Managing change successfully starts with clear, consistent communication. As a new manager, explaining why change is happening, listening to employee concerns, and communicating regularly can reduce resistance and help teams adapt more confidently. These 12 communication tips explain how to lead workplace change more effectively.
Managing Change Communication at a Glance
If employees don’t understand why change is happening, they are much less likely to support it. Throughout the change process, managers should:
- Explain the reasons behind the change honestly
- Repeat important messages rather than assuming everyone understood them the first time
- Communicate in several ways, such as meetings, emails, and presentations
- Invite questions and listen carefully to concerns
- Acknowledge that change can be challenging
- Show employees how the changes will affect their own work
What is Transition Management?
Transition management focuses on the human aspects of organizational change, helping employees adapt to new roles, processes, or cultures. It emphasizes adaptability, effective leadership, and strategic communication to facilitate smooth transitions and maintain morale.
One of the best-known approaches to leading organizational change is John Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model, which emphasizes creating a clear vision, communicating it consistently, and building employee commitment throughout the change process.
Why Communication is Important When Managing Change
It is essential in the workplace, for example, in order to communicate:
- Why is change needed and required in the first place (in order to get employees on board)
- Dispel any rumors that might otherwise spread during the process (including regarding the safety of people’s jobs)
- Help employees to understand what they need to do and make them feel positive about the changes
- Involve and empower stakeholders
- Gradually bring in new ways of working and/or structures
Strategic change in an organization is never easy, so here are 12 communication tips that might be useful for communicating during the change management process.
What Are the Best Communication Tips for Managing Change?
1. Use a Variety of Communication Channels
Using a variety of communication channels helps ensure employees understand and remember important messages during organizational change.
For instance, some people may prefer written messages, others prefer to listen to oral messages, and others still may prefer visuals. Each of us responds and takes in information in different ways.
So, use different channels to convey the same message.
For example, when explaining to your team the reason why planned changes are taking place, use different sources, and for instance:
- Give a presentation to your team and relay in visual and audio form regarding the reasons and benefits of the planned changes.
- Send around an email message (keeping to the key points)
- Maybe have a team meeting specifically to explain the changes and what they will mean for the team and company as a whole.
Overall, face-to-face in-person communication is still the most effective, so make sure to include this type of communication, if at all possible, at least once, while also using other communication channels.
2. Do Not Be Afraid of Repetition
Repeating the same message various times (and, as we discussed, through different channels) is key to helping people retain information.
Sometimes we try to avoid repetition as we are afraid that people might get bored of hearing the same thing more than once.
However, it is very likely that people might not get the message the first time.
They may be distracted or may not have time to focus on the message as they are busy with their workload.
So, repetition of messages (as well as a variety of channels) is key.
Repetition can be especially useful for communicating the reasons for change in the workplace.
3. Communicate Clearly During Workplace Change
Clear communication reduces confusion and helps employees feel more confident during workplace change.
To communicate clearly, for example:
- Keep to the facts
- Be friendly but firm
- Be conscious of your body language
- Define your goals ahead of time regarding any meetings you organize to explain the changes to your team.
4. Employ Storytelling
Storytelling helps employees understand why change is happening by making complex situations easier to understand and more relatable.
Stories are very effective communication tools because they help people make sense of a situation.
As a story has a plot and characters, it allows you to put forward both sides of the argument, add emotional details, and give a clearer sense of causes, developments, and future outcomes.
For instance, instead of just announcing that change is coming, you can tell a story of how the idea for change came, who was involved, etc.
You can also use metaphors and analogies to make the message more powerful.
Stories help people make sense of complex situations. They allow you to add emotional context, highlight causes and effects, and clarify outcomes.
For example, imagine a scenario whereby a company has an outdated project management system that is costing them clients. Rather than just telling employees in a meeting about the change in a matter-of-fact way, the manager might instead use a story such as:
“One year ago, we lost two major clients and this was a direct result of our existing project management system, because it could not process the updates in real time, because if offers real time updates.
Furthermore, it is a more advanced and modern tool that has many other features that will make collaboration much easier for you, when you are working with other teams.
