Attended a meeting today at the PR firm Waggener Edstrom where the topic was how to make major organizational transition work seamlessly. Working with brands like GE Healthcare, Mastercard International, Microsoft and T-Mobile USA, Waggener Edstrom uses storytelling and strategic communications to facilitate the adoption of new ideas.
Given the recent election, I was interested in hearing what they had to say on successfully navigating the waters of change.
Two initial points:
- There are two types of transitions: Well-planned and sudden. The main difference between the two is the transition timeline.
- Transitions offer an opportunity to tell stories.
When communicating transition, keep in mind the following:
- Keep concern levels down by focusing on the idea that "there is not as much change as you think." While the way an organization functions may change, the organization will continue to move forward.
- Don't let the story become the transition only. Manage calendar of coverage of the transition with coverage of other organizational outputs. Look at calendars for both internal and external coverage.
- Don't present an obituary. Focus both on looking forward and looking back. It is a continuing evolution. Don't try to scrub history - you will lose credibility if you don't provide an accurate picture of what came before as prelude to where you are going.
- Own the digital building blocks. Create and own as much content as possible so you can strategically disseminate and redistribute messages through different channels. Also, the better you know the content, the more disciplined you are in defining and sharing the message.
- Remember your audience. Think primarily about how your target audience receives information. Create content for target audiences that can extend to others. Create advocates for your information who can carry your messages to others.
- Establish a communication calendar. Set periodic tick marks for artificial coverage points - moments in time that trigger "write the story now."
- Drive confidence without having carefully crafted platitudes. People have filters built up.
- At times you should consider radical translucency rather than transparency. Think about the shower curtain metaphor - would you rather a transparent or translucent shower curtain? Translucent provides enough information. Transparent too much.
