Getting on board

Getting on Board:

Change management and employee relations. 

Are you about to start a change programme? At no point is language more crucial than when an organisation needs to change and when employees need to be brought on board. Any change programme starts with establishing the status quo, be that through employee surveys or a 360-degree view of how different groups talk about the organisation. Language analysis can find out how team members and managers refer to themselves and others, what metaphors they use for the organisation, how they evaluate processes – and where there is friction. Based on that analysis, I can help develop ways of using language and tell compelling stories to effect sustainable change. Are you sure that staff always feel part of the crew? Some employees may be self-

conscious about their accent, while line managers may have unconscious biases against certain ways of speaking. Others find that their culture-specific ways of contributing (or not!) in meetings and interviews are at odds with the dominant ways of talking in an organisation. AI tools can help describe how a team member comes

across to others (“You used aggressive language”). Tried-and-tested methods such as discourse and conversation analysis can build on that to break down what creates such effects and how team members and leaders can accommodate each other to make sure everyone is heard.