Communicating Change to Your Teams

Mamuna Oladipo at UXDX APAC. Video: https://youtu.be/md0SYfBQRno

Readable transcript: edited from the recording's captions for readability (fillers and false starts removed, punctuation and section headings added). Wording is the speaker's own. Timestamps are positions in the video. Names marked [?] could not be verified against the audio.

Why communicating change matters

[00:00:00] Thank you all for tuning in. My name is Mamuna Oladipo, and we'll be chatting today about communicating change to teams. I picked this topic because change is constant, and we all know that product starts with having solid teams. To have solid teams, they need to understand the landscape they're playing in and how success will be measured, and be aware of any important changes that could potentially impact their focus.

[00:00:22] Before I deep dive, I want to take a quick moment to introduce myself, if this is the first time we're meeting. As I mentioned, my name is Mamuna Oladipo, she/her pronouns. I've led a number of teams, ranging from product management, product design, brand design and product marketing to engineering. I've worked across a number of industries: entertainment, music tech, gov tech, crowdfunding, and now e-commerce. I currently work as VP of product at Shopify.

[00:00:52] As I worked on picking a topic for today, I wanted it to be something relevant to everyone here. Over the past two years, something we've all experienced in one way or another is change. I'm sure if I asked the room to raise their hands and provide examples of a change that was communicated well versus not so well, we'd have some pretty interesting stories. I personally have some stories about myself, but that's for later. I find communication so fascinating because there are so many layers and approaches to consider when thinking about what you're going to say: the size of the change, the group that's being communicated to, the current state of the team, the company, the market, the world.

[00:01:35] So today, as I share with you all, I'm sprinkling in some nuggets of learning from my own personal experience. My hope is that you'll be able to take the learnings and some of the tools and apply them to your own approach when you're managing and leading across teams.

Establish your objectives

[00:01:53] With any communication, you want to make sure you know exactly why you are saying what you're saying. You need to establish your objectives. It sounds like a no-brainer, but I cannot tell you how many times I went to tell a team a thing without taking this step. I got in front of the team, I started to ramble, I confused myself. Questions came up and I didn't know how to answer them. When it came to wrap up, I had no idea how to bring it in, and my ending was awkward. We were all staring at each other, and it was not the way one would want to end a conversation like this.

[00:02:32] You have to think about it: your goal here is not just to share information. There's likely something in particular you're aiming to accomplish, so you want to be clear on your outcomes. You're clear on how the team will need to think about what you're saying, so you'll be able to say what you need to say in a way they can digest. By thinking about your outcomes, you can start to think about how your team will determine the change will impact them. You should consider words of reassurance, support or clarity that would help support your team further. You want to find natural pause points, if it makes sense, to allow for questions, whether that's at the beginning or the end. You'll want to think through those things, and then you need to think about your different mediums, which we'll talk about a little later.

[00:03:22] My recommendation here is to try to keep your outcomes to about two or three. If you're trying to communicate more, the message is likely bloated and you're trying to accomplish too much at one time. Like me, when I went into it with something like, I don't know, eight items to deliver on: your team is going to get lost, as will you.

Know your team

[00:03:46] As you formalize your outcomes, the next thing you'll want to think about is your team. You should have a strong understanding of your team's goals and their values, and understand how they interact. I've spoken about this in other talks, but you don't want the first time people see you to be in a conflict or in an unknown moment. You want to be sure you're taking the time to develop relationships with different team members. You want to understand their motivations and goals and their communication styles. The way you digest information is very different from the next person, so it's important that you place yourself in their shoes.

[00:04:22] I remember at the start of COVID I was leading a team through many changes in a short period of time, and I just tried to jam it all into one conversation. At the time I was super uncomfortable. I didn't feel like I had a strong grasp myself. I was talking to the team about layoffs, structural changes, a change in focus for teams, and a path for the future we should get excited about. I spoke for maybe 20 minutes straight. Again, I had maybe eight objectives that I tried to capture, and in my mind it felt like the right thing to do at the time. But where did I go wrong?

