Simplify Change: How to Structure Effective Change Guidance

Hey,

I hope you are safe and well. Welcome to this week's (later than usual) Meeting Notes newsletter. Things are good here at Lambert Towers.

In this edition I will share a classic document/talk structure - and some content ideas, for anyone doing business change.

Workshop Mastery

My Workshop Mastery book is now live! As loyal readers there is a discount applied if you use this link here. This book has been pure joy to write - as it's about a subject I care immensely about; teaching people in workshops.

There is a book page on this Cultivated Management page for you to find out more about the book. Use the discount link above though to get the discount!

Enjoy. And go forth and teach what you know.

For those new to the Meeting Notes newsletter, welcome, I’m Rob, Chief Workshop Officer at Cultivated Management. This newsletter is about mastering the art of communication and creativity - and cultivating a bright future of work. 

Leading Business Change - some content guidance

What follows is my own personal playbook and content ideas for writing compelling, interesting and engaging change content material. Of course, material alone does not replace dialogue, alignment and action.

But, people will be expecting something to read through to understand change. A good change artefact can also double up as a structure for conversations, presentations and the like.

I use the following structure ALL THE TIME. It is a combination of experience and good, effective communication techniques. You will find further guidance in the writing section of the newly revamped Communication Superpower guidebook.

Some basics principles first, before we jump into the model I use.

1. You are writing to grab attention now - and keep it, so that people keep reading.
2. The content must be valuable for the audience you are writing it for. No value, no engagement, no change.
3. You must sound like your audience. Use words they use, use phrases they use.
4. You must pose a problem. This problem has a cost if it is not resolved. It has benefits if it is resolved. But before you outline the costs and benefits, you must include enough details to be sure everyone understands the problem.
5. There must be a challenge for people to take on. A challenge is something that is both exciting and hard. If it's just hard to overcome but not exciting or motivating....good luck.
6. The changes themselves must be clear.
7. You must explain why the change matters - and why now. You must convince people that the change is the right change by explaining why it was decided upon and creating a compelling narrative or story that is valuable to THEM.
8. The language and structure of the guidance must have a forward momentum - keep people reading.

With all of the above let's jump through the logical sections I include in change guidance. In the diagram the size of each box depicts how important each section is - the bigger the box, the longer you should spend on getting it right.

The following guidance is suitable for presentations, handbooks, web pages etc

Writing for change

Title

It goes without saying that your guide should have a title. Don't make it boring. Use words such as "Story" or "Guide" or "Journey". Ideally you want people to feel like that it's not boring and dull, and is something they can engage in.

For example "The agile transformation story" or "The HR optimisation journey".

Quote

I always suggest opening with a quote.

Ideally the quote would be from a business leader or the CEO themselves. Of course, it should relate to the content, or change, or movement, or transformation - something relevant.

If there is a "case for change" - even better - get a quote from the boss saying why change is essential.

If you don't have one from someone in the business, find a suitable quote from some famous person. Someone trustworthy and respectable.

Contents

Enough said. Contents, nicely laid out, simple to understand.

What's happening?

This is where you introduction to problem space.

You must pose the problem that the change addresses. No need for deep dives into the problem being tackled, but a simple introduction to ensure everyone reading is aligned around the right problem. All businesses have too many problems - align everyone around the problem being addressed.

You should explain why the problem needs addressing.

In other words, what is the cost to us, the business and people in it, if the problem is left unresolved? Again, simple, clean, compelling language should be used.

It's also then worth explaining the benefits of solving the problem. How will our work and lives be easier? What are the upsides to the change? And how will we know we've solved it?

In your language here, use words like "us", "we", "together". Use forward moving words like "therefore", "as you can see", "let's move on" etc to keep to momentum moving.

It's also essential to sound like your audience. Use the right words and phrases - the ones they would use. Don't sound corporate, formal and structured. Of course, you may have corporate writing guidelines that force you to sound like everyone else, but I'll save guidance on that for some other time.

Explain the change at a high level. "We're moving to this tool", "we're restructuring the team", "we're implementing agile ways of working" etc. A good way to do this could be to use a before and after, or That To This approach.

i.e. Before (We used spreadsheets to manage finances) --> After (We're using X tool to simplify and align).

It should be clear, after reading this short section (no more than a slide or small side of paper) what the problem is, the cost of leaving it unresolved, the benefits of resolving it, and (at a high level) what the resolution is.

The Changes (Benefits)

Now is the time to explain, in maybe three or four pages (one minimalist page per change reason), why the change was decided upon. In other words, why did we choose this change solution - and what benefits it will bring.

