Coping with rapid change
(Toyota Motor Corporation)
At Toyota Motor Corporation, Richard was responsible for drawing up and implementing a proactive internal communications campaign at a time of rapid expansion at the car manufacturer. This was key to the organisation’s ongoing success as the pace of change threatened to create a great deal of employee insecurity as people worried that they would be required to upskill quickly, move to different parts of the business.
Working closely with the HR division, Richard proposed and saw the implementation of regular, formalised briefings for all staff (division by division) by the managing director; supplied monthly group leader briefs along with carefully composed responses sensitive questions brought up at manager / employee official meetings. He additionally oversaw production of a bi-monthly staff newsletter in conjunction with an external agency and introduced company newsflashes and information display boards.
The £400M phase two expansion went exactly to plan and staff feedback through the official once per year survey paid tribute to the company’s determination to keep people up to speed as to what was planned and why.