With change a constant for healthcare organisations in our competitive sector, against a backdrop of ever faster scientific, global and consumer evolution, transforming organisations, brands, teams and programmes is a natural response. But the hoped-for impact disappears when it all blurs into one and stakeholders turn cynic in the face of the latest hard-hyped initiative.
During our recent transformation panel webinar, our experts homed in on the issue of excess in transformation. From very different perspectives and in-role experiences, they collectively agreed that temperance in transformation is critical – both within individual transformation programmes and communication plans and at a strategic level for the organisation.
The risks of overwhelm in a major transformation programme
For those of us who have been in the industry for a while, Collective Consultant Rob Gallo’s observation will resonate. He says, “Fifteen years ago you hardly ever heard the word ‘transformation’ – now it’s totally commonplace. The scale and scope of the change we expect employees to tolerate has greatly increased. Organisations have lost their wariness about introducing too much change at once.”
Complex, large-scale change brings a lot more risk, with so many moving parts and so much more communication required to land it all. It’s very important that every key element lands with the stakeholders who will have to react and regroup to deliver the outcomes the organisation needs. If too much is happening at once or key messages are being lost in a huge volume of communications, the programme will start to fall apart.
Prioritising announcements and communications across accessible channels within a realistic time frame is key. The more complex and far-reaching the transformation programme, the more people will want to add content. Vital points can be lost in excessive detail or poorly constructed communications deliverables. Communications professionals need to take a strong line, as the experts in landing messaging that stimulates the desired action. It can require hard conversations with organisational leaders to convince them that less is more and to keep the core messaging and communications plan clear and concise. Leaders need to empower and trust their communications teams to determine and enforce the approach.
The difference between change and transformation
The word ‘transformation‘ is becoming controversial. When the term ‘transformation programme’ was coined, it had a freshness and dynamism about it that promised regeneration and innovation. But today, it’s been so heavily used that the word ‘transformation’ can be a red flag to weary employees and stakeholders. Every kind of change is labelled as a transformation, in an attempt to make it feel important and strategic. But increasingly, this approach backfires. ‘Transformation’ is in danger of becoming a euphemism for headcount reductions, cost-cutting and squeezing more from resources and people.
It’s worth thinking carefully about how best to position and define the changes you’re seeking to implement. Not every change is a transformation: sometimes it’s pragmatic and specific. It may be better to call a change a change, particularly when the reason for the adjustment is likely to be clear to most of the stakeholders affected. For example, relocating a team to be closer to customers and suppliers or revamping a product range to reflect newly validated market needs. In some situations, these changes may not be strictly transformational – they could be better introduced as evolutionary or market-driven.
Collective Consultant Julie Saunders observes, “Regrouping to unlock innovation potential through new digital technologies is a big driver in pharma at the moment.”
This kind of change may well be transformational, particularly if it affects many or most of the functions in the organisation and demands that people adopt completely new approaches and ways of working. In this case, labelling the programme as ‘transformation’ feels appropriate. As communicators, we need to make sure that we articulate the transformational benefits in a credible way, so that cynicism among stakeholders doesn’t undermine commitment and adoption.
Putting overarching goals into operational and functional context
Our change communications experts agreed that generally, pharma organisations communicate well about the overarching ambitions and goals of their transformation programme. Leaders know the vision that they want to achieve and can relate it well at a high level to changes that need to happen. The biggest challenge comes at the next level down. People need to understand what the transformation means for them and how it will affect the way they work.
In transformation programmes where people are being made redundant or required to change their roles, HR will take the lead at a granular level, communicating with individual employees about what will happen to their roles. They are focused on setting out the process of moving, leaving or changing their working arrangements to ensure contractual and legal compliance. But to make this easier for teams and colleagues to understand and accept, there must be context that convincingly relates the strategic change vision to the impact at functional, departmental and team level. That paves the way for managers to explain and deliver specific changes within their teams.
Break down transformation into tangible and relatable elements
Transformation temperance also means keeping it real and digestible, rather than relying solely on an intoxicating vision to motivate and engage stakeholders throughout a long programme. To provide leaders and managers with the tools they need to land change, communications specialists need to understand the different contexts and perspectives of stakeholders. Clearly expressed and consistent positioning and targeted information are the basis for this, but there are further nuances to consider.
Julie Saunders says, “It’s difficult to get everything across to people with different backgrounds, roles and motivations. On one project, we needed to encourage behavioural change among people who worked on sites across the world in different functions and geographies. We realised that the language we used was key. We looked at the psychological approach of using language geared ‘towards’ a desired goal or ‘away from’ something people were keen to leave behind. It really helped us frame the way we expressed what we were asking them to do.”
Show the benefits beyond the slide deck
Getting one person to talk to another about how they have successfully embraced a piece of change can be far more effective than theoretical explanations in slide decks. For example, getting a sales rep in one geography to show another rep how they are using AI in their role, and that it’s no big deal. Action and physical demonstration are powerful in winning people over.
To keep up the momentum of a long change programme, identify quick wins and successes along the way. Just focusing on the end goal is too abstract for most people. Instead, show people a sequence of positive actions and outcomes.
Highlight small achievements and goals that affect different geographies, functions and teams or roles. Playing these back shows progress and recognises the benefit that people have felt. This helps to make sure that there’s a continued connection to the overall ambition and a reassuring sense that the change plan is purposeful and effective.
Summary
If you’re engaged in change and transformation leadership and communication, and the current healthcare industry excess of continuous change and confusing communication is making you a little queasy, why not join our transformation temperance movement?
At The Difference Collective, we’re advocating for a considered approach that puts expert-led communication at the heart of the transformation planning process. Our experienced consultants can help with communications strategy, planning and delivery at any stage of your change programme, drawing on their long experience working with healthcare organisations.
Please get in touch if you need an individual transformation communications expert or a multi-skilled team to support your organisation.
About The Difference Collective
We build bespoke, full-service teams to meet your healthcare consultancy, content and communications needs, delivering exceptional results for our clients’ strategic priorities and projects. We work for the best and most ambitious organisations in pharma and healthcare. We’re Different from traditional healthcare communications agencies because we have more experience, we offer better value and – most importantly – we achieve exceptional results.
