Inspired Gear
Communication is key to successful change management – Do it well in 6 steps

GUIDES

Communication is key to successful change management – Do it well in 6 steps

Feb 18, 2020 at 14:29

About this Guide

Every business around the world is asking its employees to adapt to change. Whether it’s a business transformation, structural reorganization, merging with or acquiring another company, or using technology to streamline operations, leaders everywhere are asking employees to embrace change for the good of the company.

But it doesn’t always work. In fact, change initiatives have an alarming failure rate, with multiple studies estimating that 70% of change initiatives don’t achieve their goals. And poor or inadequate communication almost always tops the list of reasons for change failure.

You have an opportunity to help your organization succeed and earn your place as a trusted, valued business partner to the senior executive team.

This How To Guide can help. In it you will learn:

  • A model for thinking about change initiatives
  • The reasons so many of these initiatives fail
  • The critical role of communications – and communicators – in guiding projects to success
  • How to partner for success with communicators
  • Best practices for impactful communications

Author

Neil Lieberman

Neil Lieberman

Head of US Marketing, Poppulo

Related content

The Internal Communications Measurement Masterclass & Playbook

Internal communicators measure plenty. Open rates, click-throughs, attendance, views, and reach—most IC teams have dashboards full of the stuff. What they struggle with is proving that any of it made a difference to the business. And business impact is the only measurement their leaders genuinely care about. It's a gap most IC practitioners feel acutely. Gallagher's 2026 Employee Communications Report found that seven in 10 internal communicators still measure only basic activity metrics, and fewer than one in eight measure business impact. Measurement is the weakest capability in their global readiness model, and teams relying only on activity data are the ones struggling most to demonstrate their value. This is a two-part guide built to close that gap. Part One is the Masterclass. It sets out why outcome measurement matters, the frameworks that make it manageable, and the principles separating measurement that proves impact from measurement that just fills a dashboard. Part Two is the Playbook. It's the templates, the worked example, and the sample dashboard—the practical tools you'll need for a successful comms campaign. Read the Masterclass for the thinking. The Playbook is where you'll find the tools to put it into practice. We hope you find them useful. Tim Vaughan Editorial Director, Poppulo

GUIDESEMPLOYEE COMMSINTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
The Internal Communications Measurement Masterclass & Playbook—Part Two: The Playbook

Many IC teams measure and report on what's easy to count: email open rates, video views, all-hands attendances. Outputs that leadership don’t much care about. They want to know whether communications actually changed anything—whether people understood something important and whether behavior looked different afterward. Leaders want proof of impact, they want to see results. Outputs don't give them that. Outcomes do. Part One of this paper, the Measurement Masterclass, clearly showed why. Here, Part Two gives you the tools to measure outcomes: four templates you can fill in for your own campaigns, plus a full worked example showing all four completed together, so you can see how they fit before you use them yourself. What’s inside: The Know/Feel/Do Framework. Defines what a specific audience needs to know, feel, and do as a result of your communication—specific enough to measure. One template per audience segment. The Outcome/Output/Measurement Plan. For each outcome, sets out the communication tactic you'll use and how you'll measure whether it worked. This is the template you'll use most. The SMART Objectives Worksheet. A short exercise for turning a vague goal into a specific, measurable one, with a number and a deadline attached. The Power/Influence Grid. Maps your audience by power and attitude—champions, supporters, blockers, detractors—so you know where to put your effort. A worked example. All four templates completed end-to-end for a company-wide AI policy rollout, so you can see the whole process applied to one campaign from start to finish. A sample measurement dashboard. A one-page example of how to present outcome data to leadership. Written by Andrew Hubbard, Senior Director of Communications at Poppulo, and Joanna Hall of Afire Consulting.

GUIDESINTERNAL COMMUNICATIONSEMPLOYEE COMMS
Digital Signage Applications Every Campus Needs

Digital signage touches nearly every part of the campus experience. Students use it to find events, navigate buildings, check dining information, and stay informed throughout the day. And it’s not just students who rely on signage. Staff and faculty benefit from clearer, more consistent communication that reduces missed updates, cuts through inbox noise, and helps teams stay aligned across campus. As expectations around campus communication continue to grow, institutions are looking for better ways to keep students, staff, and visitors informed, engaged, and connected. That’s where digital signage plays an important role. Leading institutions are using digital signage as more than a collection of screens. They’re using it to improve communication, simplify navigation, support campus safety, and create more connected campus experiences. This guide explores the essential digital signage applications helping campuses improve engagement, navigation, safety, and communication.

WHITEPAPERSDIGITAL SIGNAGE