by bswift Insights

It’s an expected part of the modern workplace: organizations and their employees are in a constant state of change. There are complicated processes like mergers and acquisitions or rolling out new technologies, and simpler initiatives, too, like revamping the onboarding playbook for new hires. But even though change is expected, that doesn’t make it easy.

With many moving pieces to track during a change, leaders, initiative owners, and communicators like to focus on getting materials out and checking items off their to-do lists—often missing the most important question: How effective is our internal change communication strategy?

Why Measure Change Communication?

Just because a message was sent doesn’t mean employees have seen and understood it. Measurement can help you understand if employees:

• Are paying attention to communication
• Understand what’s happening and what it means to them
• Know what they need to do
• See barriers to the change

The best change communication plans adapt as change initiatives roll out. Gathering feedback and assessing the effectiveness of communication will help you make informed decisions about your plan. Plus, research shows that measuring during change has a positive impact on how employees embrace it.

How is Change Communication Measured?

Here are five practical ways to measure the effectiveness of your change communication. Since technology changes are so common across organizations, these examples will focus on technology-related initiatives. However, these strategies can be applied to any change communication initiative.

1. Assess Progress Against Objectives: Measure Change Communication Success and Milestones

While this strategy may sound obvious, project teams frequently skip the basics once they’re in the thick of it. Start by reviewing your initiative and communication objectives—what you set out to achieve. Then determine how the change is progressing and what still needs to be done. Turn this simple progress review into a dashboard of key metrics, milestones, and goals to be shared with the project team (and other stakeholders) to keep them aligned, track progress, and determine next steps.

Example: When we helped a software company launch a new performance management tool, we set a clear goal: 90% employee adoption by the end of the year. By the middle of Q2, however, only 50% of employees were participating. With mid-year reviews quickly approaching, we had the perfect opportunity to ramp up communication and add new tactics.

2. Review Metrics and Data: Using Communication Channels and Employee Engagement Analytics

It’s helpful to think about data on three levels:

• Original research. Surveys are a great diagnostic (Where are we having problems?), while focus groups dig into the reasons behind employees’ perceptions.
• E-metrics. Digital communication tools generate useful data that demonstrate how employees are using communication channels. For example, do they read the intranet article or attend the town hall?
• Employee behaviors. Most change is about doing something differently, so it’s important to track those new behaviors. Do employees enroll in the new benefits program? Do they use the new finance system?

Example: We worked with a real estate company transitioning to a new CEO while also implementing a new business strategy and launching a campaign focused on culture—all at the same time.

To prepare, we assessed how employees were engaging with newsletters, emails, and the intranet. We also conducted focus groups to dig deeper into the data. We learned that the newsletter and intranet were effective, but employees needed to hear more from leaders. Using this data, we launched a communication campaign that amplified leader visibility and helped them understand their communication role with the three big initiatives.

3. Rely on Managers: Leverage Manager Communication for Change Management Success

When employees have questions or concerns, they turn to their managers first. Tap a small group of managers early in the process. Start by gathering a list of the common questions they anticipate receiving about the change. Use their input to create tools like FAQs, how-to guides, or other resources to help all managers.

Example: Instead of creating traditional talking points during the launch of a new onboarding system, we created an online forum for managers where they could share questions from their team and get quick answers from the change team. We tracked the conversations, categorized key questions, and compiled everything in a robust FAQ.

4. Conduct Convenience Research: Quick Surveys to Assess Training and Change Readiness

It’s common to schedule a training session when launching a new technology. Following the session, it feels natural to move on since everyone is an expert now—right? This strategy is all about assessing that knowledge. At the end of a meeting or Zoom call, conduct a short survey. It’s convenient and designed to leverage your captive audience.

Example: After rolling out training on a new finance system, we asked participants to complete a quick five-question knowledge assessment. The data revealed a learning gap with one module in the training, so we created a quick how-to video to address the issue and help employees understand what to do.

5. Gather Feedback: Best Practices for Ongoing Change Communication Improvement

Once a change has been rolled out and considered complete, it’s time to move on to the next thing on your endless to-do list, right? Not so fast. Taking a moment to gather feedback at the end of a change initiative provides valuable insight into whether the change is truly sticking and if there are lessons for next time.

Example: During the pandemic, we helped a manufacturing company launch a communication program across multiple locations to help plant employees understand new safety protocols and what they needed to do. Six weeks later, we ran a survey to gauge the effectiveness of our efforts. The results revealed that communications preferences varied by location.

One site preferred verbal updates from leaders, while other sites preferred written materials like flyers. We adapted our communication program to include more flexibility to use preferred channels at each site. Employee feedback helped us refine the program, and ensured employees didn’t miss critical safety updates.

Remember, delivering communication materials during a big change is just one step in the communication process. Touchpoints and change milestones along the way are perfect opportunities to stop, assess, and pivot as necessary. It’s not about checking the box and getting it done. It’s about focusing on impacted employees and the objectives of the change. Is communication making a difference?