As much as you (and your team) have noodled with the problem and decided upon some change based on evidence, data and analysis, you need to convince other people that it is the right change.

This is where you pull upon the heart strings of the reader to explain why this change is a good thing (assuming it is), and why it will make the business, and the lives of people in it better.

In other words, consider the benefits of solving the problem - explain these in compelling, interesting and personal ways, doubling down on why and how this change will release these benefits.

Don't overwhelm with hundreds of benefits. Three is a good number.

For example, maybe the problem is that your HR team have to store employee data in a crappy old tool, crunch data in a spreadsheet and have zero reporting on any numbers around HR related work.

The cost of that is more tedium and manual crunching. The solution is a new tool that can alleviate much of this, whilst also providing super accurate real-time data easily.

The three benefits could be:

1. Simplify the process of all aspects of HR
2. No more spreadsheet number crunching as the new tool has built in real time reporting
3. Hours saved on manual entry, freeing people up for more valuable HR work with the business

Explain each one. Use personal language "us", "we", "together". Make this rich and compelling but not lengthy. Don't include technical details - that can come later.

Another example - shifting to an agile Way of Working:

1. Streamline the time taken between idea and value
2. Encourage more autonomy and localised decision making
3. Rapid feedback and reduction in delays.

All good reasons that can be explained in a powerful, personal and emotionally compelling way.

Explain why this change was decided upon. And use language to keep moving forward "let's go", "find out more on the next page".

Challenge

Now is time to pose a challenge to the readers. In a change program of any time, the challenge is always bringing the change to life.

The challenge is an essential part of any story.

We have the problem. We know it is a problem. We know it is a problem that has high costs if we don't solve it. We know we have some benefits that come from solving it. We now have the challenge - take it on. Deal with it. Solve it.

In this short section you are encouraging people to galvanise around solving the problem (the challenge). In all stories the challenge is taken on by a merry bunch of people with varying skills and competencies - exactly like all businesses.

As such, you need to pose the challenge for what is it - hard, tricky, incomplete, likely to throw curve balls but my word, we should take it on.

On the other side of any challenge is personal growth - ensure this is weaved in alongside the benefits of solving the problem.

Consider painting the challenge as hard, large, big, interesting, compelling, not a path of least resistance and daunting. But we can solve it. Of course we can - if we come together.

Briefly explain that everyone has a role to play and details are later in the guide.

Why now?

To complete, in the reader's mind, why the change was rightly decided upon, it's important to explain why is the right time. Sure, we could have tackled this problem and taken on the challenge years ago, or some time in the future. So, explain why now is the right time.

That could be funding, or maybe the costs of the problem are becoming too unbearable. Maybe it is merely timing, or because new skills are in the team.

Whatever the reason is, explain why now is the time to make the change. Again, simple words, compelling and use personal language (we, us, together, all of us etc).

Motivate and inform

At this point you shouldn't be more than about 12 - 15 pages in. And those pages are light, easy to read and simple. Now we jump into the detail but before we do, articulate something motivational.

I tend to use something like:

"Let's jump into the details to see how we all play a part" or something like that. Sounds simple but it works.

In the following few pages, explain the details of the change. This will be contextual to your world but I'd expect some or all of the following:

1. Timelines
2. Who's leading
3. What role people play
4. What people can expect (training, awareness, etc)
5. Technical details (if needed)
6. Processes details
7. Working groups
8. How to stay informed

etc.

Why this works

This process works because it's compelling, interesting for the reader and most importantly - it's valuable to them.

There is no shortage at all of editorial and written space, but there is a limit to mental bandwidth. That is why it's essential to start with the problem that needs solving, explaining the costs and benefits. After this grounding the change needs explains AND why that change was decided upon.

We then need to pose a challenge that needs overcoming in order to solve the problem, classic story telling. And then move into the details.

Most change guidance is devoid of value - sure, you may get people's attention initially but you must also keep it - and to do that, it must be valuable to THEM. People will read any number of words if it's interesting.

Most change guidance starts with a case for change and then jumps into the details - without anchoring everyone around the problem (costs/benefits), nor explaining why the proposed solution is the right one.

At the end of the day, we need people to feel connected to, and supportive of the change.

We need them to understand why the change is happening, what the change is and why it was decided upon this course of action. And of course, what the benefits are.

If you're doing any kind of business change, no matter how small - consider this structure for your change guidance. And of course, this translates nicely to a presentation and conversation too.

Until next time

Rob..

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