Want to know why change is so hard to get right?

...this job would be great if it wasn't for the staff and the customers!

Why change efforts fail
Delivering change - your in a selling game
Understanding the foundations of an idea
The old sales mantra...
Simple tricks for communicating
Think like a marketeer

MOTIVATION
You can't motivate others, you can only create an environment that they identify with and become motivated in. If people do not identify with compelling evidence of the need for the change, they will either ignore it or disrupt it!

FEAR
Team members may be concerned about the impact of the change and their future status or security. Old dogs and new tricks spring to mind, but is an excuse used not to face reality. Fear is a massive blockage to positive engagement and needs to be identified and resolved carefully - ignoring the reality of fear won't make it go away.

COMFORT
Things are not too bad right now, so we are not convinced of the need for all this upheaval and disruption. People are motivated by things they want or things they want to avoid - imposing change is normally associated with the latter, so if it doesn't feel too bad - it's too bad for your change!

COMMUNICATION
The messages and support are inconsistent. Organisations are dreadful at this! You may have the strategic view, have spent months working on the issue, you announce the change and expect everyone to instantly have the same understanding, view and commitment that the imposing team has - madness!!

FIT TO FIGHT
lack of investment in necessary resources. Change fails when the infrastructure is not ready or appropriate to support it.

PREPARATION
Inadequate or inappropriate training and planning. Far too often training focuses upon new work skills and processes and ignores the people side of things. You set off implementing a change, only to find other priorities are imposed upon you, the market shifts etc etc. The change is then dropped, bungled or starved of the attention and focus it needs - the team become despondent, cynical and diverted.

MINDSET
An intellectual rationale imposed upon an emotional issue - change goes right to the heart of your people, their values and their motivations - don't rationalize and justify change at an intellectual or business level when it's implementation will turn peoples lives upside down!

TIMESCALE
the change is rushed, botched, half hearted

enough said!

Step into the mind and the shoes of the person your positioning the change to. Everything you communicate should be designed to meet their concerns, needs, wishes, desires, hopes, fears and dreams.

You are selling the idea and building a vision for the future and it had better be a two way dialogue if you want them on board.

Keep it simple. Don’t use language or concepts any more complicated than you would use in the pub!

As your dialogue develops, make sure you are taking time to understand before you strive to be understood.

Benefits, benefits, benefits. You must focus on the benefits of what you are proposing, rather than the rationale. In particular the benefits for the other person not yourself, or the organisation.

When you buy a new CD player, you’re not interested in how it was made or how many wires it has (the thing itself). Rather you’re interested in how easy it is to use, how it will improve your viewing pleasure - the benefits.

In getting people excited, committed or just engaged enough to give it a go! Communication is your tool. You will need all your listening and positioning skills if you are to engage the person productively with change - it's tough stuff, but that's your job!!

Simple tricks for communicating
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Give information before you ask for information. Position things by explaining context and do it from a personal rather than a business position. You are trying to get into rapport with the other person to explore ideas and build trust, so make it personal!

Remember the magic word – YOU. By continuing to use the word ‘you’ (or their name!) in your conversation, you are forcing yourself to have a personal conversation with the person. Particularly important when communicating via the written (or typed) word.

Seek first to understand. Begin with positioning, outline how you feel about things, then start asking questions - you want to understand before you want to be understood.

Summarise and back check. Simple enough but rarely done well!!

In marketing, sales and copy writing there is an age old mnemonic- but it provides a rock solid framework for all communication in all forms:

AIDA Follow this classic rule of copy writing and you can’t go too wrong. AIDA stands for
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action

All of your communication, whether it’s a letter, brochure, email or power point should follow this simple process.

First you need to get their attention – this normally happens in a headline.

Then create some interest.

You then need to turn the interest into a real desire for your change or proposal.

All of which is useless your audience does not take action. So make it very clear what action people need to take to support the proposal and strengthen their relationship with you.

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The point is this. 
Change leadership (please not management!!) is an essential skill for all of us. We all inhabit a landscape full of change, much of it imposed, nearly all of it botched and all of it challenging.

It's rare for change to be supported by appropriate training linked securely to a strategy of building trust and commitment. If you are in the change business, you are in the risk business. If you're in the risk business, you're in the business of leading people not managing processes!!

Only by working with change at an emotional as well as intellectual level can you hope to build teams and organisations that are open and excited by the opportunities of change rather than frozen by the consequences of it!

Isn't it time to start working on your business as well as working in it?