Employee Communication Best PracticesDiscover why effective change management communication is the cornerstone of successful organizational transitions, ensuring clarity, and engagement.
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Whether you are a CEO, manager, or a team member, change is inevitable. However, managing change in the workplace — even small changes — can be enormously challenging. It can be even more demanding if leadership doesn’t handle the process with clear, concise, and consistent communication.
According to 2025 Gartner research, even though change management communication is crucial, 54% of Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs) admit that their current methods do not engage employees. Furthermore, “Only 41% of managers are willing to change their work behaviors to support organizational change — and 90% of HR leaders don’t feel that their managers are helping employees who struggle with change fatigue.”
As the authors of a recent research paper about global trends in change management sagely say, “Although it is said that change is the only thing that is constant, change is never simple.
“Since it's human nature to find change intimidating or even overwhelming, altering attitudes to deal with this is essential to success and calls for open communication as well as proactive, visible leadership and sponsorship.”
The paper, Global Trends in Change Management: Insights and Key Takeaways for 2025, by Raghunath Reddy Koilakonda, Master of Science, Michigan State University, and Melanie Franklin, co-founder of the annual global Capability for Change survey, was published in the March/April 2025 edition of the International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development.
It states that even though many businesses recognize the value of change agility, there is still a disconnect between awareness and action, mainly because they don’t have the necessary frameworks and specialized change management teams. However, some organizations get it right.
“Companies with great employee involvement, clear communication tactics, and strong leadership backing had far better success rates with their transformation Projects.”
Melanie Franklin and Raghunath Reddy Koilakonda
Organizational change management is a structured method for guiding companies through transitions, such as new leadership, restructuring, or mergers and acquisitions (M&A) that often trigger employee concerns. These initiatives can be broad, like entire organizational redesigns, or more focused, such as introducing new technologies like AI or adopting new business models.
A strong change management process ensures a smooth transition from “what was” to “what’s next,” with communication as a core component. Effective change management communication builds awareness, shaping understanding and gaining support by keeping employees informed about what is changing, why it's happening, and how it impacts their roles.
McKinsey & Company’s 2025 insights reaffirm this. Organizations that treat communication and culture as strategic priorities are more than twice as likely to see their transformations succeed. Clear narratives, frequent updates from leadership, and two-way channels significantly reduce resistance and keep employees aligned and motivated.
It helps to know what types of organizational change you may face. Typically, they may be strategic, people-centric, structural, technological, unplanned, or remedial. Sometimes there will be more than one type that challenges your organization. Here are six examples:
This type of communication combines change management and internal communication to ensure clear and transparent information sharing during organizational change. The process involves creating a change communication plan, organizing internal communication, recognizing key milestones, and designing an action plan. The objective is to minimize the negative impact of change, facilitate user adoption, and help the workforce understand the reasons behind the transformation.
The best communications plan ensures that everyone is on the same page. Broadly, it covers the change management process, an internal communications plan, a change communications plan, leadership communication, who the frontline employees are, and so on. It’s like a road map. But it’s important to take a route that will maximize change management success.
Boost employee engagement by implementing personalization in internal comms
Research by Prosci, change management specialists, shows that organizations applying effective change management practices met or exceeded their objectives 93% of the time, compared to just 15% for those with poor change efforts.
This failure to succeed shows that change-communication plans are essential. They help to manage employee expectations, guide behavior change, and ensure that the organization stays on track during the transition period. By aligning the company’s mission with its communication, organizations can achieve higher employee engagement and minimize resistance to change.
“Change management isn’t just a component of success — it’s the driving force behind it. Our research proves that organizations with effective change management are seven times more likely to achieve their goals.”
Prosci
However, communication plans can vary depending on the needs of the organization. So, it stands to reason that they can utilize different communication channels, from internal communications tools to digital adoption platforms. A key focus should be to prepare, support, and help employees change. They are, after all, the core of any organization. It is also vital to recognize the impact change can have on them. And it’s not only big transformational changes that make an impact, small ones do too.
A major issue identified more than two decades ago, is change fatigue. Gartner acknowledges that multiple factors drive change fatigue, and they urge organizations to reprioritize projects taking it into account.
