[00:00:00] Mel: Hi, and welcome to Less Chatter, More Matter, a podcast about all things communication without the waffle. I'm your host, Mel Loy and in this show, I will give you short, punchy, practical communication tips and insights. You can start using in your communication practices right away. I'm a former corporate communication executive who happily took a redundancy, started my own business, and never looked back.

[00:00:27] Mel: These days, I use my 20 plus years of experience to help guide organizations of all shapes and sizes in how to communicate more effectively. I'm wife to Michael, cat mom to Cookie, auntie to 12 nieces and nephews, a yoga teacher, and a group fitness fanatic. I promise these episodes will always be short, sharp, and helpful, so let's get amongst it.

[00:00:52] Mel: Hello, friends. Thanks for joining us for another episode of the show. And a special thank you to those of you who have shared your [00:01:00] feedback on the show, episode topic ideas with me, all of that in the last few weeks.

[00:01:05] Mel: The feedback really makes a difference because I want to make sure I keep delivering value for you. So keep it coming. Speaking of delivering, let's get into today's episode. It's the last in this series on all things change communication, at least for a little while, but there is so much more I could share, so if you are loving this focus, please let me know.

[00:01:25] Mel: So the last couple of episodes we've talked about how to write a change comms plan and also behavioural science hacks you can use in your change comms to make them more effective. So if you haven't yet listened to those, highly recommend you go back and have a quick listen. That said, you don't have to listen to them to get into today's episode, because today we're going to delve a little deeper into the people side of things, and I'm going to share a model I use to explain how people respond to change and some of the techniques you can use to respond in kind.

[00:01:57] Mel: There's also a fun quiz I've developed, [00:02:00] so you can take that and it'll give you an insight into your own change behavior. So there's a link to that in the show notes. Look out for that. Now this is the model and I need you to use your imagination or draw along on a piece of paper if it's safe to do so.

[00:02:15] Mel: So in my experience, there's two major factors that influence how people respond to change. One factor is their processing time, or how long it takes them to make a decision. And the other factor is their level of risk aversion. So imagine a two by two axis, so four quadrants in total. On the vertical axis you've got risk aversion, going from low to high.

[00:02:40] Mel: And on the horizontal axis you've got processing time, again going from low to high. Let's talk about risk aversion first. When it comes to change, a person's level of risk aversion can be influenced by a bunch of things, but often times it's, you know, they've had poor experiences with change in the past, or maybe they've [00:03:00] had really great experiences, so they're really happy with change.

[00:03:03] Mel: Maybe they are just naturally more risk averse people, which could be the result of other life experiences. If you think about the people in your inner circle or your colleagues, or even yourself, how would you rate their level of risk aversion when it comes to change? So just have a think about that.

[00:03:21] Mel: The second aspect is processing time. Some people just make decisions more quickly than others. And the others need a little bit more time to mull over things, consider all aspects of something before coming to a conclusion. It's not risk aversion, it's just they like more information or time to think. And then there's others.

[00:03:42] Mel: Admittedly, like myself, we just jump into it. We're quick to say yes or no. There's not always a lot of gray area and that has benefits. It means you don't labor on a decision and things can move really quickly. But sometimes it comes at the cost of not thinking things [00:04:00] through adequately. So we have level of risk aversion versus speed of processing.

[00:04:06] Mel: Let's start in the bottom left hand quadrant of your matrix where we've got people with low risk aversion and low processing time. These people are what I call Happy Helens. They love change. In fact, they just thrive off it. You introduce a new idea or a new way of working and they'll go for it with very little resistance.

[00:04:26] Mel: Now the challenge with this group is they can often go too hard, too fast. So let's say you're introducing a new piece of software. They're loving it. And so they also want to start using it for some other, uh, processes or ways of working. And maybe it's got some other tools that they want to start using.

[00:04:44] Mel: This is a great attitude, this innovative, uh, creative thinking. You absolutely want that. But sometimes we just need to put the brakes on a bit and get one thing working really well before we then go and explore other possibilities. [00:05:00] Happy Helens though, they make great change champions. So you can use them as a communication channel, give them key messages, FAQs.

[00:05:10] Mel: Transcripts, cheat sheets, whatever it is, are the tools to help them share the case for why with others in their network. And they can also be the person who relays feedback back to the project team. Now, of course, this all comes down to context. You know, we often respond to change differently in a work life than a personal life, of course, but also from a work context.

[00:05:31] Mel: If where, if the changes are restructure and there's a risk, a person is going to be made redundant, they are probably not going to be a Happy Helen, but people who are generally in this group will see the silver lining more quickly too. Okay, so moving on to the bottom right hand side of the matrix where we still have low risk aversion, but we have high processing time.

[00:05:54] Mel: And these people are what I call our Cautious Cals. Cautious Cal is a person [00:06:00] who is generally positive about change, but they just need a bit of time to think it out and ask some questions first before they feel comfortable. People with higher processing time. Do often need more information, so your comms should include ways that they can get that.

[00:06:17] Mel: So links to an internet page or website, list of FAQs, et cetera. Also just opportunities for two way conversations, such as talking with their team leader, a customer service representative, or a team meeting. So Cautious Cal won't say yes right away. They'll say yes. But can I just ask a question first?

[00:06:38] Mel: They are also great for putting the brakes on our Happy Helens. Imagine a team made up wholly of Happy Helens without a Cautious Cal to reign them in. It would be absolute chaos. So we need them in our lives. They're really good at asking the questions we may not have thought of, but in a way that's intended to be helpful, generally speaking.

[00:06:59] Mel: The [00:07:00] challenge, of course, is the processing time. So that can mean they take a while to make a decision. So the more information you can give them earlier on, the quicker the process. So that's Cautious Cal and Happy Helen. Let's move up to the top level of the matrix now to the people with high risk aversion, but low processing time.

