Organizations confuse talking at people with working with them.
They’ve been doing it for years.
Working with people is a well-kept secret that does the magic in transformations.
Most adoption plans have a communication strategy.
Almost none have an engagement strategy.
And people wonder why nobody bought in.
But!
Communication is not engagement.
Sending information is easy.
Creating involvement is harder.
Communication tells people what is happening.
Engagement helps them shape it, question it, test it, and believe they have a place in it.
One informs. The other involves.
Engagement isn’t a phase you check off before Go Live.
It’s the ground you prepare—so that when communication lands, it actually hits the nail.
Real engagement is bidirectional.
It requires relationship infrastructure.
It measures influence, sentiment, and the quality of what people actually tell you back.
Engagement starts much earlier:
in the workshop where people name what will really change,
in the pilot where you test what is believable and doable,
in the manager engagement session where leaders and transformation teams stop hiding behind slides,
in the ambassador network where trust travels faster than email,
in the feedback loop where people see their input changed something.
Communication measures open rates.
Engagement measures commitment.
Commitment is what makes adoption real.
If your transformation doesn’t have change-impact workshops, co-creation sessions, manager alignment conversations, pilot groups, or ambassador networks built in – you don’t have an engagement strategy.
You just have a one-way communication plan.
And communication on its own doesn’t change behavior.
Co-creation, engagement, involving people do.
What are you building first in your change efforts – communication, or engagement?
How to create engagement that strengthens adoption is one of the modules in Change Essentials programme. I invite you to join this programme if you want to create people’s commitment and involvement.