Less Chatter, More Matter: The Communications Podcast

#141 5 mistakes you might be making with your comms plan (and how to fix them)

• Season 1 • Episode 141

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Are you guilty of copy-and-pasting your comms plan each time?  It may sound more efficient but when these habits become our norm, we risk repeating the same mistakes and missing the outcomes we actually want.

In this episode of the Less Chatter, More Matter podcast, we explore five common mistakes we see in communication plans, especially during times of internal change, and what to do instead. 

We look into things like forgotten audience context and focusing too much on the business perspective, while sharing how to fix these things to make the biggest difference.

If your comms plan could use a refresh, this one’s for you!

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New strategy, new piece of technology, new ways of working, and processes, new structures, new brand. These are all examples of changes we typically see in most organisations, and because they've become more commonplace, it's become easier to slip into the habit of having a typical communication strategy and plan as well. We all do it, especially when we're under the pump and we're trying to juggle so many different projects at once. And sometimes, I'm not gonna lie, it makes sense to simply copy and paste from one comms plan to another. Again, where it makes sense, especially when changes are very similar. But in these habits and in the rush, lies a problem. If we keep making the same mistakes, then we don't get the outcomes we want. And when you're just copying and pasting from one plan to another, those mistakes just keep happening. What are those mistakes and are you making them? And what should you be doing instead? That's what today's episode is all about. Hello, friend, and welcome back to Less Chatter, More Matter, the communications podcast. My name's Mel Loy and I'm recording this on the lands of the Yuggera and Turrbal people here in Meanjin,, Brisbane. And on today's episode, I'm sharing five of the common mistakes I see in communication strategies and plans, especially when they're supporting internal change. Now I am the first to admit my strategies and plans are not perfect, and I too have succumbeded to the warm embrace of sticking with what I've done in the past. So the first step to addressing these mistakes is be aware of them. The second step is then to address them. And that's important because if we keep doing what we've always done, we will always get what we've always got. The world we live in and work in is constantly changing, and so are the needs and the habits and the expectations of our audiences. So as communicators, our value and advancing our profession lies in our ability to continuously improve, adapt to the world around us, and look at opportunities for doing things differently. So if you think you too may be stuck in a rut or maybe you know someone who needs a bit of inspiration to change their ways, then this episode is for you. So let's get into it. Mistake number one, forgetting the context. Now, I don't mean the context as in all the background information, et cetera, for your messages. Sometimes we do forget that when it's needed. Absolutely. But what I mean by this is the context in which people actually engage with your communication. So for example, let's say you have a big audience. They're people who work with patients all day, so they're in a healthcare setting. The only time they're able to check their messages is a short tea break, or at the end of their shift when they're absolutely exhausted and probably really over it. The way they receive or perceive messages in that moment compared to how they may have received it at the start of their shift could be very different to what you intended. Maybe you've got people who work in a really busy call centre, so they only have a few minutes between calls to stop and check messages, and again, they could be quite flustered or feeling stressed and rushed when they read your message. And in both these cases, having a message that starts with something like, we are so excited, we're delighted, or You need to go and read this intranet article about blah, blah. It's probably going to fall on deaf ears and feel quite disingenuous. So when you look at your audience segments, apart from looking at the channels they use, think about the context they are working in. That could really change, not just the channel you use to reach them, but entire messages can change. Maybe it needs to be much shorter or have a message of reassurance like, don't worry, you don't have to do anything about this right now. You could even acknowledge that context that they're in by saying something like, we know you might be reading or watching this at the end of a long, busy shift. So we're going to keep it quick. Those little things can show people you care and help get your message across in the way you want it to come across. So that's mistake number one. Forgetting the context that people perceive your message in. Mistake number two. Assuming a one size fits all approach. I've talked about this on the podcast before, but this is kind of related to number one, which is not really thinking about your audience and their needs change. Comms is very granular. We focus on each audience group and what the comms means for them. That's one of the big differences between change comms and internal comms. The latter tends to be more broad and often campaign or awareness based. And each change means different things to different people. So we need to make sure that how we talk about that change is specific and relevant to each audience group. Instead of doing a broadcast style communication with a list of lots of changes. Now, why is this important? Well, people get a lot of communication every day from every channel imaginable, and it's only getting worse. So if you want to be relevant. And you want people to get the message quickly, then you need to put yourself in their shoes. I mean, have you ever received an email or been told to watch a video and thought, why have they sent this? Why am I getting this? And when that happens, we tend to then ignore all of the following communication because they haven't got our attention in the first opportunity they had. So instead of assuming a one size fits all approach, start with each audience segment and map out exactly what is changing for them, how and why, but also what's not changing for them. That's the basis of your messaging. And then secondly, remember that everyone has different preferences when it comes to how they receive and share