Any of you who have worked with high-tech companies know that the best way to kill an idea is that say that, “corporate says we have to do it this way.” How in the world could we get 7,000 “techies” to not only comply with the brand guidelines, but to want to? We knew that we needed every person to understand at a gut level why brand consistency, and therefore guidelines, were needed. So we started our program with a visual tour of some great brands—Apple, Starbucks, Ann Taylor, and Disney. We got people interacting and talking about why each brand was so recognizable. Time and time again, the audience saw that deliberate, consistent use of fonts, colors, and shapes helped to create a strong brand.

Next, we showed slides that compared and contrasted all of the advertising and marketing this company had been doing. Without us having to say a word, the audience members realized that their old brand was in complete chaos. We ran more than 70 of these sessions, and every single time, this was a pivotal moment. You could watch people sit up and almost immediately become willing participants in the change process instead of prisoners in a training class.

As a change leader and communicator, ask yourself how you can help people feel a sense of urgency and get “it” at a gut level.

As Peter Bregman writes in his book, Point B: A Short Guide to Leading Big Change, providing information is important in any change.  But, he writes,  “tell & sell” isn’t enough.  Real change happens when every person impacted is actively engaged in the process of change – to the point where they become owners  – not targets of the change.

Just last week, Melissa Dutmers of RiverFork Consulting posted 9 questions to ask when leading a change:

1. What do you think about this change?
2. How do you feel about this change?
3. What do you see your role as in this change?
4. What is your opinion about this change?
5. What is your experience with this type of change?
6. What are you working on and how will you be impacted by this change?
7. What are your ideas about this change?
8. Would you change anything about this change?
9. Why do you think this change is needed (or not)?

Her readers added their own suggestions, including:

• What are you already doing in your day to day work that supports the change?
• What areas do you feel will be a challenge for you to adjust?
• How can I support you?
• What’s most important to you about the change?
• How will this proposed change be different from past changes in this organization?

Great advice from people who know that the job of a change leader is to educate, engage, and empower others.

For this particular transformation effort, our client recognized that mid- and frontline managers would play a pivotal roll in communicating the details of the change to employees. Therefore, the client hired my colleagues and I to facilitate over forty 4-hour workshops for managers.  The response to the workshops was overwhelmingly positive – which surprised a lot of people because the change the organization is introducing is highly sensitive and counter to the way things have been done in this organization for more than 30 years.

After running 19 workshops myself, I reflected on what made the sessions work well.  Here are my thoughts:

Conduct Conversations – Not Training

While the manager sessions were called “training” and were accompanied by workbooks and slides, the experience was much more of a facilitated dialogue than a one-way download of information.  

Course evaluation feedback indicated that managers were pleasantly surprised at the level of open, honest conversation that took place in the sessions. I believe this point is essential for future programs of this nature.

Lesson Learned: When is comes to gaining support for a change, conversation matters more than content.

Make Space for Emotions

While it was important for managers to learn the content of the course, in every case it became apparent that the managers themselves needed an opportunity to vent, express their concerns, and name the emotions that they and their people were experiencing.  

We started the sessions by introducing the change cycle and the emotions that typically accompany a change (shock & denial, anger, uncertainty & anxiety, understanding, and ultimately acceptance).  We drew the performance dip that typically happens when people move into anger, uncertainty and anxiety and discussed the fact that the dip is not avoidable.  Rather than pretending there are not emotional reactions to change, we encouraged managers to accept and acknowledge emotions.  

I knew this model would be helpful to managers in communicating with their employees.  What surprised me was how helpful it ended up being for them.  In every single session, managers would speak up and say, “Okay, I realize I am in the dip, but here is my concern . . .”  By having the model posted, we gave managers permission and space to name and work through their own emotions.   

Lessons Learned:
1.    Allow and encourage emotions to enter the conversation early on.
2.    Along with content and key messages, provide models or frameworks to help managers understand the emotions they and others are experiencing as a result of the change.  

Don’t Overcome Resistance – Explore It

The final point I want to address here deals with resistance. Overcoming resistance is the most searched term in the field of change management. All too often change leaders looks to “nip resistance in the bud.”  What I have learned over the years is that the best way to deal with resistance is to get it out in the open and to talk about the reasons for resistance.  

In these workshops, my colleagues and I stopped delivering content about 30 minutes into the session and asked what questions people had.  Usually we got one or two mild questions.  We then asked people to share what rumors and concerns they were hearing.  Managers started to open up and discuss the harder aspects of the change.  Finally we asked managers to “channel their inner skeptics” and ask everything they knew their most skeptical employees would ask.  In some cases the managers would say, “Really . . .are you sure?”  Often one would test the waters and when we listened, acknowledged and openly discussed the concern the floodgates would open and the questions would flow.  

This point is counter-intuitive but essential. When communicating a change, our natural tendency to shut down and overcome resistance forces concerns underground.  Once suppressed, resistance grows stronger and becomes harder to resolve.  It is important for change leaders and communicators to welcome, acknowledge and explore resistance in order for it to dissipate.

Lessons Learned:
1.    Make it okay for managers to ask skeptical, cynical questions.  
2.    Dialogue (don’t debate) about the change.

Because the response to our workshops was overwhelmingly positive, I decided to take time to reflect on what worked.  Over the next few posts, I’ll explore what we learned from this rollout and the lessons that it illustrates for all change communicators.

Topic #1:  Senior Leader Support

For this organization, the rollout of the new compensation system has been a multi-year process.  The internal HR/Comp/OD team worked closely with each division’s top leader and his/her direct reports on every aspect of the transition.  This was not simply a process of getting surface-level “buy-in.”  The division leaders personally made critical decisions at each point of the transition.  

