Hey Reader,

At last week’s Organizational Change Office Hours, someone asked a great question:

“What can I do when I want to communicate about the changes we have going on, but I don’t have any actual information to share?”

It's a great question, and when I looked in my notes later that day, I realized that someone had asked a similar question during office hours at least twice in 2023, so this person was definitely not alone.

One of the things they were concerned about was under-communicating, one of the biggest mistakes change-leaders can make. Leaders often think they can’t communicate when they don’t have anything to share, but skilled communicators (and your employees!) know that not communicating is a form of communication. So what do you do if you don’t have information to share?

Say that! In lieu of information, share your strategy. Like this:

“There’s no new info to share right now, but [this is what we’re doing behind the curtain to work on this change].”

“I don’t have all of the answers at this time, but when I have information, I plan to share it [in this way with these people at this time].”

“We haven’t decided this yet, but [this is how we will solicit feedback from you, how we will decide, and how we will let you know].”

In lieu of information, share the strategy itself.

Not only is this move a great way to keep folks informed, provide an opportunity for two-way communication, and let people know that you are thinking about them and working hard behind the scenes, it can highlight a critical gap:

If you don’t have a strategy to share in lieu of information, then you don’t have a strategy.

If you don’t have a strategy, then you are not, in fact, working behind the scenes and will definitely not have any information to share anytime soon.

And that’s okay, too.

Maybe a change has been put on hold because of budget.

Maybe it has been completely canceled because of a pivot.

Maybe you’re waiting for crucial information or for a bigger change outside of your organization and beyond your control to take place.

Those are all great things to communicate to your teams as well!

And if you find that you don’t have a strategy to share but you need one because a change you actually need to make won’t budge without it?

Then it’s time to get to work.

If you’re going through times of change and are struggling to move forward or keep your team informed, I’d love to hear where you’re at — On hold? Canceled? Strategy-less? Reply here and let me know.

Talk soon,

Caitlin Founder, Commcoterie

P.S. — I’m looking to work with more leaders who are hoping to build restorative, change-ready cultures in 2024. I partner with them to create effective and engaging change strategies for changes big and small and I facilitate engaging and actionable workshops and programs for their teams.

If that’s something your organization needs, don’t hesitate to get in touch. And if you’re not the decision-maker and you want to connect me with that person at your company, by all means, reply here and let me know — we can put our heads together and talk about the best next step.

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Upcoming events & what we're reading

Join us for our next Organizational Change Office Hours on Thursday, February 15th Have change on the horizon and want to do it right? The leaders we work with care deeply about their teams and know that proactive, thoughtful, and strategic change is better for the business and everyone who works toward its mission. If you're ready to create communication-driven, people-centered change, join us at this free virtual strategy session for people leaders and change-makers on Thursday, February 15th and learn how to cultivate a culture of restorative organizational change at your organization. We'll be talking about what it means to restore before, as in how you can take steps to build a restorative culture so that when it's time to drive change, your people aren't just change-resilient, but change-ready. Register here​

BREAKING: Guy does bare minimum and I feel the need to share because the bar is THAT low I got a video in my inbox last week from Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci about the Boeing 737-9 MAX (you may have heard about it - a piece of one of their planes blew out mid-flight). The video isn't a work of art by any means, I'm just not use to watching men in power apologize on camera??? And it has a decent example of sharing strategy in lieu of information. At 2:09, he apologizes and takes responsibility. At 3:00 he says they don't know how long it will take to inspect all of the grounded planes and then shares the next strategic steps they're taking to get that information and get planes back in the air. At 5:30, he thanks customers in advance for being kind to Alaska Airlines employees, at least doing something to protect his frontline workers. I'm mildly impressed! Watch here​

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