[00:05:03] If you said not considering the people I was speaking to, you are correct. I did not consider many things. The team was in a very vulnerable state, with a lot of unknowns, and the team really didn't need someone at that time to come up and just say things to them. They really wanted someone to see and understand them, and I didn't put myself in their shoes. Regrettably, I left everyone in the room with more questions than answers.

[00:05:31] I would have done things differently, of course, in retrospect. At the time I had just taken over a new function, and I was just getting to know people on the team. I had no idea how my messaging would land. I just went out there to make sure people knew about the change, so I could check the box. Ultimately, I probably would have done better to hold off on sharing the message until I felt confident and comfortable in what I was delivering, until I truly understood what I was hoping others would get out of that message, and until I had taken a moment to get to know the people on the team, so I could think about how they might perceive some of the changes I was communicating.

Reassurance, authenticity and plain language

[00:06:14] So don't be like me: take that time to reflect. If you know your team is resistant to change, you want to find ways to reassure them. You want to create familiarity and comfort in the change. If your team appreciates authenticity, you want to show up as yourself and offer that personal perspective, offer input into how you feel about the proposed changes. I feel like this one is really important, especially as a leader, because sometimes people feel you're detached from the change or you're just telling people what to do. You really want to bring it closer to you and personalize it, so they feel they have a connection with you as you're communicating this change, and that you're really thinking about them.

[00:06:56] And if you have a team that challenges change, you'll likely need more dedicated time outside of the space you're speaking in, to allow for questions and deeper conversation. A note on authenticity: you want to be clear and honest when communicating change to employees. Any extra sugar-coating, spin or jargon feels like an attempt to hide something, and you'll gain trust when you use very simple, straightforward language and they feel you're being very upfront about what's changing and why.

[00:07:33] You never want to talk down to your employees. That makes people feel resentful and undervalued. You really want to make sure your mindset isn't that people can't handle the truth. They can handle the truth, and it's up to you to make it as straightforward and simple as possible, so people know how to respond. My recommendation here is to develop a set of questions and bullets to help you form your thoughts on the outcomes, the key messages you want to deliver, and the types of questions you expect people to ask you. And on top of that, what are the things you think you would need to convey, either to answer those questions in the moment, or to get ahead of them and work them into your messaging?

Tell the story and the vision

[00:08:23] Now, pointing back to the moment I told you about, where I was in front of the teams and started to spew information about all the changes and all that fun stuff: it wasn't a good one, I assure you. When I reflect on that moment, the thing I also lacked was a sense of vision. I hadn't connected the dots to say where all the changes were going to take the organization.

[00:08:55] So when you're getting up there, because you don't want to be like me, you want to think about the organization. Is what you're communicating part of a larger story that involves you and the business? Telling that story enables everyone to envision where the company needs to be, where it is currently, and how to transition there. Communicating the story of your change can have a powerful effect in illuminating that path, that vision, so people can get excited and see themselves working on that path. As you move into more granular detail, you want to understand the key parts of the message, so teams have a clear understanding of what the change is and how it impacts their work. You want your teams aligned and heading in the same direction, so there's less ambiguity in what's being done.

[00:09:48] One thing I used to do was communicate a change and then move on: okay, great, the team's got it, I've done my part, whatever. But what I started to do is, any time I'm communicating a change, I start to look at the operations, at how teams are outputting, a couple of weeks after. I start to ask: are the teams' communications changing? Are they tighter, are they looser? Are we starting to see friction in the way people are communicating? Are we seeing more questions bubble up? Are people becoming detached? Are people leaving? What are some of the signs within your organization that show that maybe people didn't get, understand or align with the change you're communicating?