“Change-fatigued employees exhibit much lower intent to stay, responsiveness and discretionary effort, among other negative outcomes.”
Gartner
There is no doubt that change management communication is key to successful organizational change because it helps to address resistance, foster engagement, and support the adoption of the new changes. Your employees need to understand why changes are being made, how they will be affected, and what they need to do to adapt.
Every effective change management-related plan includes a few key elements. Firstly, the communication strategy should be clear and concise. It should outline the key messages, as well as the change-communication and feedback channels. Any effective communication strategy must be a two-way street. It’s just as important to listen to your employees as it is to talk to them.
Traditionally, leaders would set a change strategy and then implement it from the top down. While a top-down approach is invaluable in many situations, many agree that a change management communication plan should be inclusive. This is because it needs to involve all the stakeholders, from leadership to frontline employees. Everyone, including the change agents and communications team, should contribute to forming the strategy. By humanizing your change management strategy and adopting an open-source approach, you’re much more likely to succeed.
Traditional top-down change places decision-making and planning solely in leadership hands. While familiar and controlled, it often struggles to build genuine employee engagement and can lead to change fatigue when repeated across the organization.
In contrast, the open-source change strategy encouraged by Gartner for many years, is a collaborative, employee‑inclusive model that gives workers ownership by inviting them to co-create change initiatives rather than merely receiving instructions.
The graphic below is based on Gartner’s suggested approach.
Effective communication is the cornerstone of successful organizational change. The following best practices help ensure that employees feel informed, heard, and supported throughout the transition.
Change management communication often fails, not because of what is said, but how, when, and to whom it's delivered. Even the best strategies can falter if employees feel uninformed, excluded, or confused about what’s happening and why.
Let’s look at some of the most common challenges facing those involved in change management communication.
Writing on the Harvard Division of Continuing Education (DCE) online platform, Mary Sharp Emerson highlights ineffective communication as one of the main reasons for change management strategies failing. While leaders commonly communicate a lot at the change proposal stage, they don’t continue the conversation once the initiative has been announced. That’s when failure begins. It’s largely because day-to-day job demands take over and team enthusiasm tends to lapse.
It’s vital to have a complete, well-defined strategy that is reasonably flexible and can be updated with unexpected developments.
Emerson, who is a digital content producer at Harvard DCE, also says that communication should be “clear, consistent, and constant.”
Regular updates through various communication channels like blog hubs, digital adoption platforms, and internal communication tools can also help overcome this problem. Features like case selections, related content, and user-friendly formats can facilitate understanding and engagement.
Communication strategies to handle misunderstanding include actively seeking feedback from employees, providing safe and anonymous feedback channels, and regularly evaluating the communication’s effectiveness.
“When it comes to change management, remember that even if you think you have communicated enough, you probably haven’t.”
Mary Sharp Emerson
Resistance and opposition are common when facing change.
Emerson warns that every change initiative is going to encounter resistance. Furthermore, people resist change for many reasons. “Unless their specific concerns are addressed, resistance can easily derail or undermine the change initiative, either covertly or overtly.”
Frontline employees are often both change deliverers and receivers. Therefore, their understanding and acceptance of change are crucial. Explaining the big idea, breaking down initial change into manageable steps, and specifying how they contribute to the overall goal are some ways of managing resistance. If messages are too complex, inconsistent, or poorly timed, they will invite resistance and opposition.
According to DCE’s David Shore, a leading authority on managing change initiatives, resistance to change is the most common reason for many change initiatives failing.
“People are people — carbon and water. As such, we resist change. It’s important to recognize that managing change is about upsetting people only at a rate that they can tolerate. It’s all about physics. For change there must be movement. With movement there is friction.”
David Shore
Lack of support from leadership is another common challenge in change management.
Leadership communication is vital in managing resistance to change, and leaders must ensure that communications address the specific needs of different roles, teams, or locations. Leaders must show commitment to the change initiative, provide regular updates, and be ready to answer questions. This helps reduce opposition and foster acceptance.
Gartner’s Top 5 HR Trends and Priorities That Matter Most in 2025 leader and manager issues are a huge issue. However, a top HR focus is addressing the need to develop leaders to be equipped to handle the ever-growing responsibilities they face. Gartner research shows that 75% of managers are overwhelmed and that 70% say their leadership programs aren’t preparing managers for the future.
