New CIPR playbook and skills guide help internal communicators plan and deliver change programmes
The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) has today published a playbook and skills guide to help internal communicators plan and deliver organisational change.
The Change Communication Playbook was developed by the CIPR Inside Committee and written by Ann-Marie Blake Chart.PR, FCIPR, co-founder of change and internal communications consultancy True. It is a practical member resource for practitioners who are new to change communication or reviewing their existing approach. It takes readers from first planning through to the weeks after launch, when managers face questions and new habits need reinforcing.
The playbook covers:
- Understanding change: how the brain responds to uncertainty, people-centred change, listening and dialogue, and managing rumour and speculation.
- Planning and delivery: an eight-step change communication plan, the core characteristics behind a strong change narrative, and how to time and sequence sensitive announcements.
- Change models: the Kübler-Ross Change Curve, Prosci’s ADKAR model, Hilary Scarlett’s SPACES model and David Rock’s SCARF model, with the limits of each and how to apply them to communications.
- Working with programme teams: how project management offices and governance structures operate.
It also includes a glossary of common change management terms and scenario cards on a restructure, an office move and a new IT platform. Each card sets out the checks and actions communicators should consider, and teams can use the cards for discussion or planning exercises.
Alongside the playbook, the CIPR has published a change communication skills guide that is open to everyone. It gives an overview of the knowledge and approaches practitioners need to communicate change and put people at the heart of the process. The guide covers why change communication matters, how to plan it, how to communicate through uncertainty and how to measure whether communication is helping a change succeed. Members can then turn to the playbook, which explores these topics in more depth and adds further tools and practical guidance.
With change communication skills in such high demand, I wanted to create something that would be genuinely helpful to practitioners. When you’re faced with a real change in a real organisation, knowing what to do and where to start can be difficult. The Change Playbook brings together practical guidance and tools to help communicators make informed decisions and put people at the heart of change.
Internal communicators are often the first people asked to explain a change and the last to hear about it. That gap is where trust starts to slip, and it’s also where good communicators earn their place. The playbook and skills guide give practitioners a clear, practical way to close it, with tools they can pick up on a Monday morning and put to work straight away. They're resources I’d encourage every communicator to keep close, and I’m grateful to Ann-Marie and the CIPR Inside Committee for putting them together.
- Read the Change Communication skills guide
- Download the Change Communication Playbook (CIPR members only)
- Find out more about CIPR Inside
About the Chartered Institute of Public Relations
Founded in 1948, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is the world's only Royal Chartered professional body for public relations practitioners with over 11,000 members.
The CIPR advances professionalism in public relations by making its members accountable to their employers and the public through a code of conduct and searchable public register, setting standards through training, qualifications, awards and the production of best practice and skills guidance, facilitating Continuing Professional Development (CPD), and awarding Chartered Public Relations Practitioner status (Chart.PR).