Marina Simunovic:
In recent years, I have seen the same thing happen time and again: strong change plans that get bogged down on the shop floor. In this article, I share why that happens and how (change) communication makes the difference between knowing and actually doing.
For five years, I worked as a Service Designer. My goal was clear: to make business processes and services insightful and people-oriented. But during that time, I increasingly noticed something: the most sophisticated processes failed in practice. Not because those processes weren't right, but because people didn't understand the change or couldn't act on it. Over the past five years at GroupMapping, I have specialised in (change) communication, because I see it as the indispensable bridge between abstract strategy and people's daily experience.
When organisations transform, whether it is a new strategy or all kinds of change projects, I see that the focus is often on reporting lines, new ways of working and tight KPIs. The human side is taken for granted in the process. But that is precisely where the crux lies: an organisation only changes when the people change.
In practice, internal communication and change communication often lumped together, if there is any focus on it besides external communication. Yet the distinction is essential. Internal communication focuses mainly on inform. But a transformation requires a focus on dynamics, aimed at activation and mobilisation. It's about turning people on to the content and the why. To then actually get them moving on realisation. Internal communication makes people know, this approach makes people feel and do it.
Without this focused approach, there is a gap between paper reality and the shop floor. Employees understand the ‘what’, but lack the translation to their own work. This leads to uncertainty and resistance. A well-designed activation and mobilisation process, with the accompanying (change) communication, closes that gap. It makes change concrete, understandable and, most importantly, supported.
Change requires more than a good plan. It requires attention, timing and meaning. Do you recognise the stagnation I describe above and want to take the next step in it together? Get in touch with me, I would love to help you further.