This can quickly lead to top-down overload, with employees receiving directives without context, leading to mistrust or resistance. And it doesn’t end there, since 74% of HR leaders agree that managers aren’t adequately equipped to lead change.
Leadership’s support is crucial in fostering a culture of openness and continuous learning. Leaders need to show commitment and dedication to ensure successful change management. However, if the leadership does not support the change, the resistance is likely to flow down through the ranks. Already, according to Gartner, 73% of HR leaders say their employees are experiencing change fatigue.
In multicultural organizations, cultural differences among employees pose challenges to effective communication regarding change management. Local languages, customs, and work styles must be considered when creating the communication strategy. Tailoring the communication to meet the needs and preferences of diverse employee segments can make the change announcement more effective. It can also reduce resistance.
Incorporating cultural sensitivity into communication strategies is critical for effective and inclusive communication. It helps to ensure that employees understand the change, perceive it positively, and participate actively in the process.
There is no doubt that change can be enormously stressful. It is constant, and staff feel the pressure, with Gartner stating that 73% of change-affected employees report moderate to high levels of stress. When they suffer from change-related stress, employees perform 5% worse than others.
Employees often fear change because they are afraid they will lose their jobs, be given added responsibilities, or will be forced to learn new ways of doing things. To overcome these fears, change management communication plans must reassure employees and involve them in the process.
What organizations need to do is recognize and acknowledge employees’ fears, provide clear information about the change, and offer support that can help mitigate anxieties.
The key step in preventing fear and anxiety is keeping communication channels open and ensuring that employees are informed at every step. This includes involving employees in the planning stages, maintaining transparency, allowing feedback, and providing support.
Another challenge for change management communication is the lack of adequate communication technology. In the era of digital workplace transformation, relying solely on traditional modes of communication like emails or intranet might not be sufficient. Digital adoption platforms can help simplify and streamline the process.
It’s important to upgrade to new internal communication tools that allow for communication in real time, offer interactive features, and enable feedback collection. Examples include collaboration tools such as Slack, Trello, or Microsoft Teams. Employing such tools can greatly enhance your organization’s communication plans.
Why does change management fail? You can learn from both the success and failures of change management endeavors. But here are two examples of epic failures. They show that even top companies don’t always get it right.
Love it or leave it, Coca-Cola is a brand that just keeps going. But in 1985, when they announced they were going to change the formula of one of the world’s most popular drinks, they made what the company admits was “the most memorable marketing blunder ever.”
After nearly a century in business, Coca-Cola decided to “re-energize” its brand in its largest market, the U.S. They thought they knew how to communicate their change in formulation in a positive way, but it didn’t work. And so “classic” Coca-Cola was reborn. Even the best possible change management plan wasn’t going to persuade consumers to switch their established taste.
Another completely different example lies in General Motors’s (GM’s) attempt to recover its U.S. Market share in the 1960s. Two decades later, GM formed a partnership with Toyota and they opened a factory in California to manufacture cars — NUMMI. At first, it kind of worked, but it didn’t. Ultimately, the problems were widely identified as a lack of teamwork, feedback, and most importantly internal communication.
It’s no secret that GM filed for bankruptcy in 2009. It’s also no secret that the federal government wrote off billions to try and save the company. Maybe GM was already too far gone to rely on change management. But if it had harnessed the power of positive communication in the early stage of their failure, who knows what would have happened?
Boost employee engagement by implementing personalization in internal comms
Change is an inevitable part of every organization’s growth. The challenge often lies in successful change management. A change management communication plan is integral to this process, and creating one involves understanding the change, identifying stakeholders, setting clear objectives, crafting key messages, choosing the right communication channels, and encouraging two-way communication.
Here’s a 7-step plan for you to follow:
The initial change management process begins with understanding the nature and impact of the change on operating companies. Whether it’s a digital transformation or an organizational change, you need to comprehend its scope, timeline, and implications before drafting your communication plan. Remember to consider both the benefits and the potential challenges that employees may face.
An important aspect of any change management plan is to identify the stakeholders. These include the company’s leadership, middle management, frontline employees, and other internal and external parties who will be affected by the change. Each has a unique role in driving the desired behavior change.
