How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? None, the light bulb will change when it's ready.
If only it were true. Understanding human behaviour may be the purview of psychologists but understanding the tactical and strategic communications that drives change programmes is the specialism of change communication practitioners.
Qatar has undergone major change in the last 15 years, government organisations and corporate entities have had to grapple with the pace of the transformation, some have succeeded, others have struggled. But change communications is a discipline that has not featured strongly in the Qatar evolution experience.
The main reason for the mixed success of change programmes is that many of us are resistant to change even though it is one of the few guarantees in life. Innovations, advancements and changing circumstances, force us to deal with shifting realities regularly.
We all have different ways of coping, many struggle with the process, while a few relish the opportunity.
In an organisational environment, that change process must be managed to ensure a smooth transition from the current position (As Is, in change management lexicon) to a future state (To Be), ensuring that all impacted by the change are clear about the reasons and benefits.
So how can communications effectively support a formal change process? Is there a magic formula for implementing change communication programmes? The short answer is that communications is vital and that there is no magic formula. Each organisation, entity or project has a unique set of circumstances and imperatives.
Why is change communications important?
Simply speaking change communications is everything you need to do to successfully communicate the change to your internal stakeholders, including employees, leadership, middle management, even third-party suppliers in some instances. The more complex explanation is that change communications is about how you convince internal stakeholders to behave in the new reality and the organisational culture you create to reinforce and institutionalise those behaviours.
Australian management consultant Georgie Macris says change communications teaches leaders to be the face of change, managers to be the drivers of change and communicators to be the voice of change. Change communication supports leaders, managers, communicators and employees to successfully navigate their way through organisational changes in the workplace environment."
Management consultant, trainer, and writer at Heathfield Consulting Associates Susan Heathfield says that there is no such thing as over-communicating when an organisation is going through a change process. "Every successful executive, who has led a change management effort, in my experience, makes this statement. I have never worked with a client organisation in which employees were completely happy with communication. Communication is one of the toughest issues in organisations."
In technology-led change programmes, such as an ERP implementation, it is generally accepted that 90% of programmes that fail are due to poor communications, not technical issues.
Eight Drivers of Change
Marketing guru and Harvard Professor John Kotter talks about the eight drivers required for effective changes programmes. Kotter believes these drivers need to be addressed in equal measure.
Therefore change communication practitioners must understand each driver and how they inter-connect and then develop a campaign that articulates the change process to the internal audience through whatever channels and tools will be most effective. Often research is required to confirm the appropriate vehicles for delivering the messages.
Without this fundamental understanding of the drivers of change and the important role that change communications plays, the chances of Qatar organisations succeeding with their transformation processes is significantly reduced.
How many change communicators does it take to change a light bulb? Four. One to facilitate the placement of the ladder, explain its role and to hold it in place. The second to entice employees to the room that is in darkness. The third (supported by the first two) to convince employees of the benefits derived from changing the light bulb. The fourth to guide the employees through the process of changing the light bulb for the change communicators
Samson Samasoni, Managing Director, Grow.
© Qatar Today 2012
