I know almost nothing about football. But this latest FIFA controversy contains a leadership lesson every organisation should learn.

Confession time... Until the last World Cup, I don't think I'd ever sat through an entire football match.

‍

I watched England lose their semi final before, a few days later, watching Spain lift the trophy. As I'm writing this, I'm actually in Spain, and experiencing the celebrations here gave me a whole new appreciation for just how much football means to people.

So when I came across the latest FIFA controversy, I wasn't interested because of the sport.

‍

I was interested because of the communication.

‍

If you haven't seen the story, here's the short version.

‍

FIFA has proposed creating a new commercial company that would own the rights to many of football's biggest competitions before selling a minority stake to private investors. The proposal has sparked strong reactions from governing bodies, clubs and supporters alike. While opinions differ on the proposal itself, one consistent theme has emerged: many stakeholders feel they weren't properly engaged before such a significant idea entered the public domain.

‍

Whether that's entirely fair or not isn't really the point. What interested me wasn't the football.

‍

It was the leadership lesson hidden underneath.

‍

Over the last decade I've helped organisations navigate restructures, digital transformation programmes, mergers, leadership changes and major cultural shifts. One thing has remained remarkably consistent.

Successful change starts long before the announcement.

‍

It starts by understanding your people.

‍

It's one of the reasons we place so much emphasis on developing a clear Internal Communications Strategy, ensuring leaders understand the impact of change before they begin communicating it.

Because this isn't really a football story.

‍

‍

It's a change management story.

‍

One of the biggest mistakes leaders make is believing that if they've made the right decision, people will eventually understand.

‍

Unfortunately, that's rarely how it works. People don't simply judge the outcome. They judge the journey.

‍

Whether you're leading an international sporting organisation, a local council or a business employing fifty people, your employees, customers and stakeholders all want the same thing.

‍

They want to feel they've had a voice.

‍

That doesn't mean they expect to get everything they ask for. It means they want confidence that they were listened to.

‍

I've worked on enough change programmes to know that resistance rarely appears overnight.

• It normally begins much earlier.
• It starts when people feel decisions are happening to them rather than with them.
• By the time the announcement lands, the real challenge is no longer explaining the change.

‍

It's rebuilding trust.

• Imagine announcing a major office relocation.
• Replacing a much loved internal system.
• Changing employee benefits.
• Restructuring departments.
• Introducing AI into everyday working practices.
• Or launching a brand new SharePoint intranet.

‍

If employees discover the decision has effectively already been made before they've had any opportunity to contribute, the conversation changes almost instantly. People stop asking whether the change makes sense.

Instead they ask:

• "Why weren't we asked?"
• "Did anyone actually listen?"
• "Was consultation genuine?"
• "Could this have been handled differently?"

‍

These are exactly the kinds of questions we help organisations uncover before projects begin.

‍

That's why every major engagement we deliver starts with a KickStart Workshop. Rather than jumping straight into solutions, we spend time understanding people, identifying risks, exploring concerns and helping leaders build a communication approach that people are more likely to support.

‍

The irony is that involving people doesn't always change the final decision. Sometimes it won't change it at all. But it almost always changes how that decision is received. People are remarkably accepting of difficult outcomes when they believe the process has been transparent, respectful and fair.

‍

That's the lesson I take from stories like this. Not whether FIFA's proposal is right or wrong. I'll happily leave that debate to people who understand football far better than I ever will.

‍

The communication lesson is much broader.

‍

Communication isn't something you do once the decision has been made. It's something you do while you're making it. Because when people feel excluded from the journey, they'll often reject the destination before they've even arrived.

‍

As communicators, our role isn't simply to explain change. It's to help leaders create it in a way that people can believe in.

‍

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

‍

What do you think? Does involving people early genuinely improve the success of change, or are some decisions always going to divide opinion?

‍

Need help communicating change?

‍

Whether you're planning a new SharePoint intranet, launching a major transformation programme or simply looking to strengthen employee engagement, we'd love to help.

Explore how The Comms Guru combines communication strategy, creative campaigns and digital workplace expertise to bring people with you from day one.

‍

‍