We’ve been involved in all kinds of change communication. These include restructure, changes of leadership or direction, culture change and innovation. We can influence not only what your employees know, but also what they do and how they feel.
Communicating for change
The lack of appropriate, speedy communication is one of the main reasons that change fails. People won't accept change if they don't understand the implications of it.
But it's not just about rational information. We believe organisations will achieve more if they understand what change may mean emotionally to employees.
Change affects an employee's identity, their sense of self-worth, their feelings of expertise and competence. These are as important as the new reporting line, ways of working, or new colleagues. Acknowledging employee emotions through the communication means change is faster, kinder and more productive.
Talk to us about communication programmes for your change.
Courageous conversations in the workplace
Organisational communication is a vital management tool. In our view, the true power of communication is less about information output than it is about creating permission and space for conversation.
So what we do is more than just the message. It’s also about the facilitation of discussions that are important, brave and give people a voice where previously they might have been silent. This creates understanding, allows new ideas to percolate, and gives employees a sense of their own agency.
Testimonials
Karen worked with me to deliver a business critical decision making workshop. This set out to look at the attractiveness of a specific market segment the company was considering investing in. Karen facilitated a multi-stakeholder discussion including doctors, scientists and marketing professionals – not an easy task! – enabling the group to deliver a well-reasoned, evidence based recommendation, that when presented to senior management, was accepted and won the team plaudits for its thoroughness and sound business judgement. Each and every time I work with her, she is highly professional, with a friendly manner coupled with rock solid processes & methodologies. Karen is someone who really understands what it means to be a business partner while operating as a consultant.
Working with fe3 is an unusual experience in the exciting, innovative sense of the word. Unlike the experience with many consultants the process may be tough, may be painful, but it is also fun. They function as an integral part of the team while maintaining sufficient external perspective. Since embarking on the process the whole company has taken on a different feel and staff feel involved in a way they have never before experienced.
fe3 made a big difference to the work we had been doing on organisational values. Their wide experience of developing and promoting organisational values helped us to develop our own clarity and focus in what we were trying to achieve. Our working relationship with them was constructive and positive, and gave us a strong sense of momentum.
Westminster Children’s Society is going through a huge amount of change. We wanted to equip our employees to deal with the personal impact of the change without raising anxiety levels. fe3 ran a day-long event for us which combined personal reflection, fun, creativity and team work.
The feedback has been excellent, with many employees saying that they enjoyed the day, but more importantly, they feel that we went back to our core values and are strengthened because of it.
The process was fun to do, expertly and enthusiastically delivered, and the preparation pack for our team leaders was excellent – clear and pragmatic. I recommend fe3 highly.
Karen joined us during a very difficult and challenging period in NUS’ history – the first time that serious attempts to restructure the organisation have been carried out.
She was with us to help prepare for the internal and external announcements, manage the communications unit, be part of the senior management team and, after the restructure, to ensure that communication function worked effectively.
Her passion and commitment to the organisation was unmistakable, and as well as dealing with the difficult decisions, Karen began a number of projects that will contribute significantly to our communication strategy, investigating external and membership views of our performance, strengthening relationships with key supporters and developing a national awards event.
In addition, she revised our web contracts to save us around £30,000 and was instrumental in the development of a brief for a new website.
She’s wholehearted and enthusiastic, good to work with and I would hire her again tomorrow.