Pushing change throughout an entire organization can seem risky. You've got to worry about getting out a consistent message, managing the naysayers and building cohesiveness. Yesterday, Promotional Consultant Today shared five key tips from three business consultants on how to tackle change management. In today's issue, we share five more.

1. Communicate the message. Too often, change leaders make the mistake of believing that others understand the issues, feel the need to change and see the new direction as clearly as they do. The best change programs reinforce core messages through regular, timely advice that is both inspirational and practicable. Communications flow in from the bottom and out from the top, and are targeted to provide employees the right information at the right time and to solicit their input and feedback. Often this will require over-communication through multiple, redundant channels.

2. Assess the cultural landscape. Successful change programs pick up speed and intensity as they cascade down, making it critically important that leaders understand and account for culture and behaviors at each level of the organization. Thorough cultural diagnostics can assess organizational readiness to change, bring major problems to the surface, identify conflicts and define factors that can recognize and influence sources of leadership and resistance. This can help you to identify the core values, beliefs, behaviors and perceptions that must be taken into account for successful change to occur.

3. Address culture explicitly. Once the culture is understood, it should be addressed as thoroughly as any other area in a change program. Leaders should be explicit about the culture and underlying behaviors that will best support the new way of doing business, and find opportunities to model and reward those behaviors.

Change programs can involve creating a culture (in new companies or those built through multiple acquisitions), combining cultures (in mergers or acquisitions of large companies) or reinforcing cultures (in, say, long-established companies).

4. Prepare for the unexpected. No change program goes completely according to plan. People react in unexpected ways; areas of anticipated resistance fall away and the external environment shifts. Effectively managing change requires continual reassessment of its impact and the organization's willingness and ability to adopt the next wave of transformation. Fed by real data from the field and supported by information and solid decision-making processes, change leaders can then make the adjustments necessary to maintain momentum and drive results.

5. Speak to the individual. Change is both an institutional journey and a very personal one. People spend many hours each week at work; many think of their colleagues as a second family. Individuals (or teams of individuals) need to know how their work will change, what is expected of them during and after the change program, how they will be measured, and what success or failure will mean for them and those around them. Team leaders should be as honest and explicit as possible.

Source: John Jones is a vice president with Booz Allen Hamilton in New York, specializing in organization design, process reengineering, and change management. DeAnne Aguirre is an advisor on strategy for PwC. Based in San Francisco, she specializes in culture, leadership, talent effectiveness, and organizational change management. Matthew Calderone is a senior associate with Booz Allen Hamilton, focusing on organization transformation, people issues and change management.