A Communications Plan Is Not Change Management

3. Communications plans don't reflect an understanding of how individuals experience change

Although project teams may have communications plans, they may not be sending the right messages. It's important to teach those individuals the ADKAR Model, which describes the building blocks of successful change and the information to communicate to help individuals go through it. Understanding all this, those who develop the communications plans are better able to focus on the key outcomes they're trying to achieve with change. Instead of offering only communications, project changes that leverage the ADKAR Model build awareness and desire, focusing individuals on the outcomes you want to achieve and enhancing the overall impact of organizational communications. Choosing the right tool for each ADKAR element also matters. You can't train awareness and you can't communicate ability. Your job is to ensure that the communications plan focuses on the ADKAR building blocks they affect.

4. Communications plans ignore key research findings about preferred senders

Best practices research reveals two preferred senders of messages related to change. When it comes to the business reasons for the change, employees want to hear from the senior leaders authorizing and funding the change. They want to understand why the change is taking place, risks of not changing, and competitive and customer issues. When the message concerns the personal impacts of the change, or "What's In It For Me" (WIIFM), employees want to hear from their immediate supervisors. A communications plan that does not incorporate these findings will be less effective.

You need to prepare senior leaders to deliver business messages. You also need to prepare supervisors to deliver messages about how the change impacts employees specifically. Effective communications plans send the right messages to the right audiences at the right time and from the right sender

5. Communications plans focus on informing employees about the future state

Project teams can fall into the trap of being centrally focused on the future state and ignoring communication about the current state. It makes sense that project teams focus on their solution. You want your project teams to be consumed with capturing opportunities and solving problems. However, because project teams live in the context of the future state, it influences the content of a communication plan.

Ensure that your communications plans answer the questions that employees want answered. Today's empowered workforce asks questions about the reasons behind the change and not just the future state. A communication plan that focuses on the future state misses the point. In fact, research shows that the top reason for employee resistance to change is not understanding why a change is taking place. And a general communications plan that ignores change management principles and best practices may not address this root cause of resistance.

Communication in the organization must be targeted to the audience and answer their specific questions and concerns to be effective, which means talking about both the current state as well as the future state.

Change Management Is More Than Communication

Project teams are a key source of information and details about the change, and they will be crucial partners in your efforts to integrate change management and project management activities. Understanding the most common change management myths and objections, including the communication-is-enough myth, will help you facilitate more successful changes with your project leaders and team members.