The Change Dude’s Blog

Talk It Up

Businesses are networks.  Networks of people drive the business to succeed or fail.  The information that travels across these networks sets the tone for the coming year.

Renewing commitments for the upcoming year to customers, associates and shareholders take the stage at this time of year.  Organizations tend to keep all this really exciting activity close to the vest.  Confidentiality of all the exciting actions planned for 2011 is typical until the full strategy is complete.  Now is the the time to “talk it up”. 

Org charts are being rewritten, sales forecasts being aligned, strategic initiatives approved and staffed in preparation for 2011.  Engaging your organization’s networks to align with the new years’ goals is crucial.  Sending emails to tell the networks what the plans are don’t engage, Webinars don’t engage, teleconferences don’t engage; People engage one another.

Teams pull together best when they talk to each other.  High performing teams like military special operations teams, championship athletic teams and top performing business units talk to each other in very specific terms with a precision of language that drives rapid, coordinated action.

Building a communication program to engage people in change, no matter how small,  must execute at the grass roots level.  I’ve been designing and implementing top down cascading communication programs for decades.  Prior to widespread leadership through better emails the cascade worked very well.  Since email mania has overtaken corporate communication the cascade process has lost much of its effectiveness, no one has time to read their corporate junk mail.

Use the “grapevines” within your organization to communicate and build commitment.  Inform widely through every method available.  Lever the informal internal networks to get the message out.

Most importantly keep the conversation constantly moving by talking up the plans for 2011.

November 19, 2010 Posted by thechangedude | Uncategorized | Leave a comment