Navigating Through Organizational Change?

Be sure to avoid these 5 communication mistakes.

BY JENNI SMITH
VICE PRESIDENT, STRATEGY & BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
EGR INTERNATIONAL | BLACKLAB MEDIA
“As an enterprise engagement
agency responsible for
driving employee loyalty and
performance, we have seen
first-hand how hard these
changes can be on the rank and
file of our global clientele.”
As markets evolve rapidly with the constant stream of new
technologies available, companies often struggle to keep
their business processes evolving at the pace required to
stay relevant. This often leads to increasingly frequent
organizational restructures & realignments to meet
customer needs and market demands. As an enterprise
engagement agency responsible for driving employee loyalty
and performance, we have seen first-hand how hard these
changes can be on the rank and file of our global clientele.
In fact, N. Anand and Jean-Louis Barsoux reported in the
Harvard Business Review that “nearly three quarters of
change efforts flop.”1
EGR INTERNATIONAL
Why do these efforts fail? According to a recent McKinsey
study, the #1 reason for failure is that “employees actively
resist the changes”2 being implemented by the organization.
If you’ve ever tried to manage through a corporate
reorganization, this should not surprise you. Sometimes
you can almost hear the collective sigh in the room from
the very employees you so desperately need to engage.
“Another year, another reorg.” “How will this initiative be
any different than the last?”
So how do you keep your employees from experiencing
‘change fatigue’ and prevent the deep level of skepticism
that can undermine the best laid strategic plans?
NOTES
(1) N. Anand and Jean-Louis Barsoux, Harvard Business Review, November-December 2017
http://hbr.org/2017/11/what-everyone-gets-wrong-about-change-management
(2) Stephen Heidari-Robinson & Suzanne Heywood, Reorg: How to Get It Right, 2016
http://www.gallup.com/services/182138/state-american-manager.aspx
(3) Gallup State of the American Manager Report, 2015
(4) Neilson Global Trust in Advertising Report, 2015
http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2015/global-trust-in-advertising-2015.html
NAVIGATING THROUGH ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE 2
Here are the five biggest mistakes most
companies make when communicating in
a ‘change management’ environment:
(And how you can avoid them.)

1. Leaving the communications

experts off of the change
management team.
The first step to navigating through a significant
structural or organizational change is to assemble a
powerful and agile team - and to make sure that the
individuals responsible for communicating that change
are at the table. Don’t forget to include your internal
communications teams and any external experts such as
your PR or engagement agencies in key planning sessions.
These communications specialists will help you think about
how change affects all areas of the organization and how
the changes can be contained into a larger narrative that
is easily digested by everyone from your executive board
and investors, right down to your employees in the field.

2. Failing to tell a cohesive story.

It is imperative that you craft a narrative that is authentic
and inspiring to your audience. Think deeply about who
you are. What are you doing and why are you doing
it? Every change and adaptation should connect to your
brand narrative so that you are elevating the reason for the
change. Be as transparent as you can - your employees can
smell a PR spin a mile away. If there are cuts or headcount NOTES
(1) N. Anand and Jean-Louis Barsoux, Harvard Business Review, November-December 2017
reductions for example, are there other areas where you are http://hbr.org/2017/11/what-everyone-gets-wrong-about-change-management
reinvesting that will ultimately benefit the employees who (2) Stephen Heidari-Robinson & Suzanne Heywood, Reorg: How to Get It Right, 2016

remain? Make sure to tell the story at the company level, http://www.gallup.com/services/182138/state-american-manager.aspx
(3) Gallup State of the American Manager Report, 2015
but also at the personal level - what’s in it for them? How (4) Neilson Global Trust in Advertising Report, 2015
will the change and realignment benefit them personally? http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2015/global-trust-in-advertising-2015.html

EGR INTERNATIONAL NAVIGATING THROUGH ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE 3


“Don’t be afraid to use different
methods - surveys, workshops
and focus groups to gather
feedback and respond.”
3. Not engaging & equipping
front-line managers.
Once your narrative is defined, it’s imperative to make
sure all levels of the organization are equipped with the
right tools to tell that story. Executive decrees from the
top are common, but front-line managers are often left
out of the communication equation. And yet research
consistently shows that it’s the front line manager who
often has the biggest effect on whether an organizational
change or restructure is truly embraced by the employees.
In fact in Gallup’s State of the American Manager Report3,
researchers note that managers account for 70% of the
variance when it comes to employee engagement, so it’s
critical to get this demographic on board with your message.
Hold special information sessions for them, give them tools
and resources to communicate the change to their team
members and train them to overcome objections or identify
risk areas as new processes are implemented.
EGR INTERNATIONAL
4. Shying away from feedback.
To truly manage successfully through change you need
a feedback loop that is meaningful. We consistently see
corporate leadership shy away from authentic listening
activities as they are often afraid to open ‘Pandoras box’
by soliciting feedback from the very people who are most
affected by the change.
You have two choices here. You can continue to let
people grumble around the water cooler and ignore the
building tension, or you can acknowledge some things
that aren’t perfect about the change, address them head
on, and make sure your employees know they have
been heard. It’s a no-brainer.
Don’t be afraid to use different methods - surveys,
workshops and focus groups to gather feedback and
respond. Make sure you gather quantitative data but
don’t skip the qualitative feedback - sometimes the
one thing you really need to hear is the thing you didn’t
think to ask. Gather this information, report it back
transparently to the employees where appropriate
and tell them very directly what you are doing to make
improvements and address their concerns.
NOTES
(1) N. Anand and Jean-Louis Barsoux, Harvard Business Review, November-December 2017
http://hbr.org/2017/11/what-everyone-gets-wrong-about-change-management
(2) Stephen Heidari-Robinson & Suzanne Heywood, Reorg: How to Get It Right, 2016
http://www.gallup.com/services/182138/state-american-manager.aspx
(3) Gallup State of the American Manager Report, 2015
(4) Neilson Global Trust in Advertising Report, 2015
http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2015/global-trust-in-advertising-2015.html
NAVIGATING THROUGH ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE 4
4. Forgetting to share your successes. “Set clear and measurable
Organizational change can be painful at first, but ultimately
it is designed to pay dividends to the company and the goals that are related to the
employee - so be sure to articulate those successes. Set
clear and measurable goals that are related to the initiative, initiative, measure them
measure them over time, and report good news back to the
employees when you have it. Be sure to leverage the power of over time, and report good
peer-to-peer interactions. A full 83% of Neilson respondents
said they were more likely to trust the recommendations of news back to the employees
friends and colleagues than traditional advertising - making
peer-to-peer communications the most trustworthy source of when you have it.”
information for most people4. You might create av video series
that focuses on personal success stories recounted peer-to-
peer, or contests and incentives that recognize and encourage
individuals to drive toward the new organizational goals. Over
time this positive energy will build, providing momentum, and
driving results.

With the right team, the right narrative and the right long-term WANT TO LEARN MORE?
communication plan you can ensure that the change so badly
VISIT US AT EGRINTERNATIONAL.COM
needed in your organization is adopted and embraced by the
employees who will ultimately guarantee it’s success.

EGR INTERNATIONAL NAVIGATING THROUGH ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE 5

EGR INTERNATIONAL | BLACKLAB MEDIA

JENNI SMITH
VICE PRESIDENT, STRATEGY & BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
T 212.884.1834 | F 212.949.2294 | JSMITH@EGRINTERNATIONAL.COM

FOLLOW US TO GAIN MORE DAILY INSIGHT ON OUR ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY

© EGR INTERNATIONAL 2018