How to communicate a change nobody wants

How do you communicate a change when you already know people aren’t going to like it? For leaders, this is where change communication can go badly wrong. There’s a temptation to focus heavily on the benefits, minimise the negatives and try to convince people the change is good news. But people are remarkably good at spotting spin. In this video, Dr Neryl East shares The Four Doors of Change, a framework developed by Jason Clarke that helps leaders communicate organisational change with greater clarity, honesty and credibility. The framework examines four critical questions: Door 1: What will stay the same? What could people do before the change that they’ll still be able to do afterwards? Establishing what remains unchanged can help put the disruption into perspective. Door 2: What limitations will stay the same? What wasn’t possible before and still won’t be possible? This helps people distinguish genuine impacts of the change from existing frustrations. Door 3: What will people lose? This is the door leaders may be tempted to avoid. What was possible before that won’t be possible afterwards? Be clear about the downside matters. Without information, people can fill the gaps themselves - and potentially catastrophise. Door 4: What becomes possible? What couldn’t people do before that they’ll now be able to do? The upside matters, but it becomes much more credible when leaders have also been upfront about the negatives. Dr East also explains why leaders should apply the Four Doors separately to different stakeholder groups. Employees, customers, clients, boards and other stakeholders may experience exactly the same change very differently. The leadership lesson? When communicating an unpopular change, don’t try to sell people a relentlessly positive story. Give them the full picture. Clear, credible communication won’t necessarily make people like the change, but it can make it easier for them to understand and navigate it.