Stage One: Conscientious Objector or Recruit. At this stage, stakeholders still cling to a degree of rationality, but the battle lines are being drawn. Those who can accept the need for change, and easily adapt their ways of working start to separate from those gently rattling the chains of dissent, all the while professing loyalty to the corporate mothership.  Arguments such as “we are already best in class,” “it will never work” and “our customers will not accept offshore customer care” become the chorus of the conscientious objector class, while the recruit keeps an open mind and talks about the fact that the marketplace is global and the corporation is virtual.
During this stage, fact, sincerity and patience constitute the foundations of change messaging, not dissembling and deflection. Meeting objections head-on with fact and demonstrating respect for all opinions, however ill founded, are key to dealing with conscientious objectors, and arming recruits with the tools they need to influence opinion.

If at this stage messaging is effective, it supports a sort of natural selection to the next level — embracer role. However, if change messaging is poorly conceived and implemented, stage one players quickly mutate into guerrillas.

Stage Two: Guerrilla or Embracer. This stage is the change management equivalent of full-scale warfare. Implementation is at a stage where fault and error in transition is easily identifiable and can be spun into a story of corporate gloom and doom by guerrillas intent upon derailing the process. Guerrillas believe they have enough ammunition to present a compeling case to stop the process of change, and, more importantly, enough of a senior constituency to hear their arguments.

At the same time, equipped with the right messaging tools, embracers can solidify their roles as change agents. This requires active support and easily digestible and deliverable messages to combat each and every concern.
Effective messaging during stage two means preparedness, speed and transparency.  Each incident or escalation must have a prepared response at hand, following the mantra of “bad news early, good news often.”

Stage Three: Loyal Opposition or Sponsor. At this point in time, services delivery is at or close to stabilization, and the grumbles of the loyal opposition — those who profess the corporate version of “my country, right or wrong” — become just so much background noise. While, for the most part the initial change battle is won, the background noise coming from the loyal opposition is low level, the change messaging program should be designed to gently disarm the opposition. 

At the same time, sponsors need the messages to become evangelists to support continued change — clear, concise stories about what is working, what isn’t, and how the organization will apply services globalization learnings to reach the next level of change.

A messaging program at this stage is not a post implementation afterthought. It positions the organization for continuous improvement and evolution to a target operating model. It fuels the efforts of sponsors to identify other opportunities for transformation, and develops an organic network of confident change agents.
Lady Luck is capricious with her favors. Roll the dice and you win — or lose. But develop the right battle plan to message the change, and effective global services delivery is no longer a game of chance.

Deborah Kops is Chief Marketing Officer of  a leading offshore business-process outsourcer. Formerly a partner at two professional services firms, Managing Director at two global banks and a founding executive at a BPO service provider, she has a unique perspective on an industry that she believes will flourish, often in spite of itself.