Change Management Communication Plan and Change Continuity Recommendations Change Management Communication Plan

Scenario

You are an HR consultant, contracted by the VP of an LLC in Wilmington, Delaware, to solve their internal challenges. This U.S. office is a branch of a larger Singaporean software solutions organization that has a total of 140 employees and generates $20M in revenue per year. The CEO of this organization, headquartered in Singapore, wants to explore new markets in the United States, gain access to new customers, diversify risk, leverage resources, and increase profits.

Unfortunately, the newly formed U.S. branch has been facing several problems from the beginning.

• Employees at the call center and the sales and marketing division are disengaged and emotionally fatigued due to contradictory communication between the branch’s leadership and the leadership at the Singaporean headquarters.
• The branch team members feel frustrated and undervalued as a result of conflicting feedback from their VP and management team.
• Messages from leadership lack consistency, especially regarding policies and practices related to human resources.
• There is no training for team members.
• Communication problems between the Singaporean headquarters and U.S. branch are resulting in low employee morale.

Overall, the standard operating procedures (SOP) followed successfully at the headquarters in Singapore could not be replicated at the U.S. branch. As a result, the CEO’s vision of successfully furthering expansion into the U.S. market remains unfulfilled.

Your goal as an HR consultant is to create a change management toolkit that includes the following:

• A needs assessment or change readiness audit
• An organizational change management plan
• A change management communication plan
• A letter recommending strategies to ensure that the changes and their benefits are retained

To create the toolkit, you will compile your work from Milestones One and Two. So far, you have completed your change readiness audit and created a change management plan. Now, you will record and share a presentation to demonstrate your change management communication plan. This plan should include your recommendations for workforce development techniques and how you plan to communicate these to employees and leadership of the U.S. branch, as well as leadership at the Singaporean headquarters.

It is not enough to implement change successfully; efforts should also be made to sustain the change. You must also write an executive letter to the VP of the U.S. branch, recommending strategies and best practices to ensure that the changes are implemented and maintained.

Part Three: Change Management Communication Plan and Continuity Strategies

1. Change Management Communication Plan Presentation
   Submit a creative and polished PowerPoint presentation with narration to share your change management communication plan. The communication plan should include your recommendations for workforce development techniques and how you plan to communicate these to the U.S. branch employees.
   Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:
   1. Define the audience by performing a target audience analysis. (slides 1–2)
   2. Determine core and audience-specific communication objectives and messages, including appropriate tone. You may include the following information (slides 3–4):
      1. Discuss goals of the communications campaign. You may consider the following points:
         • Why is this communication campaign needed?
         • What are the essential topics to communicate to company leadership?
         • What do front-line employees need to know as they experience and deal with the impact of change?
         • How will you convey need and urgency for change? Discuss What’s in It for Me (WIIFM).
         • Use a story or a graphic to connect with the change vision for success to the communication plan.
      2. Define and communicate new performance expectations and what stakeholders need to do to prepare for change.
   3. Recommend two workforce development techniques to support employees’ adaptation to change and build on existing skills and strengths. Consider the following (slides 5–6):
      1. What do you want the employees of the U.S. branch to do differently?
      2. How should the organization’s leadership support employees during the change, through training and development programs to address the gaps?
   4. Determine and review the best delivery channels for each communication based on the target audience analysis. Select a minimum of three channels as part of a multi-prong communication strategy. You may include the following information (slides 7–8):
      1. What would be the communication timeline for delivery of all messages? Create an outline.
      2. How often will the branch’s change initiators communicate with this audience?
      3. Outline communication responsibilities and assignments. Who is responsible for leading communications with this audience?
   5. Include your plan for a feedback loop to monitor and manage the communication campaign. (slides 9–10)
      1. Determine metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) to track the success of the communication campaign.
      2. Outline how the metrics will be implemented and tracked through a feedback loop.