Communication as a change tool

Harvard Management
Communication Letter

A NEWSLETTER FROM HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING TOOLS, TECHNIQUES, AND IDEAS FOR THE ARTICULATE EXECUTIVE
Article Reprint No. C0207C

Communication as a Change Tool

by Stever Robbins

Harvard Management
Communication Letter

A NEWSLETTER FROM HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING TOOLS, TECHNIQUES, AND IDEAS FOR THE ARTICULATE EXECUTIVE

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Communication as a Change Tool greater effect than a memo from the
CEO outlining the need for “better
Forget that memo and press release. If you want customer relations.” Not only did
real change in your organization, you need to spend time employees get an up-close look at the
to find the real stories that will motivate employees and impact of the failure to remedy the sit-
uation, they were then immediately
keep them talking to you about the long term. able to start talking about their own
ideas regarding changes they could
T im Wallace knew he had a prob- “In the end, it’s that communication make to address the problem.
lem: customers were complaining and emotion”—the ability of employ-
about the delivery of built-to-order ees to respond on a personal level— Similarly, Senge et al. cite the story of
products and unhappy with his staff’s “that sustains the urgency to change. a nationwide plant maintenance initia-
lack of response. He knew a major And it has to be recharged, again and tive that was launched by a chemical
change was needed but wasn’t sure again. Change isn’t a 50-yard race, it’s company with great fanfare, only to
whether to start writing just another a marathon.” sputter out after initially strong
angry memo. results. The management team had
Cohen and other experts say that celebrated the success of its pilot pro-
So Wallace decided instead to ask an communicating this need and gram with a party and, confident that
unhappy customer to be videotaped, urgency is crucial for getting people others in the company would want to
describing his experience with the behind a proposed change. Directives learn from the experience, produced a
company and his frustrations in ask- and memos from the top aren’t booklet that described the new strat-
ing for changes. The 15-minute video enough: clear messages backed with egy. Yet even after the pilot was
was eventually screened for 400 concrete examples are needed for expanded to several other plants, the
plant employees in a series of small employees to focus and put their program failed once the first trainees
meetings. energies behind a new effort. The moved on.
right messengers need to be on the
“A few mouths actually droppped front lines, reinforcing the ideas and The team then regrouped and chose to
open,” Wallace recounts. “A minority providing the key link in the feed- narrow its focus. They zeroed in on
was defensive. But just as many were back loop. Most change efforts con- pumps, which are trouble-prone yet
saying, ‘We’ve got to do something vey information about the desired crucial to overall production efficiency.
about this. We’ve got to do some- change, but that’s where most com- They then further isolated their ten
thing.’” munication stops. Executives who worst pumps. This focused effort grew
want to make a lasting change in an to include 13 different locations.
Wallace’s videotape became a catalyst organization need to have an ongoing Although some plants still rejected the
that focused plant workers and man- conversation with the people who change, the programs that did take hold
agers on a problem that no one had can tell them what is—and isn’t— emboldened the management team to
been able to “get off the dime” to solve working every day. expand the effort to address larger
for years, he says. But the tape also maintenance challenges and overall
was a classic illustration of the impor- Information made visible plant operations. Starting with a
tance of communication in a change smaller picture of change, the team
initiative, a key component experts say “Organizations have complex, well- concluded, was better.
is often overlooked when leaders developed immune systems, aimed at
attempt to transform an organization. preserving the status quo,” write Peter In yet another example, Cohen and
Senge et al. in The Dance of Change. Kotter describe a purchasing manager
“Change and communication go hand So leaders who want to launch a who was trying to cut costs, without
in hand,” says Dan S. Cohen, who, with change initiative that will last have much success. So he quietly assem-
coauthor John P. Kotter, collected the to first understand “how significant bled an exhibit of work gloves, all pur-
stories of Wallace and other successful change invariably starts locally and chased at wildly different prices from
change leaders for the forthcoming how it grows over time,” they say. different vendors by his managers
book The Heart of Change. “Yet too around the country. He piled the
often I’ve heard leaders complain, ‘I That’s why showing small groups of gloves on a table—revealing a lot of
said this is what we’re doing,’ but then employees the videotape of an duplication—and invited his man-
it still isn’t happening. unhappy customer complaining about agers in for a visit. They quickly
faulty products and services has a far understood the problem.

