Engage & Transform October 2022
Jo Ann Sweeney
Explaining Change Expert, Clarifying the Complex. Helping Stakeholders to Embrace, Understand, Believe & Support Change.
What Happens When We Stop Engaging
Resistors become more influential!
A global client stopped communication activities when its digital transformation programme became business-as-usual a year ago. Now they want to roll the technology out to another part of the organisation and commissioned us to research current users’ attitudes and behaviours.
We uncovered growing resistance and a return to shadow spreadsheets within teams. The resistance is at all levels from non-manager to executives, and based on both niggles with teething issues and confusion about the benefits for their themselves and their teams.
People who were critics during rollout have gained influence because the business-as-usual team are focused on managing the technology platform and ignoring perceptions.
Stakeholders in this organisation are open to change, however they are also slow to change. They need lots of information during migration to take them on the change journey, first changing their cognitive understanding, then their perceptions and motivations, before they willingly change their behaviours and adopt new processes into the way their teams work.
However, if engagement and communication activities cease when the transformation programme ends, then gradually those critics who resisted the initial change begin to influence others, negativity grows and the processes begin to be perceived as box ticking.
We are now developing a six month engagement and communication plan to rebuild trust in the platform and processes, as well as positivity towards the change and business-as-usual teams.
Issues Currently Facing Transformation Teams
During our August webinar I was asked some great questions by people around the world working in change and transformation. Here are links to just some of my subsequent responses.
How can we manage conflicting resources and priorities during change? We are a small organisation reliant on the same people for multiple internal projects. A Scottish finance director asked this question during our August webinar.
In this document I share eight tips for helping people understand how to balance change priorities and resources with the demands of business-as-usual. Enjoy reading.
We lack investment in communication experts to drive change activities and engagement. How can we persuade executives to invest in the people side of change?
Our organisation has grown through mergers and acquisitions; we're now trying to introduce technology globally, but adoption is not filtering down to the regions. How can we persuade the different businesses to agree about the required change?
A senior change professional in a global consultancy asked this question in our recent webinar. She was speaking about a client; you may be the client.
Such a wonderful analogy for change in organisations. I had fun imagining how to change tyres when the car is moving; could I go up on two wheels and have someone lean out the window with a spanner.
Our leaders have conflicting areas of focus, they are pulling in different directions, pulling our change and transformation team from pillar to post. How do we manage this?
Here are some ideas to try out should you and your team also be facing this challenge.
We are working on a global automation programme and struggling because people keep changing their minds about the benefits they want to see.
Teams are ballooning the benefits to jump the queue and get rollout quicker. Then reducing the benefits once our technology team gets involved.
Hear some tips for overcoming this challenge in your change and transformation programme.
How to Lead the People Side of Digital Transformation
Webinar: 26 October 2022
Join us on Zoom as we explore key topics addressing psychological and cultural barriers to change, and share how to engage stakeholders in meaningful ways that demonstrate the potential of change.
We will be looking in detail at the five psychological and eight cultural barriers that we need to manage for change to happen.
Plus I’ll be sharing some of the engagement and communication tools I use with my clients to overcome these barriers. They are practical and easy to apply; you will be able to use them with your teams as well.
领英推荐
Reserve your place and join us on Wednesday, 26 October 13:00-14:00 UK time.
Do register on zoom even if you can’t join us live, as then we are able to send you the link to watch the playback afterwards.
Engaging Stakeholders Programme
Engaging Stakeholders is a two day interactive programme we deliver inhouse for clients.
This year I am also delivering this programme as bite sized workshops for members of People Change Mastery.
They are uncovering the secrets for persuading sponsors, senior executives and end users to support their change and transformation programmes.
During our October workshop we are exploring easy-to-use tools to find out what executives really think of you, how to develop trust and understand the things that build your personal credibility, the dynamics of relationships, strategies to improve openness, and achieving sustainable outcomes through advocacy and feedback.
It’s a deep dive into how we are perceived and the impact on credibility for ourselves and our programme.
You can experience a sample of the tools and techniques I share in this programme during our webinar on 26 October, when you can also hear more about People Change Mastery and how to join.
What Has Jo Ann Been Up To
We are renovating the terraced garden at our country cottage in West Sussex.
By next spring it will be a tranquil place to relax and smell the waffling perfume of Gertrude Jekyll roses.
It was a bit mad in September though. Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and heavy rain delayed the groundworks which delayed planting – the unexpected of real life.
But the real spanner in the works has been plant deliveries. They’ve been arriving early and late, in London when they should be in Sussex, and Sussex when they should be in London. Lots of mad dashes between London and Sussex to receive deliveries and unpack plants before they wither.
For me it is a reminder of how easy it is to get customer service wrong when our systems aren’t flexible and don’t talk to each other or to our suppliers.
Overview of How We Work With Clients
As experts in the people side of digital transformation, we take your stakeholders from knowing little and resisting change, to willingly embracing new ways of working. Then you can deliver the revenue and reputation benefits your executives expect of transformation.
We’ve created an overview of how we work with clients for digital transformation executives.
Do have a read through then contact Jo Ann to begin exploring your challenges and how we can support you and your team.
Our Credentials
Sweeney Communications is a virtual stakeholder engagement consultancy based in the United Kingdom supporting change and digital transformation in the IT, technology and telecommunications sectors; the consultancy was formed in 1993.
Our associates are experts in their fields, with extensive experience in change management, stakeholder engagement, resistance management, training and corporate communications for multinational organisations.
We are known for clearly explaining technical and complex information so stakeholders understand both the detail and relevance to themselves.
Our results-focused approach ensures engagement and change activities achieve their objectives, meet stakeholder expectations, make best use of resources and deliver value to reputation and the bottom line.
About Jo Ann Sweeney FCIM FIIC MCIPR
Jo Ann Sweeney is a senior consultant and founder of Sweeney Communications. Typically she acts as engagement lead/ director for a client’s change programmes.
Clients value her deep understanding of audiences. She is experienced at segmenting and prioritising stakeholders according to their influence and attitudes, then tailoring engagement activities to take them on the journey from where they are to where they need to be in terms of involvement and commitment.
During her early career Jo Ann worked in communications and marketing for the New Zealand Post Office and British Telecom, as well as for the PR agency Leslie Bishop Group and direct marketer Moore Response Graphics.
She is a Chartered Marketer, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Fellow of the Institute of Internal Communications and Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
Jo Ann has documented her experiences in the practical Explaining Change System (2012). Other publications she has contributed to include: