Are Change Communications and Corporate Communications the same thing?

At a Glance: Bridging the Gap Between Information and Adoption

While often used interchangeably, General Corporate Communications and Change Communications serve two fundamentally different masters. Understanding this distinction is the difference between a project that is simply announced and one that is truly adopted.

• Corporate Comms focus on the What and When to maintain an informed, aligned workforce.

  
  

• Change Comms engineer the How and Why, specifically designed to move impacted groups from denial to active acceptance.

  
  

• The Risk: Communicating too early without a solution-ready plan can trigger speculation and gossip, while communicating too late breeds resistance.

  
  

• The Agencia Edge: Drawing on deep experience across the Banking, Government, and Transport sectors, we look beyond the "send button" to focus on how employees feel and function during a transition.

Is your messaging driving readiness or resistance? If you are preparing for a complex rollout, ensure your strategy is built for adoption.

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Change communications is a specialised field that enables impacted groups and audiences to understand the relevant details of upcoming changes. Strong change communication approaches draw heavily on the professional practices of Communications Managers and Specialists. In today's article we examine whether change communications is any different to general corporate communications. If so, how, and does it matter?

Purpose and Focus

General Corporate Communications

The purpose of corporate communications is to inform and create awareness within an organisation, to open up channels between decision makers and employees, and to ensure there's a way for important information to reach people who need to know. The channels that might be used in corporate communications include the intranet and email, brochures, social media, messaging in collaboration tools, newsletters, posters, digital noticeboards and many others. The key target for general corporate communications is ongoing information provision to create an informed audience.

Change Communications

On the other hand, the purpose for change communications is more specific. It aims to inform impacted groups and key stakeholders about the change so that they know what to expect, and to proactively overcome resistance and denial of change during organisational transitions. This may include more emotive elements than straight corporate communications as it aims to appeal positively, to express inclusivity and to facilitate acceptance.

Components

The components of both general communications and change communications include the message, the audience, the spokesperson and the channel. We may see these used differently between each style of communication. As in-house communications teams will tell you, different channels are more effective for different combinations of message, audience and spokesperson.

Decisions about which channel to use for which purpose may have been driven by past experience of what works, or strategic decision-making that may leave certain channels exclusive to their own strict and recognisable purpose. For example, emails to the entire enterprise may be restricted to messaging under the CEO's signature.

In general communications, channels like newsletters, intranet and email groups are used for announcements, updates, and routine information to maintain an ongoing communication flow. In change communications, however, change leads engineer messaging to advise about risks and impacts, reinforce training, engage stakeholders in feedback mechanisms, manage resistance or for project management and governance purposes.

Change communications need to be relevant, timely and rapidly accessible to the target audience. The essential role of change communications is that they are engineered to move a project from concept to acceptance, enabling readiness for change.

Key Learnings

Admirably, organisations understand the benefit and necessity for clear communications with employees. However when it comes to change communications, we often see organisations trying to communicate before there is much to say. This can be a problem because if the communication falls short of what people want to know, it opens up speculation and gossip. Avoid the gossip trap by aligning your comms to a robust strategy. Check out our free How to Create a Change Plan course to get the timing right.

If this is occurring, it may be useful to develop some 'awareness' communications, including an Elevator Pitch and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that can be shared with general audiences. Create an intranet site or other online portal and direct employees to the site. Ensure there is a way for employees to ask questions, such as an email inbox. It is vital to maintain any online presence and to answer questions and acknowledge feedback.

More detailed communications about the change should keep pace with the overall project management plan; communication should not lead the program. If communication gets ahead of solution readiness, generating interest and excitement with change audiences, organisations can find themselves over-committed to an approach that later turns out to be too costly or otherwise infeasible.

Change Communications and Corporate Communications Side by Side

	General Corporate Communications	Change Communications
Primary Goal	Awareness & Information Flow	Adoption & Behavioural Change
Emotional Tone	Neutral or Informative	Emotive or Empathetic (aligned to stages of behavioural change)
Timing	Periodic, Routine	Milestone-driven, Urgent
Success Metric	Open rates, Reach	Readiness scores, Reduced resistance

Case Study: A Major Systems Integration

A large government agency was replacing a legacy operating system with a modern, integrated cloud platform. To determine the difference between these two disciplines, let’s look at the outcomes of each:

The General Corporate Communications Approach

Under a standard corporate approach, employees might receive a broadcast email from the Head of the agency and see a news tile on the intranet. They are told the "what" and the "when." However, for a frontline staff member, critical questions remain: How does this change my daily workflow? What happens if the data doesn't migrate correctly? Without specific targeting, the workforce often perceives the rollout as "just another IT project," leading to low engagement and change fatigue.

The Agencia Change Communications Approach

By contrast, a specialised change communications strategy—honed through complex transitions across a broad organisational spread—is engineered for adoption. This approach includes:

• Detailed Change Impact Analysis (CIA): Identifying exactly how different personas (e.g., administrative vs. operational staff) will be affected.

  
  

• Targeted Feedback Loops: Establishing Change Agent Networks to rebuild trust and gather real-time sentiment from the floor.

  
  

• Capability Roadmaps: Aligning messaging with specific training milestones so employees feel ready rather than just informed.

  
  

• Resistance Management: Proactively addressing points of resistance through tailored FAQ packs and leader coaching.

  
  

The result is not just an informed audience, but a ready and capable one that embraces the new system as a tool for success rather than a burden of transition. If you need a custom roadmap for your next rollout, explore our High Potency Change coaching plan design for leaders driving complex transitions.

Are Change Comms and general Corporate Comms the same thing?

Change communications and general corporate communications are obviously related, but they serve distinct purposes. While general communications inform, change communications support the change management program, driving acceptance and sustained use. Organisations benefit from recognising these differences and leveraging both disciplines effectively.

Ultimately, successful change is measured by more than just the delivery of information; it is defined by how people feel and behave during the transition. Employees who feel included and are invited to co-design the future are far more prepared to adopt new ways of working. True change communications look beyond the 'send' button to focus on empathy, clarity, and building professional trust.

Don’t leave your project’s adoption to chance. To ensure your next transition fuels growth rather than resistance, partner with an expert who can translate complex change theory into immediately applicable strategies.

Elevate your approach by booking a Discovery Call with Agencia Change today or explore our High Potency Change coaching plan to lead your team with confidence.