Introduction to
Communication
Communication
Every project and every development start with communication. Communication serves as the catalyst for inspiration and creates direction. Experience shows that the more complicated the project, the greater the need for effective communication.
Despite the acknowledgement that communication is key when implementing change, change efforts often fall short due to poorly designed communication. In fact, studies show that more than 50% of all failing change efforts are due to poorly managed communication.
Having worked with over 600 projects for both private and public companies globally, we have identified a fundamental reason for this concerning number – the missing link between strategy and people; between management pushing the change and the employees who are here to take part in the change.
Change communication is an invitation to think differently. To design and implement change initiatives with the fundamental understanding that all change essentially is about people who must do things differently tomorrow.
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Sustainability and strategy
All around the world, big change starts with small talk around the coffee machine and at lunch tables. It starts with change communication.
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Any change starts with an engaging story; a purpose that people can relate to and remember. The narrative serves as a short and simple starting point for all communication related to the strategic initiative. Involving key stakeholders in the process of developing the narrative ensures ownership and credibility.
Creative concepts and campaign formats are crucial to keeping your audience engaged. They provide the impetus for action and make it easy for people to tap into change communication.
Talk is cheap. When it comes to sustainability and strategy implementation, action is what matters. Building new habits, processes and capabilities requires training and continuous learning delivered through engaging formats.
Sustainability reporting standards are about more than just crunching data and presenting it. Instead, they involve translating data into a coherent story that builds credibility and supports your vision. It is about inviting the outside world into the conversation and meeting the need for transparency from customers and consumers.
Town halls are widely used in modern organisations. It is where we come together to reconfirm our shared beliefs and create meaning. If designed correctly, they will infuse the strategy with energy and meaning to fuel the implementation.
Sustainability reporting standards such as CSRD and SBTi are about more than just crunching data and presenting it. Instead, they involve translating data into a coherent story that builds credibility and supports your vision. It is about inviting the outside world into the conversation and meeting the need for transparency from customers and consumers.
Even the best intentions can be misconstrued. When bringing your sustainability ambitions into the public arena, it is essential to know the “rules of engagement”. Your terminology must meet not only the legal requirements but also the expectations of customers and external stakeholders.
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Leadership and culture
Communication has the power to shape the very fabric of an organisational culture, which is the one crucial factor in answering the following question: Can your company reach its full potential and be the unstoppable force it could be?
Leaders play a central role in cultural transformations. The ones who prioritise communication as a key driver of cultural transformation can align their teams, break down silos, increase adaptability and resilience, attract and retain talent and ultimately enhance overall organisational performance.
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Communication eats culture for breakfast. Done right, it serves as more than a means of transmitting information. It becomes a powerful catalyst for shaping and nourishing your cultural transformation, being truly people-centric.
To stay ahead, companies need to skill up and scale up constantly. This is why they invest considerable resources in capability building, and rightfully so. However, effective communication becomes an even more vital component for great academies to truly impact each employee.
The war for talent is over. The talent won. The strongest and most sustainable way to stand out in a candidate-driven market is to build an authentic and attractive employer brand. You can do that by applying a holistic approach to employer branding.
The deal has been announced, and the synergies appear promising on paper, justifying the premium paid for acquiring the target. However, being able to realise the benefits largely depends on your ability to integrate teams while building a results-driven culture. Make sure to manage your culture integration, or it will manage you.
In today’s open world, where all stakeholders have more or less the same access to information, the only way you can build a solid and authentic position is by making your people ambassadors of your vision. Well-crafted company visions serve as the best marketing strategy, mainly amplifying existing partnering and sales efforts.
Organisational communication must be fit for purpose. Using buzzwords and corporate lingo is insufficient and is often the result of transformations not getting the communicative love and attention they deserve. Instead, leaders must speak authentically and show vulnerability to foster psychological safety.
Telling a story is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world. Using it deliberately strengthens your position as a leader by increasing credibility, authenticity and arousing interest. We help you master the art of storytelling and public speaking.
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Digital and IT
Effective communication during periods of change is a crucial factor in determining the success of IT or digital transformations. While these transformations typically emphasise technical solutions, the key to a successful change project often lies in engaging the people who will use these solutions.
By prioritising effective change communication, we can close the gap between technical solutions and human engagement. This involves providing those affected with a clear sense of purpose, offering transparency to reduce uncertainty, ensuring that the changes are personally relevant and guiding the desired behaviours throughout and beyond the transformation process.
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Effective communication starts with clear messaging and a compelling story that balances communicating to the heart and the mind. We believe in building a transformation core story and key messages based on insights into the people affected. This process is collaborative, involving the project owners.
Communicating in complex and often extensive transformations can be challenging. However, a well-crafted communication strategy helps define the cornerstone for communication and contributes to navigating communication efforts.
Good communication planning ensures that everyone understands the change and engages the stakeholders in making the change a success. That means killing complexity by ensuring that communication is crafted from an end receiver’s perspective.
Cutting through the clutter in a communication-saturated environment calls for carefully choosing what channels to utilise and creating the right content across print, digital communication, videos, events and other corporate channels
There is no way around it. SharePoint, Teams, Yammer, Slack and Workspace by Facebook are here to stay. They play a vital role in how corporate and change communication flows in most organisations. By recognising these platforms’ opportunities rather than focusing on their limitations, your organisation can experience a significant positive impact.
Old habits die hard, and even the best intentions sometimes fall short. Negligence and forgetfulness are common obstacles when trying to implement new behaviours but understanding the process of behavioural change allows for communication and nudging to shape desired behaviours.
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