By Janus Boye
"The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place"
It seems only fitting that in my conversation with Vancouver-based Melissa Breker, she brings up the famous George Bernard Shaw quote on the problem with communication. The quote has never been more relevant in these times as we are dealing with the pandemic and fighting misinformation.
In recent years, Melissa has transitioned from almost a decade of content strategy work to being a change leader and coach. Her focus is helping people understand how digital transformation success is about bringing people along for the journey to help businesses realize the benefit of change and offer leaders tools to ensure successful implementation of change.
Melissa is the founder of Breker Group, and has delivered key insights as a Boye conference speaker. She is our first expert of the month in 2021.
Melissa in action on her recent visit to Denmark. Photo: Ib Sørensen
The Human Side of Change
Melissa shared the importance of taking a team perspective by stepping into the shoes of others. It is critical in her view to understand the perspective of those who need to change, considering what to expect through the journey of change and finally, identifying support and training needs during the transition.
Through empathy and by taking an audience-focused approach, adoption of new technology or changes to existing processes can be improved by identifying needs early. It can help people understand the support they will receive before and after the change.
As Melissa shared:
“Good enough change is no longer good enough. By putting the thinking first, we can eliminate so much of the unnecessary frustration and uncertainty of a new system integration or any other change you’re making in your organisation”
Transparency is key
To build stronger relationships and build trust, transparency is essential.
Once you understand what will be changing, let people know. So much of resistance to change is based on not sharing information about what you know and what they can expect. For many, loss of control and limited information is at the heart of what drives uncertainty.
Melissa indicated that it does not have to be complicated. It may be as simple as explaining what people will stop, start, and continue doing in their role so every team member is clear about what to expect as the change moves forward.
Mind the gaps
At the Boye 19 Aarhus conference, Melissa hosted a popular workshop on Intentional Change: Facilitating Team Adoption of New Ideas. As a part of setting the stage for the workshop, she highlighted three gaps you should understand better to succeed with your change initiative:
Gaps in communication
Gaps in skills
Gaps in expectations
In her workshop, she shared how to communicate effectively so team members understand and deliver based on key goals. To put it another way: Positive change in a business setting doesn’t usually happen by accident. Throw in the variables of new leadership, mergers & acquisitions, or changing market forces, and improving team outcomes feels like it might take a miracle.
According to Melissa, to successfully navigate new challenges, organisations need to create a shared vision based on the new reality - one that supports and continuously reinforces new behaviours and new ways of thinking.
Melissa has developed an actionable approach to co-create and foster the adoption of change and improve productivity. It begins with understanding the gaps and finishes with fostering a culture of exploration, enablement, and engagement.
It’s all about relationships
When I asked Melissa to highlight recent lessons learned, she pointed to the importance of relationships. Whether your initiative is a culture, change or content project, you need to develop relationships, so that you can understand peoples’ needs and work together to resolve any risks.
To quote Melissa:
“Regardless of the change, you are trying to make, you are dependent on the people whose behaviour you need to change.”
When looking at the people side of change, leaders and sponsors play a critical role in being visible and supportive around the change. They are essential in sharing key messages to the organization and
Melissa’s thinking is based on Stephen Covey’s advice “Start with the end in mind.”
As a leader, consider these important questions:
Why the change is important?
What it will mean for people impacted by the change?
What’s the timing of the changes?
How will information be shared?
Working backwards from the end results, allows you to steer programs in the right direction.
In our conversation, Melissa listed some of her recent insights on the relationship part of change projects:
Get the right people in the room to help break down the cross-functional silos
Map shared processes to help you understand the requirements for how people will work together
Set realistic expectations around risks that will become issues if not addressed.
These actions will allow your group or team to assess who will be impacted, the level of impact and how that information needs to be shared in advance. It also allows for opportunities for adjusting processes during implementation, so it is adapted, as necessary.
Learn more about Melissa, change management and much more
You can find more about Melissa’s work and get in touch with her by visiting Breker Group.
Back in 2018, Melissa wrote a popular blog post titled: Content And Collaboration: Your Transformation Strategy? In the post, she shared three obstacles and offered her advice on how to best address them.