The involvement of the senior leaders ended up being incredibly powerful when it came time to introduce the new system to managers and employees.  We ran most of the workshops with managers in intact teams.  Each team heard from their division’s most senior leader at the start (and sometimes also the end) of the class. The next-level leaders who had been involved in the decision-making participated in the sessions along with managers who were hearing the details for the first time.    

In every session that we ran, it quickly became evident that the involvement of senior leaders at every stage (decision making, planning, and communication) was the most powerful factor in getting front-line and mid-level manager support for the change.  You could visibly see resistance levels being reduced at three points in the workshop:

1. When senior leaders invited and answered questions
2. When leaders who were involved in the process talked about their personal experience with the details, especially tough decisions they made along the way
3. When leaders acknowledged that the transition would be difficult for employees and simultaneously emphasized that it was the right thing to do in the long run

What struck me about each class was the fact that it was leader involvement throughout the workshop that was particularly powerful.  The cases where a leader kicked off a session with a few words and then left were not nearly as effective as the times where a) the division head participated in the whole sessions or b) the division head kicked off the session and one or more of his/her direct reports who worked on the details of the transition stayed and participated in the session.

Where we saw buy-in really start to happen is through dialogue in the classroom. In many cases, I as the facilitator would explain how the overall process of mapping jobs worked.  When managers had questions, the most powerful and effective answers came from people in the room who had been involved in the mapping for the departments represented in that room.  

I don’t think this implies that a senior leader kickoff isn’t important.  Rather, this experience showed that a 5-10 minute kickoff isn’t enough to get manager buy-in and support.

Lessons: Hearing from the most senior leader that he/she supports a change is necessary but not sufficient for getting a group to support a change. Two-way dialogue with leaders about the details and tough decisions is where buy-in really happens.  

Scott Eblin, author of The Next Level, recently wrote about the lessons we can learn from Subway franchise owner Stuart Frankel – the creator of the Five Dollar Foot Long.  While the concept has been a huge success for Subway, getting the company to accept and implement the idea wasn’t easy for Frankel.

According to Eblin, lessons we can learn from Frankel include:

1. Run some small experiments off the radar screen.
2. Collect compelling data.
3. Recruit some early champions.
4. Show them, don’t just tell them.
5. Stick with it.

Read Scott Eblin’s post: Five Change Leadership Lessons from the Five Dollar Foot Long.

For more on the topic, also check out Robert Rosen’s new book, The Catalyst.

In his talk at TED this year, Pink discussed approaches to motivation and argues that the “carrot” approach can actually destroy creativity.  Watch the clip below to see what he has to say.

In my work, I’ve used the World Cafe method to engage employees at all levels in dialogue about the key issues their team, group, or organization is facing.  By moving from table to table and focusing on having conversations, rather than making decisions, participants broaden their own thinking and begin to understand and value different perspectives.

To read stories about successful World Cafes and to learn how to host one yourself, visit www.WorldCafe.com.

Too see a World Cafe in action, check out this video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

As I reflected on my experiences, I realized that committee leadership isn’t really that different from leading any team inside an organization.  Here are a few observations:

Don’t Jump to Tactics Too Quickly

I was surprised by how often leaders jumped to assigning action items in the very first meeting of a new committee.  Of course, there is always a lot of work to be done, but focusing on tasks too quickly can derail any team.  Before assigning jobs or even asking for volunteers, leaders should:

Help Committee Members Build Relationships

If you want your team to have productive conversations, people need to feel safe speaking up.  Trust is crucial and the only way to build trust is to help people get to know each other on a personal level.  Consider kicking off your meetings with a quick icebreaker.  One committee leader I work with starts every meeting by asking each of us to provide an update on what we’ve been up to since the last meeting.  I am consistently impressed by a) how much fun this is and b) how many connections we uncover. 

Communicate the Big Picture

As the leader, you may know why the committee was formed and where you are headed, the rest of your team doesn’t.  Spend some time talking about the vision for this organization and it’s purpose or mission.  Invite your team to chime in and contribute to the discussion.  Remember that effective visions are not communicated to your team – they are created with your team. 

Uncover People’s Passions

When you are leading any team, it is critical to connect with what people are passionate about.  Doing so becomes even more important when you are dealing with volunteers.  Do you know why each person joined the team?  Do you know what motivates them?  Do you know what sorts of activities energize them, and which derail them?  If you spend some time talking about people’s passions before getting to tasks and accountability, you’ll be able to unleash people’s energy and get tasks done much more quickly. 

For more information on unleashing energy, check out our book, Change at the Core.

Dream City: Vision 2020 is a grassroots effort that launched last summer.  More than 10o volunteer facilitators are conducting dialogue circles with thousands of people to talk about what we want our region to be like in the year 2020.  It has been fascinating to hear from a wide cross-section of citizens about what our community needs to preserve and what it needs to create. 

To learn about the Dream City 2020 project, check out the links below.

• Gazette Article:  Dream City 2020 hopes to help the city realize its potential
• Dream City website

If you live in the Pikes Peak region, please consider getting involved!

• When presenting ideas to upper management, realize that it is your responsibility to sell — not their responsibility to buy.
• Focus on contribution to the larger good — not just the achievement of your objectives.
• Present a realistic cost-benefit analysis of your ideas — don’t just sell benefits.

Check out his post: How to Influence Decision Makers. 

For more on the topic, download my article on Gaining Executive Support.