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5 Important Innovation Change Questions
In our experience at the DeSai Group, when dealing with innovation as a major change initiative, employees seek answers to these five questions:
- What is happening with the innovation program?
- Why are we pursuing innovation as a major change?
- When is it going to happen?
- How will I be impacted during the rollout and after implementation?
- Where can I go with more questions, issues, and concerns related to the innovation program in my area?
What if we do not communicate to staff?
If these questions are not answered, you are leaving it to chance for employees to create their own interpretations, leading to possible negative consequences and waste of your valuable resources.
Communication Plan Template
Your high-level communication plan may include these points:
- Develop answers to the five questions. Then make sure the questions are addressed in every innovation initiative communication document, meeting, and webcast.
- Develop a one-minute message--your elevator pitch about the innovation program. It should describe the business case and vision for the future.
- Demand consistent dialog at all levels, especially middle management.
- Use multiple media to teach and tell--remove uncertainties and doubt from day 1.
- Clearly identify the objective of each communication: awareness building, skill development, network development, employee engagement, and so on.
- Check often for alignment of process objectives and productivity for the parties in the communication activity.
- Be open to examine and test for what people hear.
- Actively respond to feedback and make adjustments to the plan as required.
Communication, Communication, Communication
Don't underestimate the need to repeat the messages even when you know everyone has heard them time and again. Even with your best efforts, there are always many who will not understand the importance of the innovation change initiative.
There have been stories where after six months of implementation activities, senior executives have publicly asked, "Why are we doing all this innovation stuff?". Although this raised a few eyebrows, the question was taken seriously and led to rather thorough discussions of the whys that had not surfaced before.
The Takeaway
Innovation is about approaching products and processes in a different way. The communications surrounding the innovation effort require different methods as well.
Over to you. Please comment below.
- How do you disseminate information about your innovation change program?
- What else would you add to the communications plan template?
- What other questions do you find that employees tend to ask?
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Tags: Innovation Management, Organizational Strategy, Critical Success Factors