It's the project people!

As organizations increasingly become more global, merge, shift their technological platforms, or downsize, more communicators are accountable for organizational change-management communications. The mission of a change-management group is to implement something new to an organization or department. If you are a communicator tasked with change-management communications, you have, de facto, become part of the change-management group.

To effectively assist with communications, you should have a clear understanding of the group. Without this assessment, your effectiveness, and therefore the mission and the communications coming from the organization or department, will be minimized.

Here are a few things to take into account:

• Group composition – Are members from the same department, or is it a cross-functional team? If cross-functional, are members siloed within their departments, or is there an evident esprit de corps? Understanding this will help determine your approach to strategic communication planning.
• Membership – Do individuals consider themselves to be part of a “group” or a member of a “team”? If the people assigned to complete the change view their involvement, or mission, differently, the communicator should be aware of this. Why? Because those who don’t view the group’s common goals as their goals typically will become a fringe element. Intrateam communications will likely get bogged down or, worse, become nonexistent. Barriers like geography, silos and day-to-day work tasks will only make communication that much more challenging.
• Leadership style – The tone and pace of communications from the change-management group to the rest of the organization depends heavily on the leader's style. Is she a visionary? If so, you’ll likely be in communication nirvana, crafting motivating messages. On the other hand, if the leader adopts a pacesetting style, you’ll probably need to redouble your efforts at intrateam communications, as people begin to feel underappreciated and assume their contributions aren’t helping achieve the mission.

By making these basic assessments, a communicator can begin to formulate an effective strategic approach. To help you get started, study the photograph above and assess your view and the views of other group members. Do you/they see it as:

• It’s the project people!

Or,

• It’s the project people!

How does your view of the image compare with others in the group? And what challenges do the different perspectives impose on your job as a communicator, both to the group and more broadly to the organization?