Communicating Change: A Key Component to Action

“Communicating Change: A Key Component to Action,” in the centre on a blue gradient background. White blobs at the top and bottom opposite corners with purple outline blobs.

Change is not always seen or expressed in the same way. The signal of change that is commonly seen as massive, a key milestone is heavily framed by mainstream and social media. Communicating with different audiences, especially when considering the general public, depends on the experiences and perspective of what is currently considered the standard in society. Even then, it differs between communities when injustices and oppression from traditional systems exist for so long that the idea of what is significant change is not the same. 

Communication plays a role in how change can be perceived. From who is providing the information, to how the information is presented, and the timing of the information in relation to other events all contribute to an image of what someone may see or not see the change. Communication is mainly utilized to show impact but it goes beyond explaining what someone or an organization has done. You can showcase the impact from your communications that are within your control, but it may not be strong without others contributing it, backing it, or sharing it. 

While communication is mainly seen as an external tool, it has many directions that create the narrative of what is happening and whether it is considered change. To best explain how impact and change can be perceived in different communications methods, I am going to highlight the different situations. 

Internal Conversations

Let’s say you work in a group or organization. Many actions can be happening to work towards the overall idea of making change happen. The internal communications to share and update key actions, successes, and failures all help frame what changes and movement is occurring. This method of communications is to help with motivation and momentum of continuing advocacy and activism work, especially when it gets hard. The internal conversations help with strategy and focus of the external communication from the source which helps with trust and authority of the work.

Word of Mouth

Whether it is through the traditional approach of talking within the community or sharing through social media, personal connections with people is key. Personal connections already have a level of trust when it comes to information sharing. While it is not entirely within your control, it is important for building relationships and finding new connections and perspectives for a stronger reaction to impact and change. 

Stakeholders

The idea of stakeholders depends on your work and the connections you built. Whether it is a mandated connection or a mutual connection like partners, there is an invested interest in the work to encourage the type of change that you are striving for. All stakeholders have a role to contribute, no matter the perceived size of contribution, it all adds up to the impact of the change. Creating that mutual connection of collaboration and sharing is key to communications. 

Media and Social Media

This is how we get the “general public” of communications. The investment of interest can vary on how they can perceive your impact and change. You are also more likely to receive the opposing reaction to what impact and change you are attempting to create. It is important to consider the broad impact of media, especially with the ease of entering social media as the method of communications. The connection to community is critical to success but it does require a level of strategy and resources to make it happen effectively. The only time it will come randomly and surprisingly is if it is considered the topic of the day. Even then, it takes work to make the impact of media and social media happen. A consistent form of communication to share and highlight your work but requires knowledge and skill to make it happen. Luckily, it can always be learned and improved on. 

Communication is a key factor to change. At a certain level of impact, needing to showcase the change to the broader public is important. Communication is what allows information to be shared in a way that is accessible and hopefully simple to allow people to connect and engage with your work. Depending on the desired approach to your audiences and size of group and organization, it does not need to be complicated with multiple levels of people within a department to push marketing and communications. It does require a level of collaboration and information sharing of internal and external communications to build the bridge that is strong and stable for people to join you in the movement towards change. The successes, failures, and the fun updates.

Amanda