Let\u2019s face it, creating organizational change management<\/a> (OCM) plans has become second nature and, at times, downright boring. Your company has the same five meetings every year and the same limited intranet presence coupled with strict rules on when and how to send communications to all employees.<\/p>\n Your OCM plans become more of a lift-and-shift from the same plan you did last month about a completely different change, but you only have the same five communication tools at your disposal. Are you bored yet? Probably — and so are your stakeholders.<\/p>\n There are three OCM tools you\u2019re probably not taking advantage of but should. Doing so may relieve the boredom not only for you but for your leadership and stakeholders. It will also help you get the message out far more effectively than before.<\/strong><\/p>\n Social media is everything and everywhere. We can\u2019t escape it. Social media posts are the Burma-Shave billboards of the 21st century. Consider these questions:<\/p>\n Internal forms of social media are great at promoting culture<\/a> and help you think beyond traditional methods to get your message across.<\/strong> I once worked at a company that effectively used Yammer during an annual \u201cshow and tell\u201d for their IT organization. Along with putting hashtagged signs at different booths, we pre-drafted some social media posts for our leaders to use as they toured the various booths. This connected employees unable to attend the event to the information they needed to learn more along with providing easy access to the booth participants.<\/p>\n Side note:<\/strong> I already know the popular excuses, like \u201cno one uses hashtags or social media or even the comment section on stories.\u201d No one uses it because your leaders aren\u2019t using it. Your leaders aren\u2019t using it because their employees aren\u2019t using it. It\u2019s a vicious circle.<\/p>\n When working with my clients, I pre-plan and pre-script leader messaging for comments and social media. Once you do that for a while, the next layer of leadership realizes they need to follow what the boss is doing, which eventually leads to employees doing it, too.<\/p>\n I\u2019m also aware of HR concerns about using appropriate language and their desire to create a list of rules around social media. Please stop. If you cannot trust your employees to be appropriate when using internal tools, then you have bigger, deep-rooted cultural issues at your company.<\/p>\n Take the time to think beyond the traditional. Create and publish quick videos, for example. Tools like Microsoft Teams have links to a suite of social media apps such as Sociabble, Streem, Bites and more.<\/strong> Try these out, and see what works for your company. It\u2019ll expand your ability to communicate.<\/p>\n Get employees’ attention quickly by doing something out of the ordinary. If you\u2019re undergoing a significant change, add in a \u201csurprise\u201d element that you\u2019ve never tried. Elements of surprise can include:<\/p>\n Get creative. One employer I once worked with wanted to encourage employees to take time out of their week to focus on their careers<\/a>. We came up with the concept of \u201ctaking 5 minutes a day\u201d for your career.<\/strong> That \u201ctake five\u201d moment included some suggestions we wrote out on a laminated card for their desk and dropped it off along with a Take 5 candy bar.<\/p>\n At another company, we effectively used a mass voicemail message from the CEO to encourage every employee to review their benefits (after the company transitioned to a new system). We wanted 100 percent adoption \u2013 which we received within two weeks.<\/p>\n Doing something new gets everyone\u2019s attention, and if the change is that significant, it\u2019s worthwhile to do something unique to raise awareness.<\/p>\n1. Social Media<\/h2>\n
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2. The Element of Surprise<\/h2>\n
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3. Making Them Laugh<\/h2>\n