information. So some people might be more visual, some people more auditory, some like the big picture thinking. Others love the detail. Some want time to process the information before they come with questions and others wanna talk it out. If you just send the message one way every time, there's a good chance that you are missing the market with a massive percentage of your audience. So here's where we follow the rule of three, repackage the same message in three different ways to meet as many people's needs as possible. Now, what are those three ways you might be asking? Well, honestly, it depends on your audience. Remember, we always start with them, so. A team leader should, in an ideal world, have a really good idea of the preferences of the individuals on their teams. But for the rest of us who are communicating at that broad organisation, wide level to big audiences, consider just doing something visual, something written, and maybe something auditory. And always include the extra detail for people who want it. But put it somewhere else. Like don't put it in the long, big email that you send out. Have it as an attachment. It just takes up too much time and space. And importantly, if you are not sure, ask people really appreciate that. So just ask them, what are their preferred styles and methods, and that can really help shape your communication plan. Mistake number three, making the CEO, the voice of every communication and then relying on the comms cascade. Now, this is something that still happens all the time, even though we've known for quite some time that it's not working. When we make the CEO, the voice of every comms. It's problematic for a few reasons. Number one, we know from research from sources like Edelman and Garter Gartner, that the CEO is not the most trusted voice in the organisation. In fact, a new survey from FirstUp has just come out. It's quite a small survey, but it backs up this as well. So literally just back in August and in this survey. More than 52% of people who were surveyed said their direct manager is their most trusted source for company updates. Only 10% said the same of their senior leaders and employees rely on their managers for more than just updates. So 53% turned to their manager first with a work related question, and then 86% of them rely on them. On their manager to translate company updates into what those changes mean for them. That's the importance of that role. We cannot underestimate it. So when you have that CEO comms, it's not coming from the most trusted voice. But also when you are using the CEO for every change initiative, you start to water down the importance of it, especially if the change doesn't actually impact the whole organisation. And then we have the broken cascade, which again we've talked about before. At most, only about 30% of messages that start at the top of an organization actually get to the front line. So you have a voice that nobody listens to and a message that nobody is getting. What can we do about it? Firstly, choose the right voice for the audience. Who is the most influential person for that particular audience segment? As I said, it is likely to be their team leader, maybe a department head. And you want to make sure that message is meaningful and relevant to that audience. And secondly, don't just rely on the top down comms. Think about the bottom up, the sideways in comms as well. So do you have some peer networks in your business that you can tap into? Are there other means of getting messages directly to the front line, like a forum or a chat group that they always use? We have to think outside the box and around it and in it. Okay. Mistake number four. Focusing on the business perspective, not the employee perspective. This one is part of the reason why I decided to do this episode this week, actually. I was looking at a comms that someone had asked me to review. Now, firstly, kudos to anyone who takes a punt and gives the first draft a go. You have my admiration. Please keep doing that. We all do a shitty first draft. But the problem with this particular comms was that it was all about them, or rather, it was all about the business. It wasn't about the audience at all. So it listed a lot of good reasons as to why the business was facilitating a survey on a particular topic, but none of those were compelling reasons why a person should take time out of their day to complete the survey. So, for example, they were talking about, you know, they're doing the survey because it's helping us benchmark business performance. Which is fine and true, but it doesn't mean anything to Maryanne in the mail room. And again, this is a common mistake because it's just a bad habit that many of us have fallen into, especially when you have been writing and communicating as part of the corporate machine for a really long time. So, firstly. Think about what's in it for my audience and why should they care? This isn't about what you want them to know. It's about what they need to hear. You've probably heard of the WIIFM principle. What's in it for me? This is where this comes in. If I complete this survey, what's the benefit to me or to my teammates? That's the question this person should have answered before they even start writing the communication. Now, like all comms, it's about putting on that audience hat and putting yourself in their shoes. So part of your strategy needs to be about how you will position the change for each audience group. Remember, you want to start with your objectives. So what do you want those, that particular audience segment to know, feel, and do? Once you're clear on those, you can get clearer on the positioning. Another example. Think about how maybe there's a scenario where your business is replacing an entire HRIS or HR... system that manages leave, payroll, et cetera, it's gonna be a pain in the butt no matter which way it goes. Those projects always are, but if you were positioning it from the business perspective, you might focus on things like the fact that the current HRIS is nearing end of life and won't be supported by the vendor anymore, that it doesn't have as many automation features, so it's not as efficient, et cetera. Again, factually correct, but meaningless to most of the end users. For them, you might position it around. It's making their lives easier because it'll have a much more user-friendly interface. You'll get tasks done quicker because of the automation. There's quicker response times when you log a problem because it's a product that's actually supported, et cetera, et cetera. So hopefully that illustrates that point for you. Focus on the employee perspective, not the business perspective. Okay.