Copyright © 2002 by Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved. 3

Communicating Change, continued

These “visualizations,” as Cohen and often the next level down says, ‘Just let and the problems they faced, and then
Kotter call them, provide the kind of it go. If my boss doesn’t tell me it is he would ask for advice about the pro-
dramatic confrontation with the facts important, then it won’t happen.’” duction problems that threatened to
that can convince employees of the shut down the plant.
need for change and remove some of Because middle managers occupy
the emotional blocks that reinforce the such a central role, breaking down the The weekly tour created a kind of auto-
status quo. communication plan to target them matic feedback program: when new
first in small sessions should be one ideas and steps were implemented, the
A pivotal management role of the cornerstones of a change initia- CEO would be back within a few days
to talk to workers about the changes,
In his book Real Change Leaders, Jon Communication should be their reactions, and their suggestions
R. Katzenbach writes that a frequently a two-way street from the for fine-tuning the process.
overlooked position on the organiza- moment a change initiative
tional chart—the middle manager— In another company, the CEO set up a
can be crucial to a change initiative. is announced. weekly reporting program, where
Katzenbach says middle managers unit heads could collect questions
play such an important role because tive. But be prepared: middle man- and problems that the change initia-
they are the ones who are directly agers, knowing they will hear the tive was running into. According
responsible for improving perform- complaints and concerns of their unit to Cohen, this allowed him to use
ance through people. employees, will be eager to ask ques- companywide meetings to confront
tions and get details about job defini- the issues head on and measure what
These managers are the most plugged tions, restructuring, compensation, kind of misinformation was flowing
in to the concerns of employees and and new policies. around the change.
are the ones who will demonstrate
daily the company’s belief in the Creating a feedback loop As positive change begins to emerge,
change effort. Without that kind of it’s just as important to remember
demonstration, cynical employees can Don’t forget that communication that the feedback loop can also be a
easily shrug off the latest pronounce- should be a two-way street from the good way to celebrate successes,
ment from the CEO’s office. Ignoring moment a change initiative is both large and small. If people don’t
change directives became such an art announced. When people help design notice the difference, point it out.
at one manufacturer that employees new processes, they will be much Choose high-profile decisions that
even used the acronym AFP— more likely to use them. The more send a message throughout the
“Another Fine Program”—for people contribute to answering the organization. The more the new ways
describing change initiatives. “how” questions, the more they will contrast with the old, the stronger
buy into making the “how” work. that message will be. ❑
“Too many leaders don’t think
through the implications, all the way In an aircraft company that Cohen sur- Stever Robbins is president of VentureCoach,
down the line,” says Cohen. “So when veyed, a new CEO was certain that he Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.–based executive
you and I hear about the change for needed to quickly and definitively coaching firm. He can be reached at
the first time at some company change how production problems [email protected]
announcement, there is no one to ask, were being handled. For senior man-
‘What does this to mean to me and my agement, he outlined the problem and FURTHER READING
job?’ In that sense, is the CEO really what needed to happen in meetings.
the most credible?” Real Change Leaders
But in order to reach frontline by Jon R. Katzenbach and the RCL Team
Middle managers are key in commu- employees, the new leader spent time
nicating change because they are the walking around the plant to talk to Three Rivers Press 1997
people employees look to first to see if employees on the job. Instead of call-
there is real acceptance of the idea, ing them to an auditorium, he found The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories
says Cohen. “Too many leaders don’t out where groups hung out, such as in of How People Change Their Organizations
realize that without the middle man- the “smoking pit.” He usually started
ager behind it, too many people think, by asking workers about the company by John P. Kotter and Dan S. Cohen
‘I don’t have to change. It’s not going Harvard Business School Press 2002
to happen anyway,’” says Cohen. “Too
The Dance of Change:
The Challenges to Sustaining Momentum

in Learning Organizations
by Peter Senge et al.

Currency Doubleday 1999

4 HARVARD MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION LET TER JULY 2002