Simple Alternatives For Getting People On Board With Change

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You have a plan for change. Pat on back. You have an A-team to bring this plan to life with new people, new processes and new technology. If they succeed, the company will venture into new business areas that have been largely inaccessible and cost prohibitive. If they fail ... they can't fail ... we shouldn't think about failing. Let's be positive!

It's incredibly exciting. You can't wait to tell everyone what's been brewing behind the scenes and all things new. You flip to the one-pager summary of your change management training guide and tell yourself, "This is so important. I'm going to get it right this time."

In the next 8 minutes, let's figure out why your teams may be acting strange, oddly indifferent, occasionally angsty. And while we're at it, let's consider why the one-pager isn't quite working and what you can do instead.

Meet our little green sponsor.

Are you ...

• making your plans sound grand every single time?
• revealing your plans only when it's urgent and has been decided for them?
• communicating with big scary catchphrases?
• placing emphasis on the technology yet describing it in abstract terms?
• relying on top-down authority?
• training users with only system how-to guides?
• repeating yourself with minimal updates on progress?
• selectively sharing statistics which do not reflect if things are going well?

If you are, then it shouldn't come as a surprise when your teams are doubting what you say, feeling angry they have not been told it was a priority before, raising the white flag, feeling helpless yet guilty for not contributing to the outcome, struggling to imagine everything will be okay.

They honestly felt they would crash and burn if they joined in the action, and they were safer observing change pass them by till the day you fail.

What if you tweaked your approach? Perhaps you will get a different outcome.

Let's explore alternatives with our little green sponsor.

[1] Make It Grand All The Time VS Make It Achievable

By all means, have an inspiring vision.

But rather than making it seem grand all the time (even when it really isn't), consider making it achievable. Why? Because you want the vast majority, which includes regular you and I's, to be inspired to be part of or at least not fear the changes that are happening around them.

Make it sound big when it's really easy? That's misleading.

Make it sound usually grand when it isn't? That's lying even when it's a case of trying too hard to impress.

Ever heard of the scary statistic about most changes failing? Big abstract things are especially scary when if you miss mentioning "How we will get there."

Here are 2 simple ways you can share "How we will get there":

• If you've hired an A team, introduce them, make them visible and accessible.
• If you have a master plan, break them down into smaller phases, and each phase into smaller manageable steps. Better yet, let's go visual.

An achievable plan doesn't have to be boring. With some help from your communications team, you will have lots of simple and engaging content ideas and visual cues to help your teams connect the dots to success with none of those big scary words.

[2] Tell Them Only When It’s Urgent & Decided VS Give Them A Head Start

Is there ever a good time for sharing plans?

No one likes rude surprises. Rude surprises trip up even the most organised, adaptable, flexible. Letting teams know what's coming even if it's on the drawing board gives teams opportunities to adjust their priorities and resource allocations to better support your agenda.

With a little head start, managers have time to recall personal development goals. They can't support you wholeheartedly if they have been caught off guard, not without risking burnout. Fair warning to build flexibility into resourcing plans is always appreciated.

Always factor "head start" into your plans. Plan for it so you'll remember it.

[3] Repeat The Same Scary Catchphrases VS Build Momentum With Glimpses Of What It Can Look And Feel Like

Suppose you've factored in the head start, what can you use to generate and sustain enthusiasm?

Our little green sponsor used big words he has learned somewhere else and repeated them over and over again ... Those words are best reserved for the boardroom and sales presentations. Why?

True experts make complex sound simple.

Fakers make simple sound complex.

And in the absence of context, we make people feel small, dispensable, exposed and vulnerable.

Sentences like "we will be reducing administrative and non-value adding tasks by introducing automation wherever possible" may sound perfectly harmless to the C-suite, but not to the secretaries and business support executives. Add language and cultural differences into the mix and you've a whole myriad of unintended imaginary outcomes.

Perhaps you wanted to "ensure nobody has to work obscene hours when the business ramps up activities in new markets". They wouldn't know, would they? All they had were emails from the executive sponsor with big words and numbers.

You may have heard of the sayings "a picture speaks a thousand words" and "seeing is believing" or these days "experiencing is believing". When in doubt, use fewer and simpler words, more images and experiences.

Guide imagination by replacing images in people's minds with images of "how it should look and feel like" and "what is appropriate behaviour".

Help them imagine a safe and fulfilling day at work before they imagine the end of the world.

Now that you know you're going to need words, images and stories, how do you know which words, images, stories will resonate?

[4] Rely On Top-Down Authority VS Identify And Seek Help From Key Opinion Leaders For Engagement

Our little green sponsor in the comic was defining the narrative. I don't know many who fancy listening to one person (a busy executive no less) all the time.

He was also directing questions to managers and HR who were not equipped to handle questions. Truth is there is rarely enough lead time to get managers sufficiently clear to handle random yet detailed questions. Many of us will find it frustrating to get no direction or hint of an answer from our managers. Managers dread looking clueless too!

Let's be pragmatic. Behind the scenes, it's an absolute nightmare to schedule engagement sessions and briefing sessions while respecting leaders' need to prioritise client meetings. We don't need managers and leaders dominating the air time all the time. They can participate in other ways such as ensuring realism of "day at work" stories and featuring in the images used.