Mistake number five:

over reliance on written communication. Especially when it comes to strategic change, we tend to see a lot of written communication. So for example, an email from the CEO, A dedicated internet page, written instructions, posters, et cetera, et cetera. And don't get me wrong, written comms has its place, especially when people might need a little bit more time to digest a message or they need to access it at odd hours, et cetera. But like I said earlier, people are being inundated with written messages. Every single day between text messages, emails, chat messages, social media content, et cetera. There's a lot of noise in people's world, so another email or another intranet article isn't going to cut through as effectively as maybe it once did. The other problem with written communication is it is rarely, truly two-way communication. An email from the CEO to the whole company, for example. Yeah, people could reply to it. But in my experience, they rarely do. And when you don't have that opportunity, people can't ask questions and build their own understanding, their own level of comfort with the change. You don't have an opportunity to listen to their worries, and you don't have an opportunity to help allay some of those worries. You also have very little feedback or ideas coming through. So instead of relying on that broadcast style, one way written communication, we need to start thinking differently. Now, it could be as simple as have having a series of small teams chats with individual teams or group of groups of people from different cohorts, and maybe a teams meeting with five leaders from different parts of the business. Maybe it's using a series of very short videos with the ability to share feedback, comments, and questions. Video is actually a really powerful medium to cut through the noise, and I'll talk more about that in another episode in a couple of weeks. One thing I'm experimenting with at the moment is gamification. So this is for an aged care retirement village company. They do a bit of everything, and of course their staff are always on the go. They're in and out of buildings and rooms and people's homes, so they don't have a lot of time to engage in traditional communication. But this business has a new strategy and there's new employee values as well. So what I've done, and we're just experimenting with this, I dunno if it's gonna work yet. I've developed a competition, so it's really simple. There are six personas that we've developed and there's three new values and each week, so for a total of three weeks, we will focus on a different value and we've created a poster for each person. There's a QR code on those posters and they'll be displayed thanks to our Brain Champions. They'll be displayed around different parts of the organisation, and when people scan that QR code, they go and do a quick multiple choice quiz, and every correct answer gets them in the draw to win. And each one of those quizzes relates to a value. So, you know. Andy is going to visit a client. They notice this. What should Andy do? A, B, or C? So it is, I'm calling it embedding the values by stealth. Um. And look, the prizes. People really want them. They really want the branded water bottles. It's a big thing there, so there's a good incentive as well. Now, like I said, it is just an experiment. It will be interesting to see the take up rate, so I'll keep you guys posted, but you get the idea. There's lots of ways outside of written comms that we can engage people more quickly and effectively. And again, it's all about cutting through the noise, but doing it in a way that is easy and effective, and importantly, memorable. Okay folks. So that's today's episode.

So it is time for your recap:

Today I shared five common mistakes I see in Change comms plans and what to do about them. Number one, the problem was forgetting the context in which people engage with your communication and the solution. Ask them what would work best for them and consider what they need and want when engaging with your message. Number two, the problem was assuming a one size fits all. So. Typically, a change program will mean different things to different people. So the solution is that your approach needs to be different too. That means potentially a different voice, a different channel, and even a different message. And remember, people consume information in different ways. So I recommend repackaging the same message in at least three different ways. Number three, the mistake is making the CEO, the voice of everything and then relying on the comms cascade instead. Look for more trusting voices in the business, like team leaders and peers. Don't just rely on the top down approach. Think about reaching people from the bottom up and the outside in. Mistake number four, focusing on the business perspective, not the audience's perspective. If you want people to do something or feel something, then make it about them, not about you. Position the change around what's in it for them. And number five, the mistake was over reliance on written communication. Because we live in a very noisy world with lots of long written comms, so to cut through. Think differently and look for opportunities for more two-way communication rather than just broadcasting. Alright folks, that's all for this week. I'll be back next week with another fresh new episode of Less Chatter, More Matter, and I've got a really great guest. We recorded the interview last week and I'm really excited to bring that one to you. And don't forget if... Consulting or freelancing is something that might be on your bucket list and you're thinking maybe 2026 is the time to give it a leap. I am going to be launching very soon an ebook that will step you through step by step. Very simply, how to get started as a freelancer. It is the book I wish I'd had when I first started, so you're learning from my mistakes so you don't have to make them, which is always a good thing. Alright, team. Until next time, keep doing amazing things and bye for now.