video update. Meet them where they are. And yes, that can mean less slickness and more heart.

Two thoughts I'll throw out there, and you can fight with me on, but hear me out:

• Town hall theatrics are overrated; authenticity trumps showmanship
• Digital first strategies can succeed, if you are willing to combine them with human check ins

Both are controversial. There are still plenty of leaders who love the stage. And yes, every now and then one big announcement can be galvanising. But more often slow, layered communication is powerful.

Clarity and consistency: the non negotiables

A change message does have to answer those basic questions, who, what, when, where, why and how, but it must answer them over and over again. A lack of consistency in narratives is the very root of suspicion. When the CFO is talking benefits and the front line leader is talking risk, people will say it's not coherent. That's not paranoia, that's being sensible.

We like lean, evidence based messaging: what's shifting, why it matters strategically, how do I need to modify my day to day, where do I find support and who to talk to when things fall apart. Keep it short. Keep it factual. And repeat, in a range of formats, to other groups, over time.

Stakeholder mapping: more than a tick in a box

Too often, change plans have treated stakeholders as something to check off, done! For an Organisation, the first step of effective communications becomes empathy: understanding motivations, fears and informal influence networks. It could be a sceptical mid level manager who is the leading obstacle. Team morale's most vocal advocate can be the popular team leader. Map not only position and power. Map attitudes.

A tangible action: construct communication personas. Not a gimmick, a pragmatic instrument. Persona A: "Expert ops lead afraid of job loss." Persona B (teen digital native interested in automation). Persona C (compliance focused manager). Craft messages that matter most to each persona. This isn't manipulation; it's respect. It shows you understand people enough to talk their tongue.

Learn from previous wins and fails, but don't fetishise them

Audit past change programmes. What communications worked? Which ones didn't? But all too often, the failures are painfully simple: vague timelines, leadership silence following launch and a dearth of two way feedback. The wins do tend to involve credible leaders displaying vulnerability, expressing uncertainty, noting trade offs and celebrating small victories.

One noteworthy statistic to keep in mind: Prosci's research always finds that projects with excellent change management are drastically more likely to meet their goals; for this particular finding from Prosci 2020, they were up to six times more likely. That's not fluff. It's empirically useful.

Develop a strategy that is customised, not one size fits none memo

Your communication plan needs to be both practical and multi tiered. Begin with the ends: what are my goals for these communications? Awareness? Behavioural change? Adoption of a new tool? Each goal requires its message and KPI.

Treat channels as maps to message types. Quick status updates? Email. Sensitive role conversations? Face to face or video call. Training updates? Microlearning and job aids. Leadership vision? Brief video message followed by Q&A sessions. And please, don't spam everybody with everything. Prioritise relevance. Quality over quantity, that people care about; they also care about predictability, regular, reliable updates trump sporadic grand statements.

KPIs: track what counts

If you cannot measure it, don't do it. Establish SMART communication goals and track them. Common KPIs include:

• Awareness levels (measured through a survey)
• Message retention (for example, quick quizzes or pulse checks)
• Engagement (tracking attendance at sessions, intranet figures)
• Adoption rates for new tools or processes
• Sentiment indicators (qualitative feedback, pulse surveys)

In our training work we'll run pre/post surveys, manager observations and roleplay assessments because the numbers only tell part of the story. The anecdote completes it. Use both.

Select your channels with purpose

Channel selection is strategic. Email is good for reach, bad for nuance. In person (or live virtual) is most effective for complex or emotional subjects. Transparency and archival is one possible benefit of digital solutions. Assuming older staff members won't adopt new tech; assuming everyone's younger employees just want async messages. Ask, test, and iterate.

Unpopular opinion alert: stick the whole company email blast only for the really big milestones. It's massive action through frequent targeted comms at a team level which change behaviour.

Train and enable champions of communication

Select champions at various levels, from different geographic areas. Train them. Arm them with scripts, FAQs and a clear directive. These champions are your advance warning system. They are the ones who translate policy into practice and defuse nascent concerns before they metastasise.

We have seen the change dissipate, when champions are honoured into a new role without resource. Instruction must cover practical scenario work, how to respond to "What about my job?", how to handle rumours, how to escalate systemic issues, more than just sharing a prepared slide.

Feedback loops: make listening actionable

A feedback loop is not a survey link. It's a commitment to act. Workers must believe their feedback leads to change, or they'll quit giving it. Open forums, pulse surveys, anonymous suggestion channels, manager one on ones, they all work. But it is crucial to close the loop. Report back: here's what we've heard, here's what we did, here's why we didn't do some things.

One note on trust: It grows in small acts. If you solicit questions and then refuse to answer them, you have lost more than an individual conversation.

Track progress, and be ready to adjust the plan

Take both quantitative and qualitative measurements. If adoption slows in a certain division, don't simply play the motivation card, is it training, timing or local leadership? Quick pivots matter. Approaches to communication that assume messages are fixed never work.

What and how to sustain communication after go live

Change doesn't stop when we pull the go live switch. Sustainment after post implementation is where the long term value gets made or lost. Maintain communication: share stories of improved workflow rather than nag about changes, what it looks now as opposed to how it looked before and show people whose transition seem successful.

Celebrate the small wins. Recognition matters. Recognise publicly the teams that hit adoption milestones, it reinforces the kind of behaviour you want. Tiny, sustained celebrations do more than a grand annual ball ever can.

Cultivate openness and continuous improvement

The long term is culture. Psychological Safety Builds with Consistent, Honest Communication. When people feel safe to call out wrongs, you have problems being surfaced early and innovation coming from the rough edges. Continuous improvement is not a program; it's a muscle. Make use of feedback, data and leadership modelling to grow it.

Two controversial views some might disagree with:

• Holding leaders accountable to the results of communication (that can be measured) is a good thing; public KPIs are encouraging, not shaming
• Imprecise short updates are greater than polished ones delivered belatedly

It's anticlimactic, and if you wait for everything to be polished that way the momentum is often lost. Yes, both are debatable. But in my experience, they do more good than harm.

The pitfalls to avoid

Don't outsource authenticity. Outsourcing the spin to external comms without arming leaders to have real conversations causes tension. Don't oversaturate people. Sometimes too much information creates white noise instead of clarity. And don't use managers as filters in your chain of messages. Train them to be conversational leaders, not billboards.

A last thought: Leadership humility counts

Leaders who acknowledge they don't have all the answers win more hearts than those feigning surety. When a CEO says, "We're testing this and we'll adjust based on your feedback," it's the right tone. People don't need omniscience. They need the truth, predictability and a way forward.

Communication of change is part art, part craft, both emotional and technical. When done well, it lowers resistance, saves time and sustains morale. Done poorly, it's painful for Organisations; a waste of investment, churn and wasted productivity.

Remember, communication isn't a one off. It is the perpetual shadow of every change we make. We design and roll out these communication strategies across Australia, in boardrooms, in regional offices, on the frontline huddles, and everywhere we see the same thing: those who plan effectively, listen deeply and adapt consistently win. We'll keep polishing it, one coherent conversation at a time.

Sources & Notes

• Prosci, "Best Practices in Change Management" (2020). According to Prosci research, projects with excellent change management are up to six times more likely to achieve the objectives of a transformation
• McKinsey & Company, "The psychology of change management" (2015). Common statistic (used here as reference): around 70% of transformation initiatives fall short of their objectives
• Practical insights drawn from the trenches of training and client work throughout Australian workplaces (Sydney, Melbourne and regional teams) gathered through ongoing programme deliveries or post programme reviews