Use this as a starting point, not something to read verbatim. Say it in your own words, but keep the order and the directness.
"I want to tell you about something before you hear it from anyone else. There's a change coming, and I'd rather you get it straight from me, with the full picture, than in pieces."
Get ahead of the rumor mill. Nothing erodes trust faster than a team finding out something important from Slack, a hallway conversation, or another manager before it comes from you. Even if the news itself is fine, hearing it secondhand makes people wonder what else they're not being told directly.
"Starting [date], [specific change, stated plainly]. Here's why: [the actual reasoning, not the corporate version of it]."
People can accept an unpopular decision more easily than an unexplained one. The instinct is to soften the news by leading with context and easing into the actual change, but that reads as stalling. State the change plainly first, then explain it. And give the real reason, not the sanitized one, people can tell the difference and the sanitized version tends to breed more suspicion than the honest one would have.
"I know this affects [specific group, or specific way of working], and I'm not going to pretend it doesn't. I'm not going to tell you this is great news if it isn't, and I don't want to undersell what this actually means for how you work."
Don't spin an inconvenient change as good news. If it's going to make someone's week harder, say so. Pretending otherwise doesn't make the change easier to swallow, it just makes you sound out of touch with what you're actually asking of people, and that costs you credibility on the next change too. If someone pushes back in the room: don't get defensive or oversell the upside. "That's a fair concern, and I don't have a way to make it disappear" is more credible than forcing a silver lining that isn't really there.
"Here's what's already decided and won't be changing: [the fixed part]. And here's what I can still push on or adjust based on your feedback: [the open part]. If you've got concerns, bring them to me, that second part is real, not a formality."
Gives people a legitimate place to direct their concerns instead of just absorbing them. A change announcement that ends with "any questions?" and nothing else leaves people with frustration and nowhere to put it. Naming what's actually still negotiable, even if it's small, turns that frustration into something specific and actionable instead of just a general sense of being unheard.
The real reason for the change, not the version that sounds best, the one you'd actually give if pressed. Who's most affected and how, specifically, so you're not caught improvising when someone asks "what does this mean for me." What's genuinely fixed versus what's still open, decided in advance so you're not vague or, worse, overpromising flexibility that doesn't exist. How you'll actually collect feedback on the open part, so "bring your concerns to me" is a real channel and not just something you said in the room.