How To Communicate Change When You Can’t Say Anything

Written By

Dix & Eaton

This insights post is a summary of the original blog post published by Karin Bonev of Dix and Eaton. View the original blog: How to communicate when you can’t say anything – 5 lessons from our Brainfood. 

Partner Dix and Eaton recently hosted a Brainfood for 2023 event focused on how to communicate change when you can’t say anything. Panelists shared their insight and lessons learned from helping organizations navigate seminal moments of corporate transition, including CEO and senior leadership transitions, restructuring and layoffs, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures and new business strategies. Here are some key takeaways for communicators who might encounter similar situations.

Invest in relationships

Change can be challenging, but when people trust each other, the situation becomes easier to navigate. Long-term trust is critical and it is built over time. Investing in important relationships with employees, customers, investors, communities, media now can make a significant difference when you announce a change later. Look for opportunities to connect and bring people together, learn more about each other and establish trusted relationships.

Plan carefully and intentionally

First, ensure that the team announcing and implementing the change is aligned on purpose, key stakeholders and message. Next, create a stakeholder map that lists your audiences, their current perceptions, the desired perceptions and behaviors and hurdles or challenges that might stand in the way to changing hearts and minds. Then prioritize which audiences are most critical and need extra attention and determine which leaders need to be connected to them. From there determine which channels will have greatest impact and develop a plan to effectively cascade information.

Get three more tips on how to navigate change silently in the full blog post: How to communicate when you can’t say anything – 5 lessons from our Brainfood. 

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