We don’t expect you to get used to it straight away so we’ll be offering training, support and we’ll transition across to it over 3 months to give you lots of time to get used to it.
It should improve our efficiency by around 25%. I’m extremely excited to move forward and see us all have the chance to use a better system and change together.”
This approach makes the situation relatable, highlights the need for change, and shows positive outcomes, making employees more receptive to the transition.
5. Plan to Make It Coherent
A communication plan keeps change messages consistent, organized, and easier for employees to understand.
You need to identify the key points to communicate and set goals that can address how you communicate these key points.
Once you have clear key points and goals, you can decide how you are going to communicate, how often, to whom, and when.
Too often, management does not have a communication plan. As a result, they communicate as and when it is convenient, or they may inform some people and not others.
This may happen not necessarily because managers do not want everybody to know something, but because they happen to be closer to some people and forget about communicating with everybody else in the same way.
Piecemeal communication like this is not ideal for generating trust, transparency, or employee confidence during organizational change.
When communication is not well organized, employees might wonder, for instance, why they are being kept in the dark when other people are informed, or why there is no coherent information line.
Employees may then become suspicious and think that management is trying to hide something.
>> See the Change Management Training & Teaching Materials
6. Communicate with Empathy
Communicating with empathy is an essential part of leadership communication because it shows employees that their concerns are understood.
For example, to start an interaction with empathy, you can say something along the lines of ‘I know that this is a challenging situation and I appreciate the impact it’s having on all of you’.
Training in emotional intelligence can also be worth considering so that your managers gain a solid overall understanding of techniques and skills related to emotional intelligence.
Emotional intelligence incorporates various other soft skills such as the ability to actively listen to others, understand how to deal with conflict between staff, and manage staff wellness.
7. Make It Personal and Relevant
Information that is specific to an employee and relevant to their job area or tasks tends to be remembered more.
So, make sure when discussing the transition and changes planned to include references to your employees’ tasks and jobs when talking about change and how it will affect them.
8. Make It Two-Way
Two-way communication also improves employee engagement because people are more likely to support change when they feel listened to.
For example, you can ask people questions directly, allow them to ask you questions, run surveys, and have an open-door policy so they can talk to you at any time.
This two-way communication includes when managing up, meaning learning how to communicate with your own higher manager, and not just those employees you manage.
You can find the popular Managing Upwards Training Materials on the leadership kits page, and these materials focus on communication with senior leaders.
9. Engage with Resisters
Listening to employees who resist change can reduce employee resistance, uncover valuable feedback, and improve your change management plan.
Including communication during workplace transitions that is aimed at those who resist change can be turned into a positive.
Do not see people who resist change as a nuisance. On the contrary, they can give you invaluable feedback.
They may help you clarify the issues at hand, so you can identify any problems and find strategies to overcome them.
They may also be right in their criticism, as they may raise points that you did not think about before.
So, it is important to engage with resisters as part of your communication strategy.
Engaging with resisters can be an extremely powerful way to get their feedback and, in the process, see if there are any gaps in the change management plan.
With this in mind, here are three things you could do to further engage with these resisters:
- Active Listening: Listen intently to what they have to say by asking for their feedback and then listening without interrupting them. Not only will they appreciate being listened to, but they might also provide some valid and useful points. The way in which you ask them is important, so consider wording your comments to them something like this:
Example: “I appreciate that moving to this new system will not be easy and will take some getting used to. Can you tell me more about specific challenges you expect and can foresee?” - Use Knowledge from Resisters as an Opportunity: Resisters very often (if you listen to them carefully) very often have some valid points to raise, and if you shape the change management plan to consider these valid points, you can actually make the plan more robust. Furthermore, you gain more respect from the resister. Involve them in the solutions if you can, too!
10. Leverage Opinion Leaders
Influential employees can encourage others to accept organizational change more quickly.
So, if you win them over, they are likely to try to persuade the people who listen to them about the value of the change.
11. Involve Line Managers
Line managers are the closest level of management to employees.
As such, they can communicate most directly and effectively with their direct reports.
12. ‘Walk the Talk’
Employees are more likely to accept change when managers model the behaviors they expect from others.
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Change Management Training Materials
