Guiding principles during a merger
by Andy Szpekman, President, AHS
Communications |
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There's no shortage of misleading beliefs about merger
communication. For example, the myth that content-free
communication is better than no communication at all.
Andy Szpekman takes a more logical approach to change
campaigns.
Here are 10 principles to follow when communicating
during a merger or any other major change.
1. Talk less and listen more: Don't rely on formal
corporate communication. Their influence is extremely
limited. Instead, put 80 percent of your energy into
two-way, face-to-face communication, including focus
groups with employees, town hall meetings with senior
leaders and messages for supervisors to share with
teams.
2. Separate facts from reassurance: Every good crisis
communicator knows this. Say what's known, what's not
known and what's being done, but don't speculate to make
people feel better or you will erode your credibility.
3. Ditch the vain attempts to spin the message: People
will quickly recognize the facts for what they are, and
your interpretation will appear out of touch or
dishonest.
4. Tell it all... all at once: Letting bad news trickle
out slowly breeds distrust and creates anxiety.
Employees demand to hear bad news right away.
5. Hone messages into clear, simple statements:
Corporate communications are blunt instruments. Nuance
and subtlety are completely ignored. If you want your
message to be understood, you must say it plainly,
directly and succinctly. No one is reading or listening
to corporate messages for the pure joy of the
experience.
Moreover, for most employees, context equals clutter.
People just want to know what's changing, what they need
to do differently and what it means for them. They don't
want to see the principles that guided the decision, the
link to the broad strategy or the obligatory references
to shareholder value. They tune this stuff out, and it
dilutes the message.
6. Strive to reduce uncertainty and instill a sense of
control: The people in charge always know far more than
everyone else. No one believes the oft-heard phrase, "we
promise to tell you what we know when we know it,"
because it's rarely true.
Management's instinct is to wait until all decisions are
final and then convey the news to employees. Meanwhile,
rumors fill the void. A better approach is to explain
what's being decided, what the issues are, where things
might be headed and the timetable for decisions - while
clarifying that the final outcome could be very
different from what's being suggested now.
This approach not only reduces the distracting level of
uncertainty brought out by major change, but also makes
staff feel like informed participants on the change
journey.
7. Let people arrive at conclusions themselves: If you
try to suggest what others should think or feel, they'll
challenge your assumptions. If you want people to think
a new process is simple, work to make the process
simple. Telling someone, "you're going to think the new
process is really simple" actually works against you. It
leads people to think, oh yeah? It's like saying, "I'm
now going to tell you a funny joke." Nothing ruins a
joke more than announcing it as a funny joke.
8. Keep senior leaders visible: The mood at headquarters
may not be representative of the mood throughout the
company. Leaders need to get out and gauge employee
attitudes across the organization. Also, because leaders
will think the merger integration is "old news" before
anyone else does, they need encouragement to keep
hammering home important messages.
9. Reassure high-performing employees of their value:
Simple reassurance and a warm welcome to the
restructured organization can be as motivating to the
people you want to keep as financial incentives to stay.
10. Measure performance outcomes and monitor employee
reaction: Don't wait until it's too late to learn the
change isn't going well. Develop an internal and
external listening approach to learn what people are
saying and create a rapid-response plan for addressing
important issues as they surface.
By following these principles will you head off all
staff discontent during a merger? Of course not. If
people are losing their jobs or experiencing massive
disruption, they aren't going to like it. But these
principles do increase your odds of success. By
following them, you'll help employees manage the
transition, open up lines of communication and position
executives to support the change.
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