Please help! I’d love to hear from the community with respect to how to gain organizational support. Our leadership team has a lot of tenure and it makes the case for change more difficult. “We have been very successful so why change?” Whereas I see the need to move us forward…I’ve tried the emotional angle (Purpose) and the practical angle (