Contents

by Marc Wright

Originally developed by Kubler-Ross, the Change Curve is a model that explains the grieving process. However, it is has been adopted as a means of getting staff through a period of major change, whether it be a restructuring or the result of a merger or acquisition.

fig. Change Curve

The Change Curve describes the stages anyone must go through when faced with a change in their lives. From grieving a loved one to changing an IT system, people have to experience the same three stages of personal development in order to move on. These stages describe nine states of emotion :

• Stage 1 : Shock, Denial, Numbness

• Stage 2 : Fear, Anger, Depression

• Stage 3 : Understanding, Acceptance, Moving On

In this article, these three stages are applied to the communication process to show how you can help staff get through Stage 2 more quickly – the stage that

will cost your organisation its productivity, people and profits, and which could undermine your organisation’s business mission and derail its strategy.

Stage 1 : Shock, Denial, Numbness

Major changes in organisations are usually the result of mergers and acquisitions or restructurings; (see Drivers of Internal Communication). During these periods, communication has an important role to play in achieving the objectives of the change.

In this first stage, many staff will be aware something is up : they will have heard rumours or read the leaks in newspapers. This means they will be in a state of fear, uncertainty and doubt. So, when an announcement actually happens, there is often a sense of excitement and relief, eg “Now we actually know it is true”. But for those who were not expecting any change, the result is usually shock.

In communication terms, all this starts around Announcement Day : the day on which you co-ordinate all messages around the big news and the moment when a communication plan kicks in; (see Developing A Communication Strategy).

Draw up a grid for all your staff and segment it by region, level of seniority or product line, depending on how people will be affected by the news. You should notify everyone within a 24-hour period to avoid damage through the rumour mill and to prevent appearing callous or even incompetent.

Use the Concern Scale to establish the best medium to use. If you are talking to a subsidiary company that will be unaffected by the changes, then an email from the CEO may be sufficient and timely. But for anyone whose job is, or could be, affected by the change, you will need to supplement an email with some face-to-face communication, either with their line manager or at an all-staff meeting; (see Programmes).

Try to think of all the ramifications that might result from an announcement. Closing a factory or call centre is of greatest concern to those people who work there. But it is also of concern to every other factory or division, whose first reaction will be to wonder whether they are next for rationalisation. Announcements require careful planning on your part in order to deliver a consistent message that balances people’s concerns with the positive future your CEO wants to project. Understand the 5/95 Split and use it to frame these messages as well as to temper your senior management team’s exuberance.

Co-ordinate with your external communications division so that staff inside the company hear the news before the Press does, even if it’s just 30 minutes earlier. The point is – tell them first. Senior and middle managers, who are not

in-the-know, should be told before their staff hear anything - either the day before or at a meeting which precedes the all-staff announcement.

Prepare a comprehensive list of FAQs (frequently asked questions) and post it on your intranet so that managers have a consistent source of information to hand, when asked for details. If you don’t post a list of FAQs and review it daily, managers may make things up and get you (and them) into trouble later.

Do not expect much feedback from staff on Announcement Day. Relief that they know what is happening will quickly move to shock as people realise nothing will be the same again. The denial stage will then kick in : people are aware of news of the changes but they carry on behaving as though nothing has happened.

Remember : the questions you do get from staff and management on Announcement Day may be muted or irrelevant. People will need to internalise the news, discuss it among their peers and work out the implications for themselves. During this phase, many people will appear numb and unforthcoming so communication will not flow easily within large groups. Therefore, work with HR to arrange one-to-one interviews for those most affected by the change.

And remember - the information given at these interviews is not as important as the way you express it so show sympathy and reflect the concerns of your staff; (see Fair Process and Key Models To Use).

Stage 2 : Fear, Anger, Depression

This is the most dangerous period of the Change Cycle since it’s the time that will cost your organisation its morale, productivity, sales and profits. The longer your staff are in this depressive stage of the cycle, the greater the chances are that your change programme will fail, just as business performance also starts to suffer.

The cure is to create a vision of the future that staff can buy into, while making them feel comfortable about their place in the new order of things. Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs shows us people won’t be interested in the lofty goals of an organisation if they are unsure how much they will be paid, where they will work and who they will reporting to. These more basic needs must be fulfilled before staff can move on. This is where HR has the biggest job : negotiating with unions and conducting one-to-one interviews with staff who will lose their jobs or move to a new position or location.

A major challenge for communication managers during Stage 2 is the lack of detail that they are able to communicate. Much of the restructuring will still

be undecided; and change teams will be recruited from the very staff who are still in the depressive stage of the Change Curve. As a professional communicator, your job is to talk about talking so tell people what is certain and what is still undecided but do not speculate about the future. Instead, describe the process – talk about the timetable for future announcements and the principles that management has agreed – notably, that staff will be consulted at every stage and that they will be treated in a set manner. (See Mergers & Acquisitions.)

Another top tip is to focus on the survivors. These people are your company’s future and they will probably have to work harder once any redundancies have taken effect. Therefore, engage them and make them feel appreciated so as to avoid ‘survivors’ syndrome’, where people quit the company mentally but stay on the payroll.

Also, make change champions of the people you most want to keep. By giving people a role in developing their own futures, staff will move onto Stage 3 that much quicker. (Again, see Mergers & Acquisitions for more detail.)

Stage 3 : Understanding, Acceptance, Moving On

During a change programme, CEOs are often keen to call the staff together for a motivating event, (see Significant Moments), so that the company can celebrate its new future. Try to resist staging any such events while the majority of your staff are still in Stages 1 or 2 of the Change Cycle, even though the Board are well into Stage 3. Wait until the majority of management has reached Stage 3, then hold a management event for them to ensure they are all through the dip and looking forward to a bright future.

For the rest of the staff, get the major negotiations out of the way and ensure that staff are in the bargaining stage - where they have started to understand and accept their place in the new order. Once they’ve reached this point, it will be time to plan a communication programme that paints the future vision and gets staff bought into the new business strategy; (see Vision, Mission & Values and Developing A Communication Strategy.)

Make the emerging new leaders of the business both visible and human, otherwise they might be seen as hatchet men and women, simply put in place to drive through further cuts. Explain the external factors that caused the change and create a credible story around the new business strategy.

Stage 3 is as critical to get right as Stages 1 and 2. If you don’t get people to accept the company’s new structure and mission, they will continue to cling to the past. This is particularly true of mergers, where people can continue to live

the brand and values of the old company – sometimes years after a merger has happened.

The aim is to create a Vision, Mission and Values that everyone can share and which matches their own personal aspirations. Only then will people start to let go of the past and embrace your company’s future.

 Create your own business wiki!Support CommunityPublic, not yet premium Privacy Policy RSS