Elements of Communicating Change – Segmenting and Targeting Communication:

Blockers, Champions, Sleepers and Preachers – based on Energy and Commitment matrix


Principle:

From the dimensions of Energy (profile/visibility) and Commitment to the change, categorize into Blockers, Champions, Sleepers and Preachers


Issues:

Simplicity

  • all jargon and “technobabble” must be eliminated

Methaphor, analogy and example

  • a verbal picture is worth more than a thousand words

Multiple forums

  • big meetings and small, memos and newspapers, formal and informal interaction – all are effective for spreading the word

Repetition

  • ideas sink in deeply only after they have been heard many times

Leadership by example

  • behavior from important people that is inconssistent with the vision overhwelms other forms of communication

Explanation of seeming inconsistencies

  • unadressed inconsistencies undermine the credebility of all communication

Give-and-take

  • two-way communication more powerfull than one way

Media:

Rich = personal contact and emotional -> Blockers

Lean = mail and rational -> Champions

Message:

  • clear, compelling and simple
  • linked to specific behaviour changes
  • very clearly and understandably linked to the business, and
  • creates a sense of urgency and a need for action

Applications:

To plan and implement a communication strategy


Source of Communicating Change – Segmenting and Targeting Communication:

(Kotter, 1995)