Remember the A team? Rather than steal their limelight, let them shed light on interesting developments and address misconceptions.

And let's not forget the critics. Critics often reflect the voices of the people, just amplified. If they are respected by the masses for their opinions, find out what they feel has been missed sooner rather than later. Even better, get them some proper air time to openly share their views.

Address the people issues before process and technology.

[5] Focus On Describing The Tech VS Focus On WIIFM (New Jobs, Choices, Actions)

I know of many leaders who are so caught up describing technology, they miss addressing what is top of people's minds and asking for help. A splash of jargon here, there and everywhere. They have no clue what they are talking about so they repeat whatever they remember verbatim.

When participants don't get their questions answered and are overwhelmed by jargons, their imaginations run wild.

Instead of filling air time with jargon, connect the dots to a safe outcome (if that's the truth) with:

• simple and manageable actions they can take to help themselves and others;
• choices they can control.

Avoid "Stay tuned" unless you want passive observers.

End every engagement session or email with a clear action for the listener or reader.

With clear suggestions of when and how they should act and contribute, everyone will be able to engage in ways that actually support the cause!

[6] Train Users With How-To Guides VS Coach Sponsors and Managers To Have Different Conversations & Ask Different Questions

You probably understand by now that obsessing over people beats obsessing over technology when attempting to manage change. Training features prominently on any sound change management plan.

But wait ... Did you leave the task of training to your technology teams? And excused the managers from IT training?

I get it ... the only full-time project team members are from the technology teams and you're fundamentally changing the systems used. But let's not forget the reasons for throwing in all the technology in the first place.

You wanted to automate tasks so you can focus on having different conversations. You wanted to explore new insights to figure out new areas of growth. You wanted those real-time dashboards to respond more promptly emergent trends. How-to guides alone aren't going to help you figure out:

• Hmm... what should I focus on now that everything is a click away?
• Hmm...what's so interesting about what I am looking at?
• Ahh I see... that's interesting. Who can I speak to about this potential opportunity?

Sorry, this isn't one for the technology team.

We need role models to trigger our innate curiosity and demonstrate how curiosity is a good thing at work at the right place and right time. Managers and sponsors are best placed to encourage curiosity, ask alternate questions to guide the discovery of the next big question, problem or opportunity.

Nurturing curiosity is a simple yet delicate art.

It can be as simple as what our yellow manager is demonstrating here:

• Talking out loud;
• Using positive language to reward curiosity;
• Directing attention to effects, while allowing others to suggest the causes; then
• Allowing the originator of the ideas to take forward their ideas.

Build curiosity and confidence with subtle nudges.

[7] Share Meaningless Statistics VS Measure Outcomes Of Doing Things Differently

Treat every email, meeting, poll, engagement session with care.

They have offered their time by reading, attending, and responding with feedback. The least you can do is to tell them what you intend to do thereafter, and what has been different since the last time you met.

Respecting time looks something like this:

"We will take this forward by ..."

"You told us this .... Since then, we have done this ... and these are the results..."

How will you feel if someone insists on repeating themselves and asks you to share the same "information" (non-information) with your teams? Statistics like number of sessions conducted, emails sent are meaningless distractions. They may imply effort, but they certainly do not demonstrate effectiveness. They also send the message, "We have it covered. Nothing to see here."

Measure outcomes to show them we're serious about getting better.

Be brave. Tell them what you really did and what you achieved. If you achieved all you dreamed possible, great! Celebrate success with personal stories! If you fell short of expectations, share challenges and tell them what can be achieved with their honesty and help. Ask for help!

So What?

The change managers among us may have come across the "ADKAR model" developed by Prosci and "Kübler-Ross's change curve".

And as we saw with our little green sponsor, he pretty much ticked all the boxes prescribed by the ADKAR model in his original approach. He had personally spoken and wrote about change ... he made it grand and urgent ... he appeared to be in control ... he offered technical training available ... he reinforced his key messages through repetition ... he took on feedback from his managers. If you were to plot emotions on the change curve, they would dominate the left side of the curve. No surprises there.

Like all sponsors, he tried. But when he became visionary overnight, he offered no opportunities to experiment. make sense of the change before coming to their own conclusions of what changes mean to them personally. The result - sudden unexpected conclusion.

In varying his approach, he stayed true to the ADKAR model. By laying out simple choices and having difficult conversations sooner rather than later, he provided opportunities to ponder and reprioritise, experiment and connect the dots to interesting prospects.

While everyone may experience shock, denial, frustration, depression when faced with change, we shouldn't accept it as a norm.

Do better! We can inspire actions and decisions in support of change if we start:

• Making it achievable;
• Giving our teams a head start;
• Building momentum with glimpses of what it can look and feel like;
• Identifying and seeking help from key opinion leaders;
• Focusing on WIIFM (new jobs, choices, actions);
• Coaching sponsors and managers to have different conversations and ask different questions; and
• Being honest and measuring outcomes of actions taken to do things differently.

It's the simplest things that are often overlooked.

When unsure how to go about getting others on board with change, opt for simplicity:

... Simple universal words and images.

... Simple personal actions.

... Simple choices but choices nonetheless.

... Simple expressions of concern.

... Simple demonstrations of interest and curiosity.

... Simple humble reflections.

When we're genuine, others will feel it because little things matter.