Put change notices where the change happens.

Imagine a food cooperative is replacing handwritten paper coupons with reusable member cards. The new system begins in six weeks. The usual instinct is to announce it once at the annual meeting, send one newsletter, and assume every shopper now knows. That feels like a large communication effort to the people who prepared it. To a member who missed the meeting and skimmed the newsletter, it never happened.

John Kotter, writing about organizational change, argued that leaders commonly under-communicate change by a huge margin. The reason is easy to understand. The sender counts the work required to prepare an announcement. The audience experiences only the moments when the message reaches them while they are paying attention.

The first correction is not a more dramatic announcement. It is repeated contact across time. For the cooperative, that could mean a short note on every paper coupon, a sign beside the cashier who accepts it, and a reminder printed on the receipt. The heaviest coupon users see the notice most often. Frequency rises with the amount of change each person faces.

That is better than asking members to visit a special page they have no reason to open. Put the message in the path of the old behavior. Tell people about the new card while they are using the coupon it replaces.

Everett Rogers's work on the diffusion of innovations explains why repetition matters. Adoption is not one event. People first become aware of a change, then form an opinion, decide, act, and finally confirm that the choice worked. One announcement may create awareness. It cannot serve every later stage.

A shopper may notice the receipt message on Monday, ask a cashier about it the next week, pick up a card later, and activate it on a fourth visit. That is not refusal. It is movement through the stages. The information must still be available when the person is ready for the next step.

People also move at different speeds. The last person to switch is not necessarily stubborn. They may shop only once a month, share errands with a neighbor, have trouble reading the form, or remember a previous system that failed. A sharper email will not remove those costs. Time, repeated notice, and practical help might.

A useful change notice has three jobs. First, say what is changing and when. Second, say what the person must do, in the fewest clear steps. Third, say what happens if they do nothing.

“Paper coupons end on June first” gives information. “Bring your coupon to the service desk before June first, receive a free member card, and use that card at checkout” gives a path. “After June first, paper coupons will no longer receive the member discount” explains the consequence. Now the member can make a decision.

The third job matters because vague change creates vague delay. If people cannot tell what inaction will cost, doing nothing feels safe. A clear consequence does not need to sound threatening. It needs to be true.

There is an opposite mistake: once you build several reminder surfaces, you can overwhelm people. A cashier repeating the full explanation every visit will quickly become irritating. Use a small signal in the normal path and reserve the full explanation for the moment someone asks or starts switching. Respect is part of repetition.

Design the communication as a sequence. Early notices create awareness. Midway notices point to the service desk and explain the steps. Near the deadline, the cashier can ask whether the member has received a card. After the switch, the old-coupon response should explain what happened and where to get help. Each message should match the decision the person can make at that moment.

Assign ownership for each surface. Someone must update the receipt, brief the cashiers, stock the service desk, and remove old signs after the deadline. Otherwise the public receives conflicting instructions. Repetition builds trust only when the repeated facts agree. A stale sign can undo several accurate notices because it makes people wonder which version is real.

Do not confuse publishing with communicating. A beautiful poster behind the office door is still invisible. A long guide may be accurate and useless if nobody encounters it during the behavior that is changing.

Here is the practice. For your next change, write three sentences before drafting any announcement: what changes and when, what the affected person must do, and what happens if they do nothing. If the last sentence is unclear, the change itself is probably not settled.

Then map the old behavior. Where do people perform it? What object do they touch? Whom do they ask for help? Put a brief notice on those surfaces and make the detailed instructions available one step away. Choose a reasonable period for repetition, and decide how often one person should encounter the reminder in a single visit.

That is lesson thirty three. People should not have to come looking for news about a change you are making. Put the message where the old action happens, repeat it across the time people need to adapt, and make the next step unmistakable.