[00:07:19] Mel: So that's the top left quadrant. This group is what I call Nope Nellies. Nope Nellie types are the people whose default response to any kind of change or anything new is no. They are very quick to make a decision that change is bad, and they are often the type to say things like, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, or they'll say things like, I've seen us try that before and it didn't work last time.

[00:07:44] Mel: And I'm sure you've met a few people like that. Now, because Nope Nellies are quick to make a decision, they usually haven't taken the time to think through why they've made that decision or get more detail to inform their thinking. So communication with [00:08:00] this group needs to be much more one on one, two way communication.

[00:08:04] Mel: And that will usually involve challenging their illusion of explanatory depth. If you remember the episode we just did on the behavioral science hacks, the illusion of explanatory depth means that we often think we know much more about something than we actually do. So for our Nope Nellies this means leaders need to ask them questions like, help me understand exactly what it is you don't like about this.

[00:08:29] Mel: Or can you tell me which part of this specifically you are concerned about? And when you start to get into the granular detail, that's when people can show how little they really know or understand. Or maybe they understand a lot more than we give them credit for. But apart from a comms perspective, it can also tell us where our messaging has not been clear enough.

[00:08:50] Mel: So this is a great opportunity for feedback. Now, look, it can be tempting to dismiss the Nope Nellies as just being negative that they never towed the line anyway, [00:09:00] but they do bring value to a team because they are quick to point out potential flaws in a project or communication and be that devil's advocate role that actually helps us improve our comms very quickly.

[00:09:13] Mel: So that's our Nope Nellie. The final character I'm going to introduce you to is in the top right hand quadrant where we have high risk aversion and high processing time. And these are the people I call Fence- sitting Fred. So our Fence- sitting Freds are typically very change averse, very risk averse, but they also take a long time to make a decision.

[00:09:34] Mel: So they often sit back and wait and see, and once they've seen that everyone else has come along for the ride, or that they haven't - then they will make their decision about whether or not to go with it. Our Freds can also be in this position because they have a lot of fear of change. And so without a lot of certainty, they're unlikely to support change.

[00:09:54] Mel: Fear has hijacked their brains. So what does this mean from a communication perspective? [00:10:00] Again, it's a lot of individual attention from their leaders. They need to have two way communication and understand why our Freds aren't making a decision. What is holding them back? What information don't they have that they would like to have?

[00:10:14] Mel: And then work to give them that certainty. This means you're going to have to have more detail in your messaging, more opportunity to ask questions, more time to give more, more, more, more. Now, you may have noticed that a lot of the comms I've talked about is one on one, so leader led, no matter what your change type.

[00:10:34] Mel: And that really points to the fact that leadership communication during change is so, so critical. At a group level, we can only do so much, but at a team level, leaders know their team members better than anyone else. And, well, they should. And we know from international research that if your a direct leader, is talking to you versus your CEO or a leader twice removed, you are more likely to remember and [00:11:00] resonate with what your direct leader says to you.

[00:11:01] Mel: They are typically your most trusted voice. So team leaders need to be prepared to have tailored conversations to meet the needs of these four change types and see how they're all integral to understanding and driving the change. At the group level, we can't possibly have these one on one nuanced conversations.

[00:11:22] Mel: So I would recommend that what you aim for at the larger level, the high level of comms, is certainty. Build your certainty, you'll reduce fear. Okay, time for the episode recap. Number one, there are two key elements that contribute to how a person responds to change. Their level of risk aversion and their processing time.

[00:11:44] Mel: Number two, there are four ways people typically respond to change based on those two factors. And leaders need to understand that and tailor their comms accordingly. The first type we discussed were our Happy Helens who love change. They make [00:12:00] decisions very quickly, have very low risk aversion. They are great change champions, but they can also go too hard too soon.

[00:12:08] Mel: The second type are Cautious Cals who are typically optimistic about change, as long as it's well reasoned, but they just need that little bit more information before they go with it. The third type are our Nope Nellies whose default response to change is no, but they make great devil's advocates and can come around once you challenge their level of understanding.

[00:12:31] Mel: And the final type we discussed were our Fence- sitting Freds who take a long time before they either go with it or they don't. And so they often go with crowd opinion. Again, you need to have one on one combos with these people to help them move more quickly. Now, are you a Happy Helen, a Cautious Cal, a Nope Nelly, or a Fence sitting Fred?

[00:12:52] Mel: You can find out by taking my quick quiz. It's just a bit of fun. And I would actually recommend you ask somebody else who knows you to take it. [00:13:00] imagining they're taking it about you and see what it says, because we're always nicer to ourselves in these things. The link is in the show notes, or you can find it with a bunch of other fun things at heymelcomms.com.au/freebies

[00:13:16] Mel: Also, I discuss this model in heaps more detail in my upcoming book, which is a practical guide to change communication. I've pulled together a framework that you can easily follow and scale for any kind of change. And I'll step you through that. But then I've also thrown in a bunch of behavioral science techniques so that you can really use that in your messaging to influence people and change behaviors.

[00:13:38] Mel: If you haven't yet, pop your name on the waiting list for the book so you can be the first to know when pre sales open, plus a few bonus launch specials. And if you buy the book and provide proof of purchase, I'll be giving you a pack of change comms templates absolutely free. Huzzah! Okay, that's all for this week.

[00:13:56] Mel: I hope this episode got you thinking about how you respond [00:14:00] to change, how the people around you respond to change, and what that might mean for your communication. As always, if you have any feedback or suggestions of topics to cover, please get in touch. This is The People Show. I will deliver what the people need.

[00:14:14] Mel: Have an amazing week. Keep doing amazing things and bye for now.