QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “When the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change, people will grow and the unspeakable value it offers is priceless, measured as a Lifetime Value.” Amy Elias, MS

 

MANAGING TO SELL CHANGE

How do you get staff to buy into something new?  Managers tell us that this is a big problem. I want to share with you an idea that my business partner uses to get buy-in for change. What he does is turn the expression “no pain, no gain” on its head. He says “during change it’s actually no gain, no pain”. What he means is this: change is very painful at work. It takes a lot of energy, it is hard, it takes a lot of time and employees are going to avoid it as much as they are going to avoid any pain.

 

So as a leader you need to focus on … what is to gain?  You need to spend time communicating:

 

What’s in it for staff? How will they benefit?

 

How will it help the team? (Forge bonds, promote decision-making autonomy, accentuate individual skill sets, mitigate tedious tasks, reduce stress, save time…)

 

How will it improve the relationships with customers? (Enhance info flow, quicken service response, sharpen communication skills, make applications easier for customers…)

 

What’s in it for the company? (Boost in revenues, lowering of costs, more harmonious workforce…)

 

Why do you want it happen?

 

What’s going to happen if the change fails?

 

In essence, what will staff gain from the change?  If you can’t convince them on any gain, then they will not be willing to go through the pain of the change.

 

Reprinted from http://peoplenrg.com (examples in parenthesis added by me)