[00:10:32] When you're thinking about this, another important thing to consider is that you need to tell your team what's in it for them. You have to explain the benefits of the change and what employees can expect. Things will be different, yes, and you want to acknowledge that. Everyone may not like the change, and you need to acknowledge that too. But there's generally an upside, hopefully, so you want to make sure you outline that as well. If there's no upside, then you should say that. You need to admit that what's happening sucks, that people may not be happy, and that you will do as much as possible to make sure the change goes as smoothly as possible. Then you want to thank people for their patience and cooperation, for sticking through the shift, whatever it may be. You want to make sure they feel you appreciate them and see them in the moment.

[00:11:26] A way to craft that vision is by answering a couple of questions. I like to think about how the organization will operate once the change is made. What will employees or the team experience as a result of making this necessary transition? Will there be tangible results, and what will those results look like? Will there be a sense of accomplishment, and what will that feel like? What will the rewards be, both for individuals and for the organization as a whole? Making these answers part of your conversation is going to be central to how you communicate your change.

[00:12:04] Your employees will have a better understanding of why the organization is changing in this direction, why the change is imminent, and why it's critical to success. You'll help clarify the motivations behind organizational change, which hopefully helps your team have a better mutual understanding of what's happening and helps everyone work towards that shared vision. Though again, I repeat, a trap here is that you may feel the need to over-communicate in one sitting, so you really want to be mindful of how much information you can throw at one person at a time. Your goal is to think about what people truly need to understand in the moment, and the balance between feeling overwhelmed and confused versus having clarity that you can build on top of.

[00:12:54] A recommendation I've adopted here is to break out the who, what, where, when, why and how of my message, to make sure I'm anticipating what people may be wondering. Depending on the message, they may not all be relevant, but I think it's important for whoever's communicating to know that up front, so you know not to speak about something, or you can speak directly to it if the team asks.

Structure, timing and channel

[00:13:22] So you have your pieces together, and now you have to consider the activities around getting your message out there. You'll ask yourself: what is the best way to get your message across to your team? How can you share this communication so you achieve your objectives? Some considerations here. One, you need to think through structure. You'll need to consider the order in which you'll share your points when you're speaking to the team. Will you have time at the end for questions, or will you let folks pop in with questions? Will you have anyone else with you, or will you do it solo?

[00:13:59] Think about the moment. Do you have a recurring team meeting where you can easily address everyone? Do you need to schedule a dedicated moment? If you schedule a dedicated moment, does that cause panic on the team, and do you need to think about how to approach that in a meaningful way? Then there's timing. Is there a time of day or week that works better for your team, or for you to speak? Is there a deadline for the communication? And when you think about the channel: is it a public Slack message, a video announcement, or a meeting, so the communication is interactive? It all depends on the size and scope of what you're looking to accomplish with that announcement, so you want to make sure you're going through all of these bits.

Set clear expectations

[00:14:45] I wanted to throw in a couple of tidbits for you to consider as you're thinking about change communication, because there are so many parts to it. One is that as you're setting your change management plan, you really want to be clear about your expectations. The team feels very reassured, and they're quicker to get on board, when you paint a clear picture of exactly what's going to happen and when. If you have a step-by-step list, for example, you can share that. If your employees respond well to graphics, use them. If people work better with a roadmap, where you talk in explicit detail through each point, you can do that as well, as long as people on your team have a strong sense of where you're going.

[00:15:37] I've found that in my role I've had to employ different methods. I've used graphics, I've used step-by-steps, I've done a roadmap, and sometimes it's for the same message, just depending on the group I'm speaking with. That's me understanding how my teams digest information, and that's a great place for a lot of you to start when you're thinking about setting those expectations. Don't assume that by just saying the thing, people will get it.

Start with your managers

[00:16:11] One of my biggest mistakes was not starting with my managers. I remember getting in front of a room to announce a pretty large change in terms of a team's focus. I just put the meeting in the calendar randomly for everyone, put them in a room, and started talking about the thing. The managers had no clue what I was talking about. They were caught completely off guard, and I had no advocates in the room to help support my messaging or help answer questions. This was a big mistake. It is not a good feeling when everyone in the room is confused, caught off guard, or in disagreement. It is nice when you have allies.

