Don’t wait to communicate change!

In business, there is no such thing as an internal rumor that is good: when employees do not know what is going to happen, they fill in the blanks with bad news. That’s not good for morale. That’s not a way to increase company production. Best business practices on an internal project include early communication to all employees.

Ethics project and efficient corporate governance involve change.  If you are standing still on ethics and active corporate governance, you are dropping behind the competition.

If there is a big change happening in your business, start communicating that change ASAP - now! Do no wait until you have all the details worked out before sharing what you know with the employees - including the rank and file employees on the work floor. It is OK to communicate half a story - if that is all you know. Simply tell the employees that this is all that has been worked out so far.

Use the maxim many good communicators use:

"Never underestimate intelligence; always underestimate knowledge."

 What that means is that the ordinary person has the intelligence to handle even the most complicated information if you communicate it adequately; that if you "talk as if the listener is stupid" your message will get lost in a cloud of resentment; and it also means that you should not assume "everyone knows".

One of the worst ways to start communicating change is to use emails. It’s impersonal, and if you are starting to communicate before every "t" is crossed in the plan.  Emails with less than complete and correct information have a way of coming back to haunt you.

Emails also do not let the target person ask questions.  Listening to employees' questions when a change is told to them is the best way to find out problems you may not have thought of.  Certainly listening to questions is your best way to find out fears and misinformation already out in the workplace.

The best way to communicate change is by supervisors personally telling those they supervise what is going on. That means:

• (1) you start the process yourself, by telling those you personally supervise the message; and
• (2) you tell your listeners exactly what message that you want them to tell "down the line"; and
• (3) you set up a plan so that the entire chain of command gets your  message sent down to the rank and file employees in 48 hours.
• (4) you see that each level of supervisors reports back up the chain of command any significant questions and comments that their target audience persons have raised.