“Words (…don’t come easy)” says the classic 1980s song by F.R. David

In change management, words are critical – for vision, rationale for change, for showing empathy and providing clarity about what the change means for the industry, organisation, team and each individual.

This article focuses on 3 key aspects of change management, and the importance of words in each:

• Storytelling

• Leadership

• Commitment

Storytelling

The ‘why’ of anything is always critical. From a young age, we all asked our parents, siblings, teachers ‘why’. And that doesn’t change with age and experience. Curiosity, needing to understand the rationale, wanting clarity – those are human, understandable and admirable traits.

Storytelling enables decision makers (Chief Executives, Boards, leadership teams) to explain the value of what is being sought, the outcomes that will make the upheaval worthwhile, and the journey to get there.

Good storytelling requires 3 things:

• A clear vision about what you envisage the future being – this isn’t an end-state, it’s a picture of what will be different when things have morphed and adapted (its usually easier to have a sense of time frame and big blocks of noticeable change mapped out with benefits expressed)

• A community who understands and adheres to that same clear vision – with the imagination to put their own flavour on what that picture means to the audience they’re talking to, how to make that vision their own (often times this community is made up of the wider executive team and the change programme team but can also be a change champions network, a set of external partners etc)

• The ability to put yourselves in the place of the people hearing or reading the story, and linking it to something they care about, they can get behind, that they can tell stories about for themselves.

For many, a big programme of change may be their first exposure to a change that is not self-initiated. People usually choose their big life changes – where to live, which jobs to apply for, what kind of person to live with.

But a change programme is often experienced as something someone else has initiated, and lack of understanding of what will happen or how decisions will be made can increase anxiety and uncertainty for people.

A favourite technique of mine is based on a concept I picked up from Dr Norman Chorn a few years ago. The idea is that, to support people through change, you need to help them develop ‘shadow neural pathways’ in their brain – as though they’ve actually experienced something like it before. Storytelling, scenario exercises, transparency through sharing of plans and roadmaps – they can all help.

If you can tell the story of the change – why its happening, what it will mean, how the processes to manage the change will progress, and what people’s role is in that process – people can imagine it, they can rehearse it in their minds, and they can plan for how they will adapt and react at each stage.

Leadership

Many leaders are good leaders, but that doesn’t automatically mean they have experience with leading through change. They struggle with knowing the right thing to say.

We often provide ‘scripts’ for leaders noting the things that have to be said (for legal, ethical and procedural reasons). But we spend more time and effort providing guidance, prompts and practice sessions for the things that should be said:

I’m going to be honest and straight forward with you even if its hard to say and hard to hear. I see you, I know you and your situation, I’m going to care for you through this process.

Words are also critical in providing candid advice to executives and enabling functions on their planning, decision-making and delivery. This is particularly true if their plans and actions aren’t well thought through, aren’t displaying integrity, aren’t fair and aren’t going to take the collective change forward to progress towards the vision and outcome the organisation needs.

To be able to call out unfeasible timeframes, bad behaviour, double standards, relitigating of collective decisions – these are all the skills required by change leaders.

Commitment

But to be able to say those things requires both courage, and people being willing to listen and hear the messages. Both conditions are reliant on relationships having been quickly developed, and in my practice, being open from the beginning about the role that I’m there to play.

This role often includes (and I try to state this right at the start and repeat if necessary) saying:

I’m here to support them to lead the change to the outcome they say they want, and to advise and guide on the right things to do from a people, design and cost perspective.

And that this will mean that I will often have to tell them things they don’t want to hear, and to ask them to do things that they won’t want to do. But that I will be there with them, putting in the effort and the hours, supporting them, and that the change team will deliver.

That verbal statement of conditions and commitment is critical – it sets the boundaries, clarifies my expectations on clients, and allows me to reiterate and reinforce both with executive teams and with my change teams what we’re there for and how we agreed to act and perform.

I use storytelling with my change teams as well – particularly when the going gets tough, the hours are long, the resilience is low, the temptation to cut corners or forget the ethos is there – telling the story of what we’re here to facilitate for the organisation and how we always consider the individual who is receiving our information or experiencing our processes.

Bringing it back to the humans within the change always gives that little bit more energy to do the right thing and do things right.

But as F.R.David sang, “words don’t come easy”.  So before, during and after initiating a change, its worth considering whether you have the story, the leadership and the commitment to go through with it.  And what support you’ll need to help you do it well.