If you have tried to get  a group of people to get moving on something, then you know that inertia often wins over action. The problem is compounded when one or more people resist what you’d like them to do.

Fortunately, there are ways to overcome inertia. One trick is to get people to take small steps rather than committing to a major change or approach all at once.  hen several people take a few small steps forward, momentum starts to build and it becomes easier and more natural to keep moving forward.

One of my favorite illustrations of this concepts comes from Jim Collins’ book Good to Great. Collins uses the metaphor of a flywheel as a metaphor for organizational change. Here is an edited excerpt of Collin’s description:

As I’ve watched events unfold in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain and other countries these past few weeks I have been struck by how these political revolutions mirror a revolution that is happening in corporations today. Quite simply, we are moving to an age where being the leader does not necessarily equate to holding ultimate power. And lashing out and trying to subdue and control people no longer works – no matter whether the stage is a country or a company.

I’m certainly not the only person making this comparison.  Last week management consulting guru Alan Weiss wrote, “We are watching popular uprisings gain traction or fail largely based on whether those in power and the military are willing to turn their guns on their own people or refrain from doing so. In organizations, the ability to change for the best is often a question of whether senior people will listen and offer avenues for communication to do so, or whether they are insulated and aloof, and those with new and bold ideas get “whacked” by the status quo.”

I recently had a prospective client ask me how I would create a communication plan that would convince people to support a change.  My response was that any communication plan should focus on communicating with people, not to them.

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:

Earlier this week I posted about a successful workshop I and several colleagues ran for 800 managers as part of a major transition.  My previous post was about senior leader involvement.  Today, I will address the topic of training.

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:

In previous posts in this series, I explored a phenomenon I call the Change Gap. The Change Gap illustrates the divide that is always present when one leader or group implements a change that affects others.  

The only way to close the change gap is through communication.  Specifically, my advice for leaders is:

1.    Expect and anticipate a cynical interpretation.

This piece of advice is somewhat counter-intuitive. When we are about to roll out a new approach or initiative, most of us look for all of the reasons why people will love the idea. In reality, there will always be a significant portion of the population who is cynical and skeptical.  Sometimes this is because of their personality traits.  More often, cynicism is a result of having been “burned before” by changes that ended up hurting rather than helping.

In yesterday’s post I wrote about a technique that one hospital used to help shift their culture.  The technique was called the 10/5 rule and it encouraged employees to make eye contact with one another when approaching within 10 feet and say hello at 5 feet.  I wrote about what made this an effective approach and what we could learn from this successful example.

Earlier this week, I was reading book about energy in the workplace when I came across this paragraph:

“A local hospital recently undermined its staff’s mutual connections by implementing what is called the ‘5-feet 10-feet rule.’ . . . One unintended consequence of this rule is likely to be that people will regard the smiles they receive as mandatory and therefore false.”

Wait a minute!  Does this mean the very idea I was just lauding is actually backfiring?  Does that mean it’s a great example or a terrible idea?

A few weeks ago a friend of mine told that his hospital had implemented a great idea that really seemed to be working. Curious, I asked for the details. It turns out that this particular hospital had become siloed. Departments weren’t working together and employees in different departments rarely spoke to one another. In this particular case, patients and their family members were even picking up on the issue. Across the board, people reported feeling that the vibe in the hospital was cold and unfriendly.

Leaders at the hospital responded by engaging employees in all departments and all levels of people in a “friendliness campaign.” They put into place a “10/5 rule” which encouraged every employee to look up and make eye contact when they got within 10 feet of another person and to say “hello” or “what’s up” or “hey” when they got within 5 feet of another person.  The other essential element of this rule was that employees were encouraged to hold one another accountable for following it.  In other words, if someone were to brush by you in the hall without the eye contact or greeting, you might (smile) and say, “Hey .  . . 10/5 rule!”

You have a great idea for increasing sales, improving service, or saving your company money.  But you aren’t the boss and others aren’t interested in your idea.  What can you do?

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.

Another great way to influence people’s behavior – make it fun!

In addition to the fun factor, I think this video illustrates another powerful point.  People are curious.  In Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath demonstrate how powerful it can be to start a talk or a class by using a question or a mystery:

Today’s takeaway:  Are you leveraging fun and curiosity to interest people in your change effort?

As Myron Radio and I discuss in our book, Change at the Core, most organizational change ultimately comes down to changes in people’s behavior. Yet this aspect often proves to be the most mystifying part of any change. We know that command and control results in short-term compliance, if it works at all. Memos certainly don’t work. Neither does begging, pleading, or other forms of incentives.

Fortunately, there is great research available from Joseph Grenny and his Influencer co-authors. They found that successful influencers utilize at least four sources of influence when getting people to change their behavior. Two powerful sources are peer pressure (aka social motivation) and practice. Others include personal motivation, social ability (mutual accountability) and structural motivation (rewards).

For a fun introduction to the concepts from Influencer, check out the video below.