Engaging Teams: Creating a Culture of Change the Organic Way

My 4-year-old said something incredibly inane the other day. 

She said, “Dad, do you know that there are alligators on the moon?” While wanting to be an encouraging father, I responded, “No, Emma, there are not alligators on the moon.” She insisted, almost defiantly, that this was in fact “a real thing” because Andrew in her class told her. Huh, so Andrew is both a rocket scientist and biologist at the age of four? Who would’ve known?

So, I found myself at one of those intersections of life: Continue this conversation, debating the ideas from two 4-year-olds, or succumb to this fallacy and just let it ride. Deciding discretion was the better part of valor (and also deciding I’d prefer to fight on another hill, like getting her to eat fruit instead of umpteen chicken nuggets), I bowed out and casually agreed that there could be alligators making a lunar sojourn. 

However, this got me thinking. First, who was the inane one here? Was it the 4-year-old or the dad arguing with a 4-year-old? Second and most importantly, how do you get an organization to make sustainable changes when there are so many headwinds battering against a logical case for real change?

Why Change Is Hard

As the master of segues, let me explain. Consider how many decisions are made within an organization. Most leaders (president, CEO, etc.) are not making decisions in a vacuum, but likely utilizing the collective wisdom of a leadership team or senior council to guide the strategic direction of a firm. Here is the tipping point for many firms. The ideation at the leadership level is outstanding, but so many great concepts fail to launch because of a general lack of what is called “evangelization.”

Consider the following example: The organization decides to invest in a new technology, process or market, hopeful to capitalize on some compelling industry insight, data or trend. However, as the firm tries to adopt this new initiative, it crumbles. The organization pushes back, the investment fails to generate the return, or the technology sits like a paperweight, collecting layers of dust.

“But, this will make us more productive or drive money to the bottom line,” extols the Chief Spokesperson in Charge. “Well, we hear that there are alligators in that market,” or “That software is one BIG alligator … ”

It is fascinating to see so many great ideas fall into the wasteland because there was a groundswell of misinformation or a real commitment from the mass population to gain traction.

Creating Evangelism

Who is the evangelist? Is it the CEO, president or chief financial officer (CFO)? Is it the operations manager? Sure, each of these individuals has a stake in the success and should be a cheerleader of an initiative. However, the real evangelists are the practitioners. Put another way, have a team endorsing an idea — but ensure they also put their fingerprints all over the process, tool, initiative, market and ultimate success.

For instance, assume the organization decides to create a new internal process for closing out a project that is markedly different from its current process. Naturally, there will be resistance to the process. (What fun would it be if everyone blindly accepted a new way of doing things?) However, the most successful organizations are the ones that engage in the following sequential implementation model:

1. Ideation 

Identify the area that requires intervention because of some fact-based scenario (i.e., deterioration margins, customer loss, market share decline, employee attrition). Ultimately, there must be a compelling message to serve as a rallying cry for the improvement or action; otherwise the team will think this is simply change for change’s sake.

2. Laying the Process Out 

Everything should have a road map as it currently exists, and for how it should be performed to be more efficient, achieve better results, etc. It is important not to skip the “current state” as teams may jump to a solution or simply treat mild symptoms as opposed to solving larger systemic issues. Most importantly, the people who will use the process, tool, software or system should be actively involved in the “desired state” process, tool, software or system.

3. Beta Testing 

Whatever the process or tool that is created, should be vetted in a live-action scenario. This step is crucial on two very different fronts. The first is to jettison any bugs in the system. Even the best process or tool has issues that fail to manifest in the design stage. This vetting process will get more eyes on it and make it sound. Second, this is about getting wins in the “win” column. This is the start of the evangelization process, and it allows practitioners to see the benefits.

4. Messaging & Deep Training 

Here is the wrinkle. With the bugs worked out and, more importantly, a group of managers, supervisors and foremen seeing the impact of the change, they become the spokespeople for training the masses. While they may only speak a small amount in a training session orienting the population on a new software or tool, their words will carry so much more weight than any CEO, president or Grand Poobah.

As a management consultant, it is always fascinating to see the light bulbs go on during implementation when I say something — largely regarded as common knowledge — and knowing that the CEO or president has spent the last few months or years touting those very same premises.

Before I get too full of myself, it is equally fascinating to see light bulbs get brighter when a manager’s peer says the same thing in a roll-out session that I have tried to reiterate for the last few weeks. “I used to be a nonbeliever, but I tried the new project management system or enterprise resource system and it works” or “I had my own spreadsheet, and when I used this new process, it saved my project 15% on labor costs.” Those two statements carry so much more weight coming from a peer manager or superintendent as opposed to the president.

Simply put, consider who you have deputized to be the messenger, and the message will heard — more of a soothing “ahhh” versus a dull, echoless thud.

Now if your managers start telling their friends that their clients have all become rowdy reptiles, you might want to gently intervene.