Communicating about change in ways that work

As a communications professional you’re often on the front line of letting people know about changes your company is making.

And far too often those messages may not be well-received. In fact, most of us have had the experience of doing our best to craft a clear compelling message about a change–only to have it land badly.

Our anti-change wiring

The simple truth is that communicating about change well, in a way that doesn’t upset people, is difficult. For most people, most of the time – change is hard.

Blame our experience as a species. Until quite recently in human history, change has generally been dangerous; the safest course of action was to return to the known. If there was a famine – you wanted to get back to eating regularly. If there was an invading army – you wanted to get back to peace and prosperity. You get the idea. Most of the time, returning to a previous set of stable conditions was the way to go.

But today, to be successful, we often have to make changes – in how we work, who we work with, and how we deal with customers. And you are often the person who has to tell people about those changes. Here are four ways to make messages about change easier to hear:

1. Don’t oversell.

Messages about change are sometimes way too hearty and optimistic.