I am the VP of Business Planning for a retail organization based in San Francisco. My organization is about to announce an organizational change that will impact over 10,000 of our employees nation-wide. I am part of the team responsible for rolling this change out to the organization and we are trying to take a very proactive approach to the 'people side' of the roll out by creating a communication plan. We are aiming to educate our people about the change and to gain the buy-in necessary to ensure that this is a success. We can't afford for it not to be! Our team has met several times but we don't seem to be making progress on developing a successful plan.

Most people, these days, understand that the globalization of our economy and the intense pressure of today's marketplace require that organizations adapt to changing demands and priorities. While change is a common thread in the fabric of many organizations, managing it can be overwhelming for many leaders. Given the amount of change that occurs in many organizations on what seems to be a daily basis, one would think that we would be a bit more comfortable managing it. Depending on the change at hand, the communication strategy that an organization creates to achieve success will vary. However, there are some core elements to creating positive change in organizations that seem to remain constant and are visible in most small and large transformation initiatives.

First, communicate and reiterate the call to action. Identifying and communicating the reason for the change (often referred to as the burning platform) is a critical ingredient for success. Employees often struggle with change because the rationale for changing has not been clearly articulated. In order to be absolutely clear about the rationale behind the change, be sure to explain what is changing, what will be different because of the change, and who stands to gain or lose as a result. We recommend that anyone in the organization responsible for creating change be able to clearly answer these questions in a minute or less. Tailoring these messages to each person or group will increase the impact. While further explanation will most likely be needed, being crystal clear about "the why" increases success. Next, consider developing a list of stakeholders - in other words, people who are either impacted by or who can influence the change. Once you have put some thought to who your stakeholders are ("the who") you will be ready to begin the process of identifying "the what" and "the how".

Next, ask what each stakeholder on the list needs to know about the change as well as the most effective method or methods to get those messages to them. For the most part, the more exposure and information people have about an upcoming change and the more time they have to ask questions and voice concerns, the less resistance you will encounter down the road.