They may be customers affected by the change, they may be key influencers in the business, they could be leaders who are critical to success, or even external parties. Whoever they are, how do you make sure they really are on board with what you are proposing, not just making the right noises?

5 ways to work out if your stakeholders are on board

1. Listen carefully – what sort of language do they use? If you hear lots of “buts” and reasons why things will be difficult, that’s a good sign they haven’t completely bought in yet
2. Watch them carefully – their body langauge will convey more than their words. Enough said
3. Ask them to present the change and its benefits to another group with you – reluctance could be a signal
4. Ask them what they would do differently if they were you
5. Ask them how their teams feel about the change, and how you both can turn that around.

Firstly she said:

In yoga, the changes are slow and deep. You may notice nothing today, but 3 months from now your mind and body will be in a different place.

How often do we expect people to change their minds or agree with us immediately. We provide a rational reason with a few bullet points for context and think they will come around. Experience tells us otherwise. For one thing, our brains aren’t physically wired that way. A rational approach is not effective in getting people to change long held beliefs – we need to engage people’s emotional brains. And for another thing (terrible English I know), the evidence suggests that deeply held beliefs change slowly, over time, often without us being aware. Slow and deep – like yoga.

The second thing she said was:

You can choose what you want your mind to focus on. Focus on the heat, and the class will be challenging. Focus on the way the warmth lets you stretch more deeply, and the class becomes an opportunity to heal.

You are what you think.  In my first three or four classes, all I could think about was the heat. How draining it was. How much I wanted to get out. When would it be over. You get the picture.These days I never focus on the heat. The heat is warm and welcome – it helps me undo the tensions of the years before.

What we think about hugely affects our mind, our focus, and our behaviour. What’s the parallel in organisations?

Framing conversations in terms of opportunities is more effective than framing them as problems to be solved. Asking people to build on their strengths rather than fix their weaknesses (who can be bothered really?) allows them to open up possibilities rather than close down options. We are what we think.

Okay, so my mind was obviously wandering at times during this yoga class – I need to work on my own focus. But I never focus on the heat in the class.

At any time a leader should be able to ascertain where their team members are in terms of stages of their personal change, and the stage the organisation is at as part of the overall change progam. This dual knowledge puts leaders in the strongest position for understanding and working througn resistance.

For example, lets say you – the leader – knows some team members need more communication about the rationale for the change -why it is a priority.

If the change initiative is in early stages, you know there is plenty of communication and  engagement activities yet to come. If the program is in the later stages then you know  there won’t be much more communication about the rationale from prgram level. You need to provide that information yourself.

An leader educated in change processes has the ability to diagnose issues respond effectively to help their people accept and buy into the change.

If you don’t have awareness of both processes, its a bit like trying to shoot fish in a barrel with a blindfold on. You know those fish are there, but you don’t know where to aim. So you shoot enthusiastically but randomly into the water – after all – how could you miss??

Sadly, it’s never an effective strategy. The outcome is usually that you mostly miss, but sometimes you might wound some fish, who will never look at you the same way again….

OK -maybe dead fish isn’t the best analogy, but you get the picture! The moral of this story is, unintentioned action to help people come to terms with change is often well-intentioned but ineffective, and at worst, causes more harm than good.

We can distinguish the change itself from transition required to make the change effective and embed it:

• The change itself is the day the new activity commences or the change event takes place.
• Transition encompasses all the people, process, system and customer impacts that need to be identified, thought through, planned for and managed –before and after the change date – in order that the change works.

Transition activities start many months before the date the change happens, and often continue many months afterwards to embed the change and sustain new practices.

The Tiger Woods scenario provides a good example of the difference between the two.

The date of change for Tiger was the day he crashed his car, and gave the world a glimpse into his private affairs. What has happened since then  – his team’s media silence, rehabilitation, and then the apology – are example of the transition. These represent an effort to understand the impacts of the change, who is affected, and what needs to be done to miminise risk adn ensure a successful future.

Of course the comparison with organisational change stops there. Tiger did no pre-planning for this change, whereas in organisations we spend time thinking through consequences and impacts before the change occurs. Tiger did no analysis of how his downfall might affect his sponsors, his family, his colleagues or the sport of golf. In organisations we spend time on stakeholder analysis, we spend time on deciding who needs to be on board before we start, we spend hours lining up te right leaders to get behind the change.

The point is, the actual change is the easy part. If you want to bang in a new process, yes – you can go ahead and do it without really doing anything else. But if you want people to adopt the new process, you will need to consider the transition. Most companies fail to do enough work on the transition. They under prepare, or assume the job is done once the change is effective.

Boredom shortens your lifespan.

After studing 7000 British civil servants over 25 years, scientists concluded:

• people who complain of boredom were more likely to die young
• those with high levels of tedium were 2.5 times more likely to die from heart disease or stroke
• those in the study who said they were bored were 40% more likely to have died by the end of the study than those who were not bored.

There’s such a thing as “settling” for a job that pays pretty well but doesn’t really excite you that much. You might even be settling for a job that doesn’t pay that well because finding somethng better feels too difficult.

I know – I did it for years. There’s a high cost to pay on emotional and physical health which unfortunately, we don’t realise until we’re doing something that is a much better fit for us.

So whatever it takes for you to make yourself a priority when it comes to work – don’t waste time. If you are bored, marking time, or showing up to work without really showing up – commit this year to finding meaningful and inspiring work.

I’m not talking about the senior leadership of the company, I’m talking about the guys in the middle. The leaders who are required to implement the changes within their teams, deal with the individual issues that arise from the change, make sure the change sticks, and be supportive the whole way through. They are often expected just to get on with it, and to magically know what they should be doing and saying to make it all work.

