Communication is Vital to Change in the New World of Work – Especially in Africa
Ripples of change are spreading across the globe and finding the most efficient ways to accept, adapt, and communicate within this time of flux has rarely been more important.
The global pandemic transformed the way we work, creating the hybrid, digital-first environment that is the norm for many of us. The tenuous geopolitical situation in the Ukraine is still negatively effecting numerous industries – especially the energy sector – and the looming economic recession is affecting budgeting habits and employment rates.
According to recent research, for change managers worldwide it’s been a time of evolution – to find dynamic ways to implement change successfully. Change management solutions leader, Prosci, conducted a study in last quarter of 2022 to examine how organisations handled complex changes at an unparalleled pace and scale, to find the top contributors to change success as the world continues to experience the change ripple effect.
The organisation identified seven key contributors but also noted how different they are to implement since the advent of the global pandemic:
Our team at and Change was curious to see how these contributors aligned in the local context, so we conducted our own research with African change leaders and asked them their opinions. Unsurprisingly, sponsorship (leaders within an organisation taking charge of the change) was also top of our success list. But another interesting parallel is how globally, the change strategy widely considered most difficult to pull off is engaging with frontline employees, and this is something that was also highlighted in our research.
Communication strategies – how do we avoid overcommunication?
According to our respondents, even the simplest communication about a given change requires more planning because of the hybrid situation. Managers, while focusing on team health, were occasionally forced into what we call ‘double engagement’ – as messaging had to be relayed face-to-face and online.
However, this has resulted in more frequent check-ins with employees – online and in-person – due to a feeling of ‘less connection’ with our employees. And while we have a wider variety of online communication tools, many local respondents didn’t feel it was difficult to measure their effectiveness in driving change.
Meanwhile, change leaders and sponsors, realised that in the absence of physical presence, they had to become more visible and active throughout the change journey. While overcommunication is a trend, what is ideal is to shorten the content and maintain frequent informative (and unique) communication, rather than repeated, bloated messaging. However, this increase in communication with employees (usually one-way messaging and announcements) has led to greater communication fatigue from sponsors who are already stretched. It also means less time to directly engage with frontline employees, and hearing concerns.
It’s for this reason the change manager has become a critical component in somewhat relieving the duties on the sponsor, while also being a conduit between organisational leadership and the rest of the team. However, our research shows that this is also taking a toll on these agents of change, who are also expected to be always-on, develop more client specific strategies, and always engage with various platforms of communication – even after hours.
The majority of our respondents said their organisations were either nearing, or past the point of change saturation. Similarly, engagement with people leaders and sponsors has seen a major increase in hand holding. By that, I mean that not only do they need more time (leaders in African businesses are notoriously stretched and often must play many roles), but they need more coaching to help them to take the lead on change.
While managing this saturation requires even further, direct communication, input, and planning from the change manager, we noted many organisations were putting fewer resources to change management. Because of this, it’s up to us as change managers to communicate (and demonstrate) the value add of our work, show the importance of adopting our strategies to sustain projects, and remind our clients and employers that without the right management, 70% of organisational transformations fail.