3 steps to build a message framework to navigate any complex change

When major changes happen in an organization, employees won’t wait to start reacting. If the situation isn’t properly and thoroughly communicated, they’ll fill the gaps themselves, often with worst-case scenario assumptions. This puts internal communicators in a familiar position. They need to translate a complex situation that’s evolving and potentially incomplete into a message that employees can easily understand.

Bryan Bullock, director of internal communications at Children’s Hospital Colorado, told Ragan that comms infrastructure can help the message hold up as change scenarios shift and unfold.

“There’s no single right way to do it,” Bullock said. “But if you have the opportunity to scenario plan, that’s the best place to start. You need to ask yourself about the different ways a change could play out. From there, it’s about understanding who’s impacted, what questions they’re going to have and what core messages you need to deliver.”

That clarity is what separates reactive change comms from frameworks that can hold up against anything.

“A message map or strategic framework is so valuable because it helps you outline messages for different audiences, how they connect and how they evolve over time,” Bullock said. “It’s never just a one-and-done message.”

Frameworks for change comms can make even the most complex changes easier for communicators to navigate. Here’s how to build one.

1. Pressure test the change before you build anything out.

Before you begin constructing your change framework, you need to understand the change well enough to anticipate how it’ll land with the employee audience. Bullock said that while communicators often don’t get the full luxury of planning for changes, they can scenario plan by envisioning what employees are thinking about and the concerns they may have.

“We need to ask ourselves, what are the key messages we have to deliver?” he said. “What’s the top-line takeaway, and what are the supporting messages that help give that context? Because people are trying to make sense of change, and if we don’t do that work upfront, they’re going to fill in the gaps themselves.”

While pressure testing isn’t a framework in itself, it’s the bedrock that makes a framework useful. Bullock added that pressure tests should apply to employee audiences as a whole and individual subsets of the employee base as well.

“Those messages aren’t going to look the same for everyone,” he said. “Depending on who the audience is, what their role is and how they’re impacted, the message is going to shift. So you really have to think through those differences before you ever start building something out.”

2. Define the core parts of your message map.

Once you’ve conducted pressure tests, the next step is translating that information into something usable — a message map with clear and repeatable components. Bullock said that it’s helpful to think of the map as a collection of key components as opposed to a single document.

“You’re starting with your objectives,” he said. “What do you want people to come away with, and what does success actually look like? Then you’re thinking through audiences, and it’s never one-size-fits-all. You might have senior leaders who need a certain level of detail, and then managers who need talking points and FAQs to have conversations with their teams. And then you have employees in different roles who are impacted in different ways, and that’s where your messaging really starts to take shape.”

From there, the work becomes a bit less about writing the messages and more about organizing them in a way that makes them stand up across all of your internal channels.

Bullock emphasized the importance of sequencing during message map creation.

“There’s always an initial rollout, and sometimes that needs to happen at the same time for everyone,” he said. “But then you have a follow-up. These can be smaller group meetings, town halls or general opportunities for leaders to talk through what the change means. It’s about reinforcing the message and connecting it back to the bigger picture—why this is happening, how it aligns with the organization’s goals and why it matters, even if it’s difficult.”

3. Adjust your framework based on feedback

Even the most rock-solid frameworks can’t account for every twist and turn you encounter as a change communicator. Once the change messaging begins, employees will float questions and share their reactions — and that’s where you as a comms pro need to be able to adjust.

“You may not get it all right in your initial plan, and you have to be nimble,” Bullock told Ragan. “There might be questions or feedback that you didn’t anticipate, and that’s when you go back and revisit your framework. Are your key messages still relevant? Are they resonating? Do you need to adjust them to emphasize something people clearly need to hear more about? That’s all part of the process.”

The need to adjust may show up without much notice. For instance, your leaders might come to you and let you know that employees are asking questions that weren’t planned for, like how changes are affecting their day-to-day work sooner than expected or about the timing of the changes.

In practice, that can look like:

• Updating FAQ documents within days to reflect new concerns
• Adding talking points for managers so they can address any confusion directly
• Reframing key messages for leaders to emphasize what employees care about most

“Sometimes the initial message has to be more high-level or matter-of-fact, especially if everyone needs to hear it at the same time,” Bullock told Ragan. “But then you have opportunities to add more context, more empathy, more perspective through conversations. And if you start hearing pushback or confusion, that’s usually a sign you need to build in more of those touchpoints. These can be smaller group discussions, guidance documents for leaders, exploring more ways to connect with people directly.”

By building your framework, you’re better equipped to respond as questions come in. But speed alone isn’t the goal. Clarity is what helps the message stick.

“We know that experiencing a big change might be a little rough at first,” Bullock said. “But if you can get people to the other side where they understand why the change is happening and where you’re going, that’s a big win.”

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications.