How well do you communicate major organizational changes?

Our reader poll today asks: How well do you communicate major organizational changes?

– Very well – Everyone knows what’s going on and why in a timely manner: 19%
– Well – We get most of the information out but occasionally miss some things: 44%
– Not well – We could do a much better job of communicating the reason for change: 24%
– Poorly – People find out about change as it’s happening to them: 13%

Tell them what’s going on. If you don’t tell people what’s going on during a major change effort, they’ll fill in the blanks themselves. Invariably the answers they fill in will be full of doom and gloom. That kind of forecasting on their part hurts morale and distracts them from their job. And don’t just tell them what’s going on – tell them why it’s going on too. If they don’t understand the rationale, they’re less likely to support rolling out your changes. That’s the biggest key to reducing execution risk. Just because you’ve made a decision, that doesn’t mean it will happen. Up your game on communication if you want things to go smoothly.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 210,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.