Have you ever sat through a big announcement at work and walked away thinking “cool, but what does this actually mean for me?”
Congratulations. You’re human.
Most organisations don’t struggle with communicating change. They struggle with helping people make sense of it. And there’s a big difference.
The myth of the perfect announcement
There’s a lot of change going on in organisations at the moment – we’re seeing it in the news and in announcements from people on LinkedIn almost daily. Some companies seem to be in a constant state of flux, which can really put pressure on their people. In periods of prolonged change like restructures, automation, site closures and leadership reshuffles (often all at once) there’s a comforting belief that if we just:
- land the right message
- get it signed off by the right people
- deliver it through the right channel
…people will feel reassured. They won’t.
Because change isn’t one moment. It’s a drip-feed of uncertainty layered on top of people’s actual jobs.
A single polished announcement, no matter how well written, can’t do that heavy lifting alone.
What people are really listening for
When change keeps coming, employees aren’t primarily asking: What did the business decide?
They’re asking: Can I trust you? Do you actually know what’s going on? Am I going to be blindsided next?
Let me give you a real scenario that’s playing out right now in more organisations than anyone wants to admit:
Three rounds of redundancies in eighteen months. The people who are left are doing the work of two, sometimes three people. Someone’s just gone on stress leave. The team WhatsApp is a mix of gallows humour and actual worry about who’s next.
Then, leadership announces ‘a refresh of our operating model to drive efficiency’.
The all-staff email is perfectly written. The tone is optimistic. There’s a Q&A document. There’s even a video.
And yet, in the team meeting afterwards, someone asks: “So…are more people going?”
The manager hesitates. Just for a second. But everyone sees it.
That hesitation becomes the real message people receive.
Because when you’re already stretched thin, already grieving colleagues who’ve left, already wondering if you should update your CV just in case – you’re not listening to corporate strategy. You’re listening for: Do you see me? Do you get what this actually feels like? And are you going to be straight with me?
This is where comms often go wrong.
We default to generic, all-colleague messaging because it feels ‘safe’ and ‘fair’. But generic messages are exactly what make people feel unseen.
Same story, different meanings
This doesn’t mean every team needs a totally different narrative.
It means:
- One clear, consistent thread about what’s changing and why
- Different conversations about what that means here
Senior leaders should focus on:
- What’s decided
- Why it matters
- What success looks like
Managers should be supported to translate that into:
- Impact
- Uncertainty
- Reality
Because people don’t experience change through scripts and slide decks. They experience it through their manager, their shift leader, their functional lead, and their team WhatsApp group.
The trust bit (this bit’s important)
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
You can’t message your way out of low trust.
Trust is built (or broken) by:
- Whether leaders show up when things are hard
- Whether they’re willing to say “we got this wrong”
- Whether uncertainty is acknowledged, not glossed over
One well-owned change of plan can do more for credibility than five flawless announcements.
Silence, spin or distancing language (“the business has decided…”) does the opposite.
So what does good look like?
In organisations handling change well, you’ll usually see:
- A clear narrative that evolves as reality evolves
- Managers given permission to say “I don’t know yet”
- Leaders physically present where the impact is happening
- Communication treated as an ongoing rhythm, not a one-off event
In a nutshell: fewer broadcast moments, more human ones.
Because people may forget what you said. But they’ll remember whether you helped them feel informed, respected and not left guessing.
Thank you to our guest blogger. Keren McCarron is the founder of KJM Comms. She works with organisations to bring clarity and structure to how they communicate, so people feel informed, leaders communicate with confidence and messages land properly in practice.
