An essential part of any change project is how the change is communicated to the organization, the change agents, the line workers, the customers, and the public. Along with media relations issues, communicating change (especially in a publicly traded company) can involve multiple legal and regulatory aspects as well as personnel and management concerns. Perhaps the most challenging part of handling Kotter’s “establish a sense of urgency” is that too many inexperienced or immature change agents read this to mean “panic the troops.” Never do this!
Here's what to do:
Write an analysis of the communication your company used to communicate the organizational change.
Research and analyze any media, news, or other communications that provide details on the change that occurred in the organization.
Explain how the change was communicated to its stakeholders and the information shared in the communication you researched.
Discuss whether the communication effectively addressed the change to its intended audience (refer to the Chapter 7 reading).
Research and Analysis of Communication
The communication surrounding this transformation was meticulously planned and consistently delivered across all stakeholder groups. The change was not announced as a top-down mandate but was instead introduced as a new, shared mission. My research into company memos, Nadella's public statements, and various news articles reveals a clear, unified message.
Internal Communication: The initial communication to employees was delivered in a widely circulated email from Nadella shortly after he became CEO. This memo, later expanded upon in his book Hit Refresh, laid out a new mission: to "empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more." This was a fundamental shift from the previous competitive focus on products. It was not a message of failure but of opportunity. We were not told we were falling behind; we were given a new, more noble purpose. The message was reinforced through regular company-wide town halls, internal blogs, and a restructuring of the employee performance review system to reward collaboration and empathy over individual metrics. The language used was consistently focused on learning, growth, and humility.
External Communication: The public and media communications were equally strategic and consistent. Press releases and major announcements for products like Office 365, Azure, and Teams consistently framed the company as a partner, not a competitor. When we released Office for the iPad, it sent a powerful non-verbal message to customers that Microsoft was no longer locked into its own ecosystem. This pivot was discussed openly in media interviews, keynotes at major events, and investor presentations, where Nadella's consistent message of a "growth mindset" and a focus on cloud services effectively addressed market skepticism and established a new, forward-looking narrative.
Communication to Stakeholders and Information Shared
The communication strategy was tailored to each stakeholder group, ensuring the message resonated with their specific concerns and interests.
Sample Answer
Analysis of Communication in Microsoft's Organizational Change
As a leader at Microsoft, I have had the unique opportunity to witness and participate in one of the most significant and successful organizational transformations in modern corporate history. Under the leadership of CEO Satya Nadella, our company underwent a profound cultural and strategic shift. This was a complex, multi-faceted change from a siloed, competitive, and Windows-first company to a collaborative, cloud-first, and AI-driven organization. The success of this change was inextricably linked to a masterfully executed communication strategy that established a sense of urgency without resorting to "panicking the troops."