Speaker 1: How do we persuade those who will be impacted by a change to welcome and even engage in the transition? Beer and the Riot had a firm answer, make people dissatisfied with the status quo so they demand change. We see this approach daily from politicians, special interest groups, marketers, terrorists and con artists. The change agent attempts to make us unhappy with history, situations, others, even ourselves. You might even hear some of the more nefarious change agents openly mutter a Machiavellian mantra, never let a good crisis go to waste. Is it because crisis unfreezes the status quo, making us vulnerable and even welcoming of change, even if the shift ultimately goes against our interests? If anything, our study of change management should help us recognize when unscrupulous change agents are applying Levinian unfreeze, move, refreeze change processes to manipulate our thoughts, actions and behaviors. Of course, this introduces questions about the ethics of using change management practices to influence others. Critical, as with most tools, it's not the tool that's the problem, it's how the tool is used. Welcome to Module 9, where we will learn how to communicate, change and manage stakeholder perceptions. Critical questions to consider this week include, how do we communicate the need for change? What are the methods and channels we can use to encourage change? And what are the best practices for driving continuous change? Our study has explored ethical applications of change leadership practices that will benefit the organization and the employee. This will be a key in your communication plan. How do you persuade others to want to change? Uncover and communicate the with him, what's in it for me? Don't make change just about the business. Help those impacted by the shift recognize how the changes can benefit them. Engage the stakeholders in helping you develop and communicate the plan so they can have ownership in the process. It's not an accident that ADKAR's awareness stage is the first step in the unfreeze phase of the change process. How do we make people aware? Kotter gives us specific steps. Create a sense of urgency by communicating the problem. Build a guiding coalition of people you want to keep, who will be impacted by the change and who can help you drive change from throughout the organization. This helps reduce resistance and smooth transition in a way that you just can't do by trying to force change from the top down. Next you work with that guiding coalition to develop your change vision. Then with the support of the guiding coalition, we communicate the change vision. Those impacted by the change have ownership in the process and are part of a change leadership team that influences dynamic change. This brings us to a critical Module 9 activity. You'll develop a communication plan to persuade those impacted by the change to accept and drive the change. Put on your marketer hats because you will craft a story to help stakeholders see their role in the change process. Craft a story from the perspective of those you want to persuade. Help them understand why the change is vital to them and the organization. You'll also pull all the pieces together for your final project. This will include the following. Integrate Milestone 1 and Milestone 2 into a cohesive document. Develop a communication plan to help the leadership team effectively communicate and implement organizational changes. In your communication plan, you will describe the communication campaign, summarize workforce development techniques, reveal the communication channels for educating and influencing employees. Then finally you will write an executive summary of your project, including best practices and recommendations to help the organization sustain change. Don't get confused by the letter designation in the assignment, just include it as an executive summary at the start of your project. Keep it brief and factual. In short, your deliverables for Module 9 are one Microsoft Word document that includes the executive summary, Milestone 1 and Milestone 2 with feedback from your faculty. And you have one PowerPoint presentation with your communication plan. Let me share two critical communication concepts that will help you with your communication plan. First, make sure you define communications before you build a communication plan. Everyone knows that communication is essential, but few people can define communication, let alone communicate effectively. Start with the communication cycle. Focus on how we can create shared meaning among leadership and stakeholders. Build dynamic feedback loops that allow us to adjust our message and approach as we develop and implement them. Second, understand the richness of different communication channels for disseminating information and receiving feedback. The channel richness theory can help you understand the importance of selecting the proper combination of channels to send messages and solicit feedback. Don't forget to see additional tips and information in the Module 9 Change Leadership Bulletin, including the following tips. Keep it simple. Write for executives in a business, not professors at a university. Plan beyond the re-freeze stage and build a resilient culture that continuously adapts in a turbulent competitive environment. Plan for continuous and incremental change. Don't settle for freezing at any stage. Recognize the relevance of change leadership methods in all aspects of personal and professional life. And finally, get on track. Stay on track as we approach the final days of class. During the Module 9 live session, I'll show you how to complete the communication plan and compile your final project. I hope to see you at the live session, but I'll record it for those who can't attend. That's all for now. Hope to see you at the live session. Let's get to work.