Communicating New Company Initiatives to Staff

There comes a time when any forward-looking company needs to change strategy. And it can be anything from a totally revamped business model to a new way of selling, manufacturing, a workplace safety procedure or even staff training.

While developing the right strategy is important, it’s being able to execute that strategy and get all staff members on board that is paramount.

All workers need to align with the new strategy and embrace it, in order for the company to move forward.

Of course, change requires people to move out of their comfort zones and work differently. So when companies poorly execute a new initiative among staff, resentment and distrust can emerge. And the results can be disastrous.

According to W.Chan Kim and Renee Maborgne the authors of Blue Ocean Strategy, when Merrill Lynch announced plans to launch an online brokerage service, reports of resistance and infighting among staff led to the stock price falling by 14%. But when Stanley Dean Witter & Co explained openly to their staff about their new online plans, the company’s shares rose by 13% upon their announcement.

In Blue Ocean Strategy, they believe that any new company initiative needs to be introduced to all levels of staff (not just senior management) by a three step process.

Engagement – Allow all workers to have input into the strategic decisions that affect them by asking for their feedback. This shows respect for staff and their ideas. It also can contribute to better strategic decisions.
Explanation – Everyone who is involved is given a clear explanation of the thinking underlying the new decision. This is to build trust in regard to management decisions.
Expectation clarity – Once the strategy is finalised, managers clearly state the new rules of the game. Goals and targets are set. Expectations for staff are clearly communicated.

So how do you get staff buy-in to a new company initiative or strategy?

Recently, we produced a training video to communicate to architects the need to introduce Compulsory Professional Development (CPD). Due to the controversial topic, the Architects Registration Board of Victoria (ARBV) was undertaking a series of consultative talks throughout Victoria to explain to architects the need for CPD.

Luckily for ARBV, their forward thinking registrar decided to get a video made to introduce CPD at the start of each meeting.

It was a smart move.

The educational video explained:

-the reasons CPD was required (explanation)

-the benefits to the community (explanation)

-the benefits to architects (expectation clarity)

-the negatives (explanation)

-the opportunity for input (engagement)

-CPD requirements for members (expectation clarity)

“The CPD video has been able to simplify quite complex information and present it in a clear and logical way. It’s a short video, but very comprehensive. Architects are visual learners and, like most of us, tend not to be good at reading large chunks of text. We introduced the concept of CPD in an innovative video format that no other jurisdiction in Australia had done before. It resulted in our members more easily accepting the proposed CPD concept and ensured that the meetings were pleasant and ran smoothly.

Alison Ivey, Registrar, Architects Registration Board of Victoria

By covering the three step process, members accepted the new proposal and there were no angry outbursts. You can read more about this or see the video by clicking here.