Communicating Through Change
By Ali Lalieu
October 2025
In her newly released book, Strong Ground, Dr Brené Brown, says that she’s come to a point in her work where “understanding how an organization invests in and thinks about their internal communication practices is critically important”.
She’s seen internal communications “tank a transformation effort’ and seen other internal communications ‘elevate a transformation beyond what we thought was possible”.
So what’s the difference?
Her list of requirements for ‘confident and mission-grounded communication’ is a long one ~ which may explain why communicating with ‘Grounded Confidence’ is very rare!
Think *Accessible *Anticipatory *Clear *Compelling *Consistent *Economical *Honest *Reliable *Timely *In service of Connection (never deception) and *In support of strategy, mission and vision.
People are overwriting and undercommunicating.
Brené gives us seven principles to help guide how we communicate:
Principle One: LEGO Complexity: DUPLO Simplicity
Keep communication succinct and specific. “One page ~ clean, simple, inspiring, memorable and readable.”
People are already overwhelmed by the volume of information they need to absorb daily. Don’t add to that load!
Principle Two: Emotionally Resonant Language Matters
Emotions drive People. People Drive Performance.
Every communication is an opportunity “to acknowledge our shared humanity, to make someone smile, to earn one of those nods that convey, I get it. We can do this.”
Principle Three: Chekhov’s Gun
Chekhov’s gun is a principle that reminds us that every element in a story must serve a necessary purpose or be removed.
We need muscular editing to make communications simple, emotionally resonant and focused.
Principle Four: Become a Student of Aesthetic Force
Master the usage and power of images to change or capture hearts and minds ~ AND be aware that this requires genuine intent (with no whiff of manipulation).
Principle Five: Own and Communicate the Changes
Decisions to “not own or communicate even the slightest change will breed distrust, burnout and frustration.”
Communicate any change in strategy/course/direction as soon as possible.
Brené gives us a Communication template to follow:
Hi everyone,
We really the support for our 2025/2026 strategy launch…We’ve seen your disciplined work to integrate new KPIs into your teams…We are impressed and grateful.
To meet the new demands of our customers, we are changing direction effective immediately, and we are going to need the same level of support and discipline form you to make this pivot successful. If we’re going to win, we must do this together. Winning means your buy-in and our transparency in explaining why we’re changing direction.
Here’s what’s driving the change:
1.
2.
3.
Here’s what’s changing for all of us:
1.
2.
3.
Here’s what is NOT changing:
1.
2.
3.
We’ll have a series of town hall meetings on the following dates… You can submit questions at this link no later than… We’re committed to answering every question that we can.
The pivot will be a lift. We’ll do it together. We’ll win together.
Principle Six: Beware of Invisible Armies and Bullshit Disclaimers
“Unless you are representing a consensus opinion shared by people who are happy to be identified”, stick to an “I” position (not ‘We don’t think this is a good idea’)
Look out for the Bullshit disclaimers…”I don’t mean to be critical, but…” “Not to be rude, but…”
This is the moment where you, as leader, interrupt and say something like “Rude is not OK. Do you need some time to think of a reframe that’s more productive?”
Principle Seven: Metaphors, Analogies, and Stories
Metaphors activate multiple regions of the brain — not just the language centres, but also sensory and emotional areas.
These are “neurobiologically powerful because they engage our brains in ways that literal or abstract information does not.”
Ali xo