By Chad Carlton, CEO of C2 Strategic Communications
Unlike the Cracker Barrel folks, C2 Strategic Communications isn’t changing our core mission or identity anytime soon. But we have to admit, we did have a little fun playing with the logo parody above for this post.
I don’t know much about the real Uncle Herschel, but I met a lot of old-timers hanging out at my father’s barbershop. Here are a few bits of wisdom I’ve learned about communicating change:
1. Listen carefully. Your audiences are always sharing insights about what they like and dislike. Before you introduce change, make sure you have asked the right questions and clearly understand their message.
2. Know your strengths. Individuals, companies and brands can’t be all things to all people. Don’t lose your identity by stretching yourself too far to be something that you’re not.
3. Understand the power of change. People hate change. They prefer the familiar and fear unknown loss — even when they’re not in love with the present case! When possible, introduce change slowly, and always expect emotion-based resistance.
4. Test, measure and adjust. When introducing significant change, test your messages on a small segment of your audience (like a focus group). Listen to the reaction and adjust as needed.
5. Admit when you’re wrong. When a long-planned change is met with widespread criticism, listen thoughtfully before vigorously defending it to the death. Sometimes, the answer is to stay the course but acknowledge you could have done a better job (feel the pain). Sometimes, the answer is admitting your mistakes, showing you are sincere by listening and making it right.
Give me a free slice of pie on my next visit, and all is forgiven, Cracker Barrel.
Want to make your communications as effective as possible? Reach out to C2 Strategic Communications, and let’s chat about how we can help your team communicate more strategically.
