Don't Let Change Wreck Your Team's Trust
A straightforward communication framework for aligning your team around changes
If you read the change management literature, it’s easy to get the impression that such management is entirely about measuring success. So much of the guidance boils down to ‘know where you’re starting, know where you’re heading and measure your progress’.
This isn’t bad advice by any means, but most real-world change management problems are rarely about getting lost on the way to the destination.
Scaling Change
If you visit teams that have scaled successfully, what you’ll undoubtedly notice is their mastery of alignment. Everyone understands the group’s direction and feels able to move forward independently. How do they get so good at flocking the same way? They realize that change management is a communication problem even more than it is one of measurement.
When communicating decisions that affect people this way, we recommend making things much FOMIAR 🍺 😁…
FACTS: Clearly communicate what you know, what’s still uncertain, and what you’re actively learning.
OPTIONS: Explain the options considered and the rationale behind the final decision.
METHOD: Outline the decision-making process and the criteria used.
IMPACT: Discuss both the positive and negative consequences of the change.
ACTION: Clearly state what actions, if any, are expected from the team.
RESOURCES: Provide readily accessible resources for further information.
Example
To see FOMIAR in action, let’s look at how a technology firm might announce the discontinuation of a legacy product:
📚 FACTS
We have made the difficult decision to discontinue DataVault Pro (DVP), effective January 31, 2026. This is a tough change, but it’s essential: our customers are rapidly shifting to cloud-native, AI-integrated solutions, and DVP just can’t keep up with that pace of innovation.
🔍 OPTIONS
We explored every avenue. Most notably, a massive, three-year, $25 million rearchitecture, which would ultimately have stalled us and delayed our newer, competitive platform. We chose DVP’s discontinuation so we could focus all our energy and talent on delivering the future our customers are asking for.
🧪 METHOD
This wasn’t a snap decision. It was based on every scrap of data we could lay our hands on. It factored in financial viability, our AI-first strategy, and our conclusions about the best way to leverage our incredible talent. The Executive Committee signed off on the change after reviewing the clear trend of a 15% YOY drop in DVP revenue.
💥 IMPACT
We know this kind of thing causes uncertainty, so we want to be crystal-clear: no-one is losing their job. DVP team members will be immediately redeployed to the high-growth team working on the new platform, offering new career paths and any required training. For customers, we’re committed to a smooth migration path.
🕺🏼ACTION
DVP Team: Please join the mandatory briefing tomorrow at 10:00 AM where we’ll be laying out the new roles. Sales/Support: Customers are going to be looking to you for reassurance; please review the updated Customer Migration Playbook right away. All Staff: Please hold off on any external communication of these changes until the official public announcement on October 25th.
🚚 RESOURCES
We are here to support you. Please check the Internal Change Hub ([Internal Link]) for the detailed FAQ, migration timelines, and most importantly, a link to submit any questions or concerns you have. We promise to address every one of them.
Trust & Resistance
This detailed, transparent approach, powered by the FOMIAR structure, directly combats the natural resistance that change generates. That is why focusing carefully on communication is so critical: skipping these steps can subtly erode trust and increase resistance. Prospect Theory sheds light on this phenomenon. People struggle to weigh potential future gains against the certainty of present losses. ‘Buying-in’ to change often feels like sacrificing a part of oneself, triggering feelings of grief and loss.
There’s no easy set of rules for maintaining trust in the face of these challenges. However, beyond the 6 components described by the FOMIAR model, the golden rule for helping people feel safe in the face of change is to communicate early and often. This applies even if nothing has changed since your last update. Regular communication builds trust and lowers anxiety because it communicates that you are completely on top of the problem.
Next Steps
If you are about to be involved in rolling out a big change at work, try evaluating your planned communication through the lenses described above. Look for subtle gaps in your strategy and consider asking a member of the target audience to look over your messaging with an eye to these details.
If you’d like us to help you or your team with communicating change, addressing burnout, or increasing psychological safety, drop us a line.