Sitting down to brainstorm the full implications of what is being planned will benefit from an external perspective, and benefit even more if that perspective has extensive knowledge and experience with similar cases elsewhere.

Most people have an immediate adverse reaction to any change being imposed on them. Whether this change requires ‘just’ a different way of working, or whether the impact is more far-reaching, people’s initial reaction is likely to be negative. To ensure a best possible basis for any such change, a number of steps can be taken that will significantly improve the chance of the changes being accepted more easily, and hence much more likely to achieve their full potential:

• Full acceptance that for employees, nothing is necessarily going to be obvious, or indeed understandable
• Optimal explanation of the ‘why’ behind the changes
• Clarity on what alternatives have been studied, and why these were dismissed
• Maximum openness
• Regular status updates (also when there may be nothing to update on).

and finally…..

• The awareness that different messages may require different ways of communicating. As a rule of thumb, the higher the impact of the message, the higher the need for personal, face-to-face, communication.

TtU would be delighted to discuss this in more detail with you.