Leading successful change is mindset over messaging

Hey Reader,

Over the past two weeks, I’ve delivered two workshops, chaired a conference, and moderated a panel, all on the topic of change management communication.

My colleagues presented amazing case studies of their work and we all talked about how much has changed in the field since 2020. Yet we still see so much stakeholder communication rooted in knowledge-focused messaging (as in, once they know, they will surely change); announcements, playbooks, press releases, and similar tactics.

But what people think will work to change behavior, doesn’t

It’s not about changing the hearts and minds of stakeholders. Yet so many leaders and their organizations continue running these plays, despite evidence to the contrary.

A couple of years ago, Professor Dolores Albarracín and her colleagues from the Social Action Lab at the University of Pennsylvania did a review of all of the available multidisciplinary meta-analyses of both the individual and social-structural determinants of behavior and the efficacy of behavioral change interventions that target them.

A meta-analysis is a synthesis of the results from multiple studies. So what they did was take all of the available meta-analyses and synthesized that, so their study is a meta-analysis of meta-analyses. They presented this new classification of predictors of behavior and a new empirical model for understanding the different ways to change behavior by targeting either individual or social/structural factors.

I like to reference this study in my talks and with clients and colleagues because it’s the largest quantitative synthesis to date to determine what interventions work best when trying to change people’s behavior.

Of course, they found that the strategies that people assume will work, like giving people accurate information or trying to change their beliefs, do not. What works is targeting habits, behavioral skills, behavioral attitudes, access, and social support.

Commcoterie’s framework for developing stakeholder communication aligns with these findings. But targeting habits and access is hard. Which is why the mindset and approach (or the behavioral attitude and habits) of leaders and communicators are what have to shift first.

Commcoterie’s framework for developing stakeholder communication consists of curiosity, compass, and clarity

CURIOSITY is a desire to know; an interest in others’ concerns that leads to inquiry. COMPASSION is a sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it. CLARITY is the quality of being easily understood or of having a full, detailed, and orderly grasp of something.

This framework is a strategic approach rather than a checklist of tactics (such as, create key messages, develop a stakeholder list, tailor the messages to the stakeholders, and distribute the messages via various communication channels).

In order to do the most strategic work, you have to approach the work strategically. If we’re talking about how to create better change communication, we have develop our own new habits.

Instead of saying, “What are the key messages?”, embrace curiosity: I want to know and support, and so I will inquire. I am going to get curious about the situation, the goals, the intentions, the people. I’m going to be curious about it all. And if there aren’t answers, I will help uncover and define those answers.

Instead of simply asking “Who needs to know?” utilize compassion: I acknowledge that there will be distress and I will work to alleviate it. Change is not a PR campaign to convince everyone that the CEO has a very good idea. Even if it’s a good change, disruption is distressing. It’s distracting. It increases people’s mental burden. The mindset is, I am going to acknowledge that and I am going to attempt to alleviate that for anyone this change could touch.

Instead of picking which communication channels to use, aim for clarity: I will transfer understanding, ownership, and autonomy to others. I put in the inquiry work myself at the start so that the journey is smoother for everyone else. I will facilitate their understanding, their decision-making, and them taking ownership over the future state.

In my world, questions facilitate a strategic approach

Once you grasp the mindset, put the framework into practice with questions like these:

Curiosity

Why?
What is the purpose?
What is the ideal outcome?
What are we asking folks to start doing, stop doing, or do differently?
Why would they want to?
How can we make new behaviors routine and automatic?
Who are the stakeholders and who are we overlooking?
Where might things go wrong?

Compassion

How will this change impact different stakeholders in different ways?
How might they react?
What might we be missing?
What would keep them from changing?
What challenges or barriers to change do we anticipate?
What would make change easier, especially when the topics are hard?
How can I reduce burdens, barriers, and distress, even when the change seems positive?
How can I make things simpler, kinder, and more compassionate?

Clarity

Who, what, when, where, why, and how? Why? (again)
How can I more clearly connect and reinforce the message to the purpose and ideal outcome?
What do people need to be successful?
What is missing?
What could make this easier?
How impactful are the tactics we’ve aligned to the outcomes we’re after?
How do we know?

This framework can help shift your mindset and your behavior from message deliverer to someone who is able to create change communication that actually results in behavioral change.

In my work with clients, this inquiry is baked into the entire process

This is why our overall strategies, not just the communication plans that support them, are well-considered, reduce friction, and connect the nitty gritty of the day-to-day with the north star of an organization’s purpose.

Try out the framework and let me know what you think. And if you would benefit from a thought partner to ensure that leading your organization through these times of constant change is smoother and more successful, get in touch and we can talk about it.

Talk soon,

Caitlin

Caitlin Harper
Founder & Principal Strategist, Commcoterie

From Commcoterie's Coterie

coterie: co`te*rie" (k?`te-r?"), n. A set or circle of persons who meet familiarly, as for social, literary, or other purposes; a clique

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