Communicating Change at Westwood Publishing

Since its creation in 1995, the employees at Westwood Publishing have experienced little change especially in regards to economic downsizing.  Although analysts suggested the company should consolidate with other publishers to remain viable, Westwood decided against layoffs and mergers utilized by its competitors opting to focus on keeping employees happy.  In a speech given in 2008 aligning the company philosophy toward employee turnover, Bosworth, the CEO, assured employees that they would never be asked to leave their jobs for economic reasons.  For these reasons, communicating change through an early retirement program at Westwood Publishing is likely to become difficult. 

The Importance of an Effective Change Communication Strategy

Many employees are functioning with a greater degree of cynicism or distrust of corporations and their senior managements in the post Enron era.  Consequently, if senior leadership of Westwood communicates the early retirement program without paving the way or preparing the employees for change, the loyalty and engagement of its employees will decline.  Furthermore, when communication of change is not executed efficiently in that it does not reach all of the company’s constituents, the customer experience will suffer having adverse effects on the business. 

If organizations do not manage their communications others will.  When communicating to employees, a company must ensure they are providing the workforce with information that is timely and complete thereby enabling a stronger sense of engagement and trust with employees.  Management teams that do not accomplish this give way to the media, the rumor-mill, and unions who are all too willing to assist when there is little or no communication from the company.

Proposed Communication Strategy

Considering the information above when creating a strategy for communicating change at Westwood Publishing, the change agent must possess a plan that customizes the message, set the appropriate tone, build in feedback, and ensure penetration.  As a result, the following change communication strategy should be implemented:

1. Communication needs to be implemented through face to face meetings, intranet, video conferencing, or newsletter. 
2. Prepare separate meetings for employees, stakeholders, as well as subscribers.
   1. Initiate employee meetings first including the timelines and any operations changes as a result of the change.
   2. Meet with stakeholders second with a focus on how the changes will impact future return on investments.
   3. Alert subscribers of any changes that may affect service or product offerings.
3. Communication must take place within a short period of time with respect to the order in point two.   
4. The message must come directly from the executive management staff including the CEO. 
   1. If the CEO cannot physically be in all business units during the communication period, a video message of the CEO must start every meeting.   
5.  Feedback meetings must be held with employees shortly after communication is given.
   1. Responses to questions from these meetings must be answered within the designated communication period. 
   2. Redefine the forward mission of Westwood Publishing to all constituents.
   3. Address how the change will enable the company to become more competitive.
   4.  Include any new business ventures the company is focused on. 

The communication strategy above outlines the methods of ensuring penetration through tools such as intranet, newsletters, and video.  It also includes employee engagement through feedback meetings in hopes to initiate an internal communication audit where Westwood can design the right program for the future.  With the above structure in place, the CEO must also have a clear understanding of what should be included in the message and what tone should the message have.  The message should focus on understanding.  The communication strategy must address following questions:  Who is the message intended for?  What is the skill level of the intended audience?  How will they respond to the news?  However, at the core of the message, the CEO must present the facts to the employees regardless of promises made in the past.