The communication strategy should align with the change initiative’s objectives. Define what you want to achieve, state the key milestones, and outline the action plan. Your strategy should not only inform but also help employees understand and adapt to the change.
It’s important to craft clear and consistent key messages that echo the purpose of your change effort. The language should be simple and concise. Your core messages should help eliminate fear, build trust, and promote employee engagement. They serve as a compass guiding all communication.
Choose the right communication channels to ensure your messages reach your audience effectively. Channels can include emails, team meetings, intranet updates, or even a digital adoption platform. Think about how to leverage multiple channels for maximum impact. Consider the preference of your audience while deciding the best communication channels.
Encourage feedback channels that provide room for two-way conversation. This empowers employees to voice their concerns, propose solutions, and feel engaged in the change process. As Elsbeth Johnson from Harvard Business School says, “The best change agents are those who build bridges, not those who dictate terms.”
An effective change management communication plan should be flexible enough to evolve based on feedback and real-world results. Regular assessments help you to fine-tune your strategy, hone your messages, and improve overall communication efficiency.
Once your plan is in place, it’s vital to execute it effectively. This requires leveraging digital transformation tools, constantly gathering feedback for continuous improvement, and ensuring ongoing communication.
Digital transformation tools like internal communication platforms and digital adoption systems help make communication more efficient. For example, companies like Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) leveraged a digital adoption platform to educate their employees about their digital transformation and made the transition smoother.
The SAS story is inspirational. After more than six decades in business, they faced an enormous threat when the pandemic hit in 2020. So they launched a total digital transformation. This involved developing a deeper engagement with customers and collaborating with all parts of the company. And it worked.
Stakeholders’ feedback is a valuable resource for refining your communication strategy. Be open to adjusting your strategy based on feedback, new data, or unexpected challenges. Remember that communication is a continuous and iterative process. Develop an editorial calendar to ensure regular and consistent communication.
Another great approach is town halls. These can be a common feature of change communications. For example, you can use a question submission or voting option that allows employees to engage with executive leaders during the Q&A segment of a town hall. This can ensure that the discussion is a two-way stream and focused on the topics employees care most about.
Cerkl Broadcast is designed to maximize communication efforts and is ideal for M&As and other changes an organization needs to manage. A key feature is that it enables you to target the right people using the channels of communication they want to use. You can personalize messages to show they are meant for them and not the entire organization. The platform offers full analytics so you know when people respond.
Whether planned or unexpected, organizational change requires clear, timely, and targeted communication. Cerkl Broadcast is purpose-built to help internal communicators lead with confidence during transitions, ensuring that every message reaches the right people in the right way.
Here’s how Broadcast supports effective change communication:
Tough questions can be challenging to answer.
Is your organization facing change? Do you have a solid change management communication plan in place? Do you have an efficient internal communication platform? Are you still asking the question, why is internal communication important? If you can see how important it is, have you assessed the effectiveness of your internal communication strategy? Do you focus on employee engagement? Are you still weighing up your needs and trying to assess them?
Struggling to decide what to do? Our white paper, The Impact of Personalization on Internal Communication Management & Effectiveness explores how personalizing internal communications can significantly improve employee engagement and overall effectiveness within organizations. It highlights common communication challenges including information overload, generic messaging, lack of relevance, and difficulties with dispersed workforces.
The paper argues that mass personalization is a very effective way to address these issues, foster engagement, and retain employees. It’s also a great way to effectively manage change.
Boost employee engagement by implementing personalization in internal comms
What is change management communication? Whether you are managing or communicating with employees, this combines change management with internal communications.
What should be included in change management communication? Communications need to address resistance, foster engagement, and support the engagement of changes that are being adopted.
What is a change management communication plan? A successful change management plan needs to incorporate a communication strategy that involves employees. Rather than a top-down approach, it needs to be an open-source change that empowers employees.
What is an effective communication strategy for change? An effective change management communication strategy for change involves clearly articulating the reasons for the change, its benefits, and the expected impact on individuals and the organization. It should also provide ongoing updates, engage with employees or stakeholders, and address concerns and questions proactively to build understanding and support for the change.
Boost employee engagement by implementing personalization in internal comms
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