Checklist for communicating the change vision

One of the most important parts of leading change is to craft the Inspirational Change Vision. I’ve done Change Vision Setting workshops with Boards, Executive Teams, Senior Leadership Teams, Project Teams and individual stakeholders for my consulting clients and projects and the result is always the same:

- Deep alignment and appreciation from everyone involved

- Collaboration and commitment to the change

- A really clear understanding of how the experience of people will transform and be supported and how we’ll switch on hearts and minds

This is because I use powerful Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Coaching techniques to workshop the change vision with the leadership team or stakeholder I’m working with. I teach these next-level tools in my Leading Successful Change program, and because the vision can be half a page to one page or more of written text, my savvy students ask the excellent question:

• What do you then DO with the Inspirational Change Vision? 
• How do you use it to bring the vision to life to leaders and teams impacted by the change? 
• How can it truly inspire and empower rather than just seem like fluffy lip service?

When I teach the Inspirational Change Vision in LSC, I also share ways I’ve brought the vision to life. Here are 5 ideas you can try:

1. Develop the change brand 

You can use the elements, goals, experiences, benefits and KPIs from the change vision to develop the change messaging and brand elements such as program name, tagline, logo, change benefit icons, banners, colours and icons and then use these in change communications and on collateral such as posters, flyers, etc. You absolutely do not need to have a Marketing or Communications background to work in Change Management. If you are not as skilled in the creative / design spaces, you can work with your Internal/Corporate Communications team or your Marketing team in house to develop the change brand, theme, and elements. If these teams are too busy to support or you don't have them in house (many of my medium-sized consulting clients don't have either Internal Comms or Marketing teams!), you can request budget from the project and outsource to an external marketing/creative agency. Note this can get expensive (especially video production) and it can sometimes be tough for Change Management to get budget. So the advanced alternative is to learn Canva for yourself and keep your eye out when I run Leading Successful Change Live in person, as I do a lesson teaching you how to use Canva and you get to design these elements yourself. But first port of call should be your Internal Comms or Marketing teams and usually they are more than happy to help!

2. Create an inspiring video of the vision

Videos are one of the most powerful ways to bring your change vision to life and switch on hearts and minds through the use of visuals, voiceover, and music. If you’re in my LSC program, you’ll know that videos work for all personality types and all representational systems. You can choose from real-life footage, stock imagery, or animation and it can be an awesome way to explain not just the need for change but to feel the experience you want to create for the change.

3. Install the vision live

In many cases, I use an incredibly deep Neuro-Linguistic Programming tool to install the vision. One of the most memorable times I did this was when I was working on a critical national change and onboarding a group of 50 new starters. On the last day of their project induction, I led them through this vision installation experience, knowing it would align this group as they went off to their corners of the country to roll out the change. I’ve also done live vision installation with a Senior Leadership Team I ran a workshop for, a Day 1 IT Project Team before a go live, and of course during my live courses and retreats. While you do need to be trained in NLP to actually install a vision, in my Leading Successful Change program I share how you can still help your stakeholders to connect with the vision with a simpler technique that doesn’t require NLP accreditation.

4. Create user journeys and personas

Because crafting an Inspirational Change Vision forces your leadership or project team to really think about and consider the experience that their different stakeholder groups will have and how it will change their day-to-day working life, you can easily use the change vision to then develop user journeys and personas that can be used to understand the change, in communications, and in training to help humanise the change and empathise with the stakeholders and their current and future processes.

5. Seed it throughout change comms 

And of course the change vision makes great fodder for plucking bits and pieces out and using it in communications, especially introduction and induction packs. When someone new is joining the project or the change, you might even share the entire vision to help get them instantly aligned. 

You don’t need to do all of these - you can pick and choose what you use to bring your vision to life and tick off the ones that do. Also remember (and this is a little woo woo): part of Inspirational Vision Setting is the energy and alignment created by simply crafting the vision. It creates an energetic shift that sometimes can't be tangibly seen or touched. So even if you NEVER communicated the vision, the simple act of setting it creates magic in and of itself.

I talk about Inspirational Change Vision Setting more in my free Ultimate Guide to Change Management. It’s filled with everything you need to know to talk about Change Management confidently and Part 5 covers “The Best Change Management Models or Frameworks”. 

You can read and download my free guide here: The Ultimate Guide to Change Management with Lata Hamilton

Lata xx

P.S. I said I’d let you know when my Leading Successful Change program is open again to new students. And now it is! You can join my powerful flagship course at any time: see the Invitation Page for my Leading Successful Change program here