On a recent writing course with a former print journalist, our group was taken through the fundamentals of how to tell a story. We were told that every story must answer six basic questions: who, what, why, where, when, and how?

You can tick these off in your head as you receive or transmit information, whether writing your own story or reading someone else’s. If it doesn’t answer them, then it may not work as a coherent set of messages. The same applies to communicating with teams, particularly about change.

Engaging colleagues about a change project has to answer the same questions:

• Who: Who is the project happening to? Is it just my immediate team or is it wider? And who is doing it to us? Do I know them? Do I trust them?

• What: What is actually happening? What – in practical terms – will feel different to me after it has happened?

• Why: Why does this need to be happening at all? Why is this better than the status quo or doing something completely different? Has this really been thought through?

• Where: Where will this be happening? Does it involve a change in where I and my team will be doing our work or where others will be working with us?

• When: When do I need to prepare myself for this to happen? When will I be given more information or asked to feed back?

• How: How exactly will this happen? Will it happen in one go or in a phased approach? Will it be done to me or will it be done with me? How will we know if it has worked?

Change normally throws up a lot of questions. And while some of those questions will revolve around the simpler who, when, where. The most crucial question to ask is, why. 

If the motives for change aren’t clear then they will be projected – either correctly or incorrectly – onto the people leading it. Worse, they will be distrusted, undermining any attempt to provide transparency or to seek genuine feedback or suggestions from the people it will affect.

Journalists use the six questions to ensure they give readers all the essential information they need to understand what has happened and provide a reason for why it happened at all. Anyone attempting to do the same within an organisation would do well to make sure they have good answers, too.