Change Management Chapter 11 Communication Skills Communication Skills

Change Management Chapter 11 Communication Skills

Communication Skills • These skills are aimed at involving people and encouraging commitment to the change process § Unitarist (director, coach) vs. pluralist (navigator, interpreter) view • Pluralist – no amount of communication will change a clash of interests § What communication skills does each change image see as critical?

Key Communication Skills • Four key skills for communicating include: § § Listening Telling stories Selling change upward Toxic handling

Listening § There are four types of listening skills: • • suspending judgment, identifying assumptions, listening for learning, and Reflecting § Reflection exercise • Select a partner – Tell your partner a story about a time you lied or cheated – Justify your lying or cheating • Partner – suspend judgment and practice reflection – Identify the assumptions behind the justification – Share what you learned with your partner • Switch

Telling Stories § This is an effective way of helping employees learn from past changes & painting pictures of the future. • A key interpreter skill • Receives little training or management attention – why? • How can we train people in story telling? – Design an exercise

Selling Change Upward • “Issue selling” is a way of gaining senior management attention to changes initiated from below. § Message, timing, and channel are important • Elevator speech anyone? § Presentation techniques • Link to the logic of the business plan • Raise the proposal continuously • Package the issue incrementally § Bundling • Tie it to: – Profitability, market share, organizational image, or concerns of key stakeholders

Toxic Handling • Some people in organizations take on a role of handling the ill-effects of change processes and absorbing these as a way of shielding others from their negative impact. § § § Listening empathetically Suggesting solutions Working behind the scenes Carrying the confidences of others Reframing difficult messages • Have you ever seen a toxic handler in action or been helped by one?

Change Conversations • Different change conversations should be used at different stages of a change process. § Initiative conversations: these draw attention to the need for change. • An assertion, request, or declaration § Conversation for understanding: this communicates the type of changes needed and allows for a greater appreciation of why this type of change. • Specifies conditions of satisfaction • Enables participation and involvement • Confirms the interpretations place on the change

Conversation stages ctd. § Conversations for performance: this focuses on the actual change that is intended and how progress will be monitored. • • Promises are made Obligations are entered into Accountabilities are established Deadlines are set § Conversation for closure: this signals the end of the change • Acknowledgments, celebrations, rewards

Conversation stages ctd. § Omitting a stage may cause familiar communication problems in the change process • Such as…? § Issues • Identifying transitions – can they be nonlinear? • Different perceptions of what stage the organization is in • Impact of power imbalances • Can all managers be trained in all stages/skills?

Linguistic Modes & Imagery • Need for a balance of linguistic modes. § Ideals (express preferences), appeals (seek support), rules (seek to control), deals (bargaining) • Over-reliance on one mode leads to problems • Success comes from using different forms at different stages • The use of metaphors influences the images of change. § Need to be “in sync” with the type of change § These change images include: • • Machine: this is based on the “fix and maintain” view Developmental: this is based on the “build and develop” view Transitional: this is based on the “move and relocate” view Transformational: this is based on the “liberate and re-create” view

Communication with external stakeholders • Communicating with external stakeholders is an important (albeit often neglected) aspect of communicating change. • Research has focused on: § crisis management § impression management § corporate reputation

Some tactics • Impression management § Excuses, justifications, disclaimers, concealment • Crisis management § Competing accounts, statement of regret, dissociation (scapegoating) § Mortification, corrective action, bolstering image, denial, shifting the blame • What is best practice?

Tyco Case • Imagine you are the new CEO of Tyco (or Enron) § Write a script for your address to the shareholders after 18 months in the position. § Pay attention to the appropriate use of linguistic modes or metaphors in your “change conversation” • Be prepared to role play your script