All changes need to be communicated to internal and external stakeholders. The development of the communication plan should be part of the change management system.
One of the better models I’ve used is Prosci’s ADKAR.
This is a good model because it matches very nicely to the 4 major phases of change.
- In Propose we focus on Awareness and Desire
- In Evaluate we focus on Knowledge and Ability
- in Implement we focus on Ability and Reinforcement
- And in Close, we focus on sustained Reinforcement and perhaps Awareness of a new change.
Not every change is the same size, and not every change uses the same tactics of communication. Often these tactics are training.
A table, such as the one below, can help.
| Item | Description of What it is | Audience | Publication Date |
| List each of the proposed elements of your communication plan | Be sure to include key stakeholder outreach along with all other tactics | Who | List the date you want the communication delivered |
There are lots of good tools out there for communicating. This post was prompted by this post on elevator pitches, which are one of my favorite items in my toolkit. Every change, big or small, should have an elevator pitch ready to go. And make sure it evolves according to the change/process improvement lifecycle.
Investigations of a Dog 
16 thoughts on “Change Management and Communication”