5 Big Change Mistakes - 4 Bad Communication

Much of the so-called resistance to change is caused by it being communicated badly to those who are impacted by the change.

I heard of one company that decided to close down a large site. A senior manager came over to talk to everyone about the changes and the closure in a big meeting.

One individual asked him: “Do you regret having to close this site?” “No.” Was his reply.

I don’t think I was the only one shocked by that unfeeling and callous response. It certainly didn’t smooth things along.

Decisions about change

When you have to make decisions that will impact others, it’s vital to think about the needs of those individuals. One of those needs is often to know why the changes are taking place and how the decisions are made.

By not explaining the reasons you make it easy for all kinds of rumours to develop.

Worse still is that people perceive the changes to be unfair. If they don’t know the reasons they will speculate. When people are dealing with changes they don’t like, their speculations are likely to be more negative than positive.

Unfairness

Part of your brain, anterior insular, is finely tuned to pick up any hint of unfairness. This is because being treated unfairly is a sign that you might be rejected from your social group. So any hint that this is the case signals danger.

As a result you can feel actual physical pain. So it’s not surprising that people react badly to these situations, especially when the communication is poor.

Recognise people’s feelings

If you are able to think this through and be honest and straightforward in your communications, implementing change will be a lot easier.

Bad communications

Another client told me that he received a phone call one day from his manager saying he needed to be at a particular hotel at 9am for an announcement but she couldn’t tell him anything else.

You can imagine how he felt that evening and what a good night’s sleep he had.

The trouble is that his manager had been told she was not allowed to let people know the contents of the announcement.

It’s this kind of misguided communication strategy that really causes problems.

Good communications

One of the other managers in this same situation broke the rules and told her people about the announcement but also added – “You will still have a job at the end of it". Her people were much happier about it.

Telling people the worst

Often you shy away from giving bad news because you just don’t know how to do it. I was astonished to hear, years ago, that doctors did not get any training in how to tell people their relatives had died. I’m sure that’s changed now (I hope so). But I’m not sure that industry has moved very far forward on this.

When you have to give bad news

People don’t always hear bad news, or understand it correctly. A colleague of mine spent years trying for a baby. Finally she went to see her doctor. He was astonished. She’d had her ovaries removed five years earlier so she was never going to get pregnant.

I can’t believe the doctor who removed her ovaries didn’t explain this was the case, but I can believe that she just didn’t hear what he had to say properly. And perhaps he didn’t explain it very well.

Tips for giving bad news

Use clear, simple language: “You will not be able to have children after this operation.”

Identify what the main concerns of the person on the receiving end will be and tell the person what you are planning to do about them:

“There will be a full compensation package for everyone who is losing their job. The details are on this sheet. Your pension rights will not be affected. For people who want to move, there will be some help. We’ll be giving information about that on Monday.”

Do not, as another senior manager did, start going on about how great your own new job will be as a result of the changes. It’s not the time, place or audience for that.

Have the information on paper as well as telling people. This gives them a chance to look at it when they have got over the shock.

Tell them several times. I know this can seem a waste of time, but people often need to hear the news several times before they understand it completely. It’s no good giving a two-hour presentation packed with complicated information (as one company did) and then complaining, “We’ve already given them all the information they need.”

Give people plenty of time to talk about their feelings and express concerns. Far from making things worse, this can really help people to feel better.

In short – imagine yourself in their position, with their background, skills and circumstances and treat them as you would like to be treated.

For a summary of five big mistakes when implementing change see this article

5 Big mistakes to avoid when making change