In my experience, this group have the worst of both worlds – maximum expectations from above (with insufficient support), and maximum chaos from below if the change is not widely understood, poorly managed, and impacts people’s worlds (doesn’t it always?). They have minimal ability to affect decisions or direction, and are expected to implement things with a smile and reassuring voice.

To help middle-tier leaders not just cope with change better – coping is a pretty ordinary expectation – but feel confident in their abilities to support and implement it, we need to significantly upgrade the time and effort spent. And not just when the actual change is happening but as an ongoing part of their development.

Helpful information would be:

• Information about how change actually manifests at the individual and team level
• the change process and framework being used
• how to handle various reactions to change
• leading in times of change
• the importance of their role in successful implementation
• How to manage their own uncertainty while dealing with the team’s issues
• how to apply these concepts within their own teams

There’s more for sure – but this would be a great start.

I’ve often felt the middle managers get the raw end of the deal on so many levels. Don’t make the mistake of assuming they’ll just get it, be fine with it, and do whatever’s required.

It took 4 weeks for me to get my head clear (the long holiday has a lot going for it). And here I am. From this year I am going to pursue one goal with enormous passion and energy.

I want to help people have a better time at work – whether that’s in business or coroprate life.  This is near and dear to my heart as I’ve been in a bad space at work several times throughout my working life. It took me way too long to make the changes I needed to. So maybe I can shortcut that process in some way for others.

I am going to focus my energy in 2 areas: I will take a macro view with organisations, and a micro view working with individuals. Let me explain….

Organisations can and are doing a lot to improve themselves. I want to help those companies work through their changes effectively, taking into account all the people and process implications. Changes that improve the culture, the work experience, the processes and the behaviours will bring improvements.

Improving leaderhsip capability – to lead people, to work in a aocnstantly changing environment, to have constructive conversations. This is a fundamental part of the equation.  How many of us have had managers with little or the wrong skills sets? And how much harder did that make our working lives? It doesn’t have to be that way.

At the individual level, I want to help people find more meaning from their choice of work. Perhaps they like where they work and their profession but need new skills or strategies for getting ahead. These things can be learned. And I   suspect there is a large number of people out there who know in their hearts they aren’t doing “the right job”  for them (is there such a  thing?) . All I can say is – been there myself – know how you feel

The answer for these people might be a transition to something completely different. Whichever – the time for doing nothing is well over! We won’t be here for ever so we might as well spend our time doing things that mean something to us.

So enough with the sharing. It feels good to be back.

How many people do you know who long for something more but haven’t taken any action? And what are you all being fierce about this year?

Sure – email is a convenient form of communication. Its fast, we can reach a lot of people,  and we can attach content like there’s no tomorrow. And once we hit the “send” button, we can tick the box and say communication is complete.  And afterwards we feel as though we can absolve ourselves of responsibility because after all – we did tell people.  If they aren’t doing what we told them in the email, it’s their problem right?

I think it’s still our problem actually. We already know that:

• depending on how much email people already receive, there’s a pretty good chance that your’s won’t even be read
• Or, it will be scanned through but not absorbed
• Or people will read the first paragraph, and when it doesn’t capture their attention they won’t read the rest
• Or it will go into a “reading” file, never to be read
• Or worse – for external contacts – it slides into the junk folder
• Or culturally, people are not used to changing their ways by reading emails, so it falls on deaf ears

Our responsibilities for ensuring the right information gets to the right people in a way that is meaningful to them, demands that we think beyond using email as the primary information channel.

 A good piece of communication should provide context and rationale, create trust, help people to understand how to change, enable people to make informed decisions, and answer the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of the change.

So nex time you’re ready to bang off an email with important information inside that you want people to act on – think again! You may need to task your managers with discussing it in team meetings, doing some presentations or workshops, even creating visual reminders. Post your information in multiple locations and find a way to get feedback on whether people are “getting it” and “doing it”

For any users or facilitators of The 6-Hat thinking process, this one page mind map is a treasure.  I’ll share more as I find them.

6-Hats Mindmap

If you do some reading on the subject, you’ll quickly find the predominant school of thought is that all communication must be “professional”, and that if it’s not, you risk damaging your reputation or credibility.

Part of communicating professionally it seems, is keeping our language and sentence structure formal, using important sounding words and not letting anyone in on the big secret – that we are actually real people.

For example, saying: “Please le us know at your earliest convenience if this appointment is suitable”, rather than: “If this doesn’t work for you, just give me a call and we’ll work out another time”.

The first is cold, bland, and sounds like a business with no soul. The second sounds warm, friendly and actually feels like the sender wants a personal relationship with you.

My own experience is that in the business world -no matter how large or small the buisness – the  impersonal, cool, arms-length style is the preferred mode of communication.

At the risk of flying in the face of conventional wisdom, I believe letting our real selves shine through in our communications allows us to differentiate ourselves from our competitors. It’s not all bad news for corporates though. There are a few of the big organisations that do warm communication well. If you are a Virgin customer, you’ll know that they excel at friendly and fun communications.

For me this is closely linked with how people behave at work: 

not wanting to be “too friendly”, seeming in charge,  and appearing unemotional.

The reality is that people really notice and appreciate the difference between the two. I can’t count the number of times that clients have mentioned how much they appreciate my relaxed style and sense of humour.

So take a look at the messages you are sending out. Do they need to be rewritten in plain conversational English? Are the icicles dripping off the pages of your emails and letters, or is the hearth warm and inviting?

After all –who wants to sound big, bland and cool like everybody else? Leave that to those who think it’s important (although why they do escapes me).