So, for example, if the new corporate vision is 'The customer is king', front line employees will soon become cynical about managers who :-

• push old stock when it doesn't match customers' needs
• promote those who demonstrate such behaviour
• indulge in parochial, 'stove pipe' thinking

The vision will wither on the vine. Customers will react to the way they are actually treated. Employees will follow the example set from the top.

Rather than rely on sterile corporate statements, senior executives need to communicate the kind of organisation they want to create by:-

• describing how the organisation will be recognised and talked about in the market place
• demonstrating the behaviours they want employees to follow - 'the way we do things around here'
• keeping day to day decision making - and reactions when things go wrong - consistent with the espoused culture.
• talking about these things consistently and with passion on every possible occasion.

Communication during change immediately conjures up visions of corporate videos and newsletters. But research suggests:-

• 75% of companies using such media believed them ineffective and 70% of communication managers referred to their publications as "attempts at the truth" - which does not mean that this was deliberate!
• less than 15% said that the publications reflected the entire truth. Only 20% of one major manufacturer's employees thought that a company publication was 'valuable and believable'.

Of course there is a need for some corporate communication. And the source of information which employees really trust is their immediate supervisor or manager.

Managers and supervisors need to be primary targets for clear communication and support, at a time when they too may feel vulnerable. To enable them to manage discussions with their staff credibly and with confidence, they need training to develop their own skills in briefing, listening and facilitating planning discussions.

In order to own and add value to the change message, they need the flexibility to tailor it to their own departments. Consistency needs to be maintained by a regular supply of professionally produced material to support them.