Terminology — Change Communication Kit

Locked vocabulary for this kit. Use these terms consistently across all deliverables, instructions, and QC checklists.

Core Terms

Sponsor activation — The moment the firm owner speaks directly to the full team about what's changing, who owns it, and what it means for them. Not a memo. Not a Slack summary from the process owner. The owner, in their own voice, to the full group. This is Step 1 in every communication sequence.

Communication sequence — The ordered grid of who hears what, from whom, with what prerequisite, by when. The spine of the Change Communication Plan. Each step depends on the one before it. Prerequisites matter more than dates.

Gate mechanism — A hard prerequisite row in the communication sequence that blocks all downstream steps until a specific action is complete. The primary gate is always the owner's announcement — nothing moves until the owner speaks to the team. Visually marked with a lock icon.

First Win Protocol — The defined trigger, mechanism, and language for acknowledging the first visible result from the new system. Concrete and measurable (not "when things go well"). Uses the owner's existing communication channel (CEO memo, Friday email). One to two sentences. The moment that shifts team perception from "new oversight" to "system that works."

Change network — The 2-4 people positioned to make the new process real for everyone else. Already identified in the project plan (process owner, tool champion, coordinator). What the communication layer adds: explicit naming of their roles to the full team, backed by the owner's authority.

Process owner of the document — The person who owns the process described in a specific document. In the SOP, this is the operations manager. In the communication plan, this is the firm owner. Gold color follows the process owner of the document, not a fixed person. This is the most common source of ownership color errors.

Process owner of the operational system — The person who runs the day-to-day operation (usually the operations manager). Gold in SOPs. Stone in communication documents. Different document, different ownership.

Two-Beat Model Terms

Beat 1 (Structural Planning) — Communication planning that happens at project scaffolding (Step 4 in engagement workflow). Builds skeleton communication sequence, maps affected team members, establishes ownership mapping. No evidence required — this is structural, not reactive.

Beat 2 (Evidence-Based Build) — Full deliverable production that happens when builds enter implementation. Populates the skeleton with real resistance patterns, client quotes, and team dynamics evidence. Produces the three HTML deliverables.

Team filter — The decision gate for whether this kit applies to a client. Question: Does this client have a team that will be affected by the builds? If yes, Beat 1 starts at project scaffolding. If the client is solo or builds only affect the owner, skip this kit entirely.

Document Terms

Change Communication Plan — Sequencing document. Grid format. Shows what gets communicated to whom, by whom, with what prerequisite, by when. Includes gate mechanism, phase dividers, build references, and First Win Protocol. The "what happens in what order" artifact.

Sponsor Activation Brief — Reference document for the firm owner. Explains their role as change sponsor. Includes team announcement framework, 1:1 conversation scenarios, coaching ask, and change network definition. Gets read once, referenced for 1:1s.

Team Communication Playbook — Executable tool organized by communication type. Four sections: team meeting, 1:1 concerns (with scenario tabs), CEO memo templates (with triggers), weekly check-in structure. Each section is self-contained. The document that gets opened before every conversation. Invest the most design effort here.

Speech Framework Terms

Adapt note — The explicit label on every language block: "Starting point — adapt to your voice." Speech frameworks are not scripts. They are starting points the owner modifies to sound like themselves. When the owner edits the language, they've committed to delivering it.

Trigger phrase — In 1:1 conversation scenarios, the thing the team member actually says (or closely paraphrased from evidence) that signals a specific resistance pattern. "This feels like micromanagement." "Why is she in charge?" "Why now?"

Avoid note — In each 1:1 scenario, the specific thing the owner should not do or say. Must be specific and actionable, never generic ("be sensitive"). Example: "Don't hedge on the operations manager's authority."

Ownership Color Terms

Gold — Process owner of the specific document. In communication documents, this is always the firm owner.

Copper — Approver role in the underlying operational system, when referenced. Not always present in communication documents.

Stone — Support/execution roles within the communication documents. The operations manager is stone in communication documents (even though they are gold in the SOP).

Steel blue — Consultant, when referenced.

Green — Completed items only. Never an ownership color.

Navy — Structure and headers. Never an ownership color.

Content Rule Terms

AI writing pattern — Constructions that sound artificial: "It's not X, it's Y," negation-then-correction ("Not a celebration. A factual acknowledgment."), clever parallel phrases. These are blocking failures in QC. Real speech is affirmative.

Month of the close — The month whose books/work/cycle is being completed, not the calendar month the work happens in. If active close starts the first business day of March for February's books, the reference is "February close" not "March close." The most common timing error.

Fabricated quote — Any quote not traceable to a session transcript, email, or Slack message. Blocking failure in QC. If you can't find a quote that fits, write the framework in generic terms and let the owner fill it in.