[00:17:02] So, especially in a distributed environment, you really want to make sure you start your messaging with managers first. They will likely have questions, and they will offer you great feedback to help adjust your messaging. Again, it is not good to have everyone in the room confused, so you want to try to flush out those moments early. Your managers likely have a good pulse on how your team is feeling and how they would respond to a thing, and you can flesh that out early. You want your managers to be aligned on the direction, so when you're in the room and you say it, they're like, thumbs up, we get it.

[00:17:40] The team may have questions, and managers can speak to some of those questions and answers as well. And when you leave the room, there are likely team meetings or one-on-one conversations where managers and others can now have the conversation on your behalf. Communication has broken down if your managers or others always have to call you into the room to be the one to communicate the thing. So you want to make sure that at the very start you give that time and space. Even if it's something urgent that has to be done quickly, a Slack message, whatever it takes to give someone a heads-up, it's worth it.

A clear call to action

[00:18:26] Then there's the call to action. I think the term gets thrown around a lot, but it is critical for outlining what needs to be done and by when. I used to be the type of manager who would have a direct report, and I'd say, okay, great, we're aligned, you're going to deliver on this thing, see you soon. I would not specify my expectation that it be done by the end of the day or the week or the month, whatever it may be. So this person takes their time, and I come to them and say, hey, where's the thing? And they're like, well, I didn't prioritize it yet, I have all these other things on my mind. And I'm like, what do you mean? We talked about it, it should be done by now.

[00:19:06] I failed as a manager to communicate when I was expecting the thing to be done. In this world it's the same sort of thinking. It's critical for people to know if there is a thing they're working towards: this change is going to take place by this date, so we have to hit these major milestones. Communicate it, whether it's bulleted lists, or bold fonts because you have a presentation, whatever it takes. You want to make sure this essential step is there. I would also say that even if there isn't a strong, necessary call to action, I would try to create one, so that teams feel involved and engaged in the transition. They understand, they feel like they're adding value on the path of the transition, and they're not just bystanders to whom things are just happening. So if you don't have one, I would consider creating one.

Cascading the message

[00:20:09] And then cascading. With all the things I've talked about from my personal experiences, like not speaking to managers first: when you're thinking about communication, it's best delivered from the top. It could be your CEO, a VP, your director, whoever it is. You want to make sure you all have the same messaging and are saying the same thing. One person may communicate it in a town hall, someone else may follow up in an email, and you might post in Slack or whatever company messaging app you have. You're going to have to do it in more than one place, and likely more than one person will be communicating it. So you need to think about the plan. It needs to cascade in a meaningful way, so people aren't confused by different words or different messages coming through from whoever is saying it.

[00:21:08] You also want to make sure that as you start to cascade it down, there's an opportunity for two-way communication. Think about how teams are going to ask questions, how they're going to express concerns, and how they're going to get answers. These things help to build trust further. You want to be personal, you want it to feel like it's executed correctly, and you want them to feel like, hey, we're all in this together. Allow your team to ask questions, and address them clearly and honestly. You want to come across as authentic. And as you have different leaders, or if it's you, using different mediums, make sure there's consistency, but that it matches the medium you're communicating through.

Keep communicating

[00:22:00] With that, we all acknowledge that change is hard, but even harder is developing the plan for how to communicate the change so as not to overwhelm or discourage your teams. After the initial communication of change, you want to make sure you keep communicating. Be prepared to communicate it not just once but again and again and again throughout the process. You want to restate the vision and retell the story. I have learned multiple times over that people often won't get it the first time, and the more you communicate it, the more they hear or see something that could be interesting or different to them that they may want to ask you about.

[00:22:38] So make the time and space for your team to digest it in a meaningful way, because once everyone's aligned, you can do exciting things. Your organization will be motivated and equipped to help you effect that change. Individuals make change every day, and organizations shift gears and become increasingly successful as a result. Your communication strategy can play an important role in enabling that transformation for a lasting impact. I hope you're able to take some of these nuggets and apply them to your own skills today. Thank you.