Change and communication

“You need more communication than you ever imagined”, said one Director skilled in leading change in a complex demanding organisation.

In relating the story of a difficult period of organisational change and downsizing, the HR Director of one firm that we talked to as part of the Henley KM Forum research activities emphasised how much effort had been put into communication. Her view was that the secret of maintaining morale through change was “communication, communication, communication”. Yet, when I then interviewed someone from the same organisation (in a middle management role and with an inherently positive outlook on life) about what the employee climate was like, she said, that the only criticism she would make was that more communication was needed through the change. Her line management was busy trying to get new business in and just didn’t take the few minutes that was needed to keep people informed.

I’ve recently seen the challenge of the message changing through the communication process at a more personal level too. Staying with family to help while one member was in hospital, I repeatedly saw the “story” of what was happening being rewritten in the telling and retelling. Crucial details and facts moved to fit the story that each person was comfortable with, also reflecting how they receive information and what they pay attention to.

The work that the Forum has done on “improving the quality of conversations” provides a framework for planning and reflecting on communication at work so that over time it can become more effective. The “moving from sell to buy” provides fascinating insights into our own biases and those of others in terms of the way that each of us has particular preferences and pays more attention to certain things.

Clear, consistent communication from all sources is ultimately a knowledge challenge. Have all the parties who need to convey the information received this in a consistent form and then made sense of it in the same way? It is in the transition from information to knowledge where inconsistencies can creep in through different interpretations and biases.

As we move to recognise and value knowledge in organisations, the engagement and commitment of individuals becomes ever more important. One of the pillars of engagement, in my view, is good quality communication. We all know that mixed messages breed uncertainty and discord, wasting valuable energy and effort.