Change Myth #8: Saying Everything Once is Enough.
Any time you make an announcement, and especially during a business initiative that requires change, it is important to remember your audience is made up of individuals, all of whom listen and absorb information a little differently. Use the 10x communication rule. Vary the communication vehicles and repeat, repeat, repeat!!
Not only do individuals absorb information at different speeds, the kind of changes being discussed will also affect their ability to hear what you have to say. For example, you are about to announce a merger with another company that will result in a 20% reduction in the workforce. Everyone gathers in the cafeteria and you make the announcement. The merger itself is a positive for the company, it is very exciting to be joining with another leader in the field and the resulting product line and future capabilities will increase ten-fold. Unfortunately, you have lost everyone after the first line of your announcement because most people in the audience are thinking to themselves – does that mean I’m going to lose my job? So you go on and on about the synergies between the companies, the market opportunities this brings which didn’t exist before, and no one hears anything you say.
You open up the floor for questions and the first one hits the nail on the head: “What will be the reduction in force, when is it planned and how will it be done?” Again, in the spirit of communication you answer the question: 20% is estimated, it will happen in the third quarter of next year and there will be a task force made up of representatives from both companies – headed by HR from both companies – that will carry it out. Most people heard the 20%, some people heard the third quarter and very few people heard about the joint task force.
No other questions result so you conclude the announcement by saying there will be more communications at regular intervals. Everyone goes back to their work spaces but no work gets done for the rest of the day. That’s because everyone is comparing notes about what they heard and what they didn’t hear, what it means and how it may affect them.
Savvy business leaders will have put smaller meetings in place a few hours after the announcement meeting to repeat what was just said in the big announcement. Department managers would have been briefed prior and given outlines of information to share with their staffs. It will be the same information, exactly, that was announced prior.
Repetition will be critical in helping the entire organization to assimilate the momentous news and continue working day-to-day throughout the merger process. By having managers repeat the same information, people have a second chance to hear what was said. So those who heard “20%” can now hear “third quarter”, and those who heard both of those things can hear about the joint task force. Repetition is the only way to accomplish that. And the next day, the department manager takes 15 minutes out of everyone’s day to talk about some of the positive aspects of the merger – the expanded product lines or the chance to be a true leader in this field. Many people wouldn’t have heard that information, so this is a great time to repeat it. And over the next several months, that should be the pattern of communication.
Sometimes repetition can take different media forms. One time may be in person, the repetition through email. Using the exact text with no deviations will help keep the noise down. People will naturally read into deviations or inconsistencies so try to avoid them. Or the department manager may bring his or her staff together and share some new information, and then that can be followed up with a summary later in the day via voice mail from the division or company leader. Written and verbal combinations are particularly effective in complicated situations because it gives people a chance to see what they have been told, engaging another sense in the process.
The 10X communication rule is from advertising where it is said that a person needs to hear and see something 10x before it sticks. That may or may not be true, but the spirit is right on the mark. It will certainly take more than one time or even two times to get your point across. Get used to it and don’t be upset by it. It isn’t necessarily about you, it certainly isn’t done as an insult or as a sign of disrespect. It is simply the way our human minds and our ears work together.
Whatever you do, don’t be afraid of repetition. People won’t think less of you. They won’t say, “Boy is s/he stupid, s/he doesn’t remember that s/he told us this already.” You are the only person who hears everything you say, the first time you say it, everyone else will appreciate the duplication.
© 2007 Banks Consulting! LLC. All rights reserved. Do not copy without permission.