All change

change - internal communications

In big companies, people talk about change a lot, I mean, like… all the time!

So-called ‘change experts’ are regularly hired-in to rollout new technologies, ways or working, hot desk moves, and organisational restructures (business speak for sacking people.)

But why is there always the need to talk about transformation, and why do we need to name-check it all the time? When are we NOT changing?

There is a mantra that people don’t like change. But, we are also living in a global era of constant flux from analogue to digital, local to global, post-war to free market, and then back to eco-friendly hipster via millennialism.

And sometimes it feels like despite all this, we will always love the olde-worlde stuff – the vintage furniture, old-fashioned politeness, tea from an actual teapot – so what’s going on there? Is it OK to hang on to tradition AND embrace the revolution?

A really effective way of engaging people with cultural change is to build champions or ambassador networks-to be be the eyes, ears and mouths for the new ways of working.

Your ambassador network will empower themselves and others through involvement, which I recently learned at renewable energy firm Haven Power.

Yep, I was one of those so-called experts hired in. We used multichannel internal communications and change ambassadors to help explain to colleagues about how a new Oracle platform would transform the workplace.

And hey, guess what? I found out that actually, if they feel part of it, most people do like change!

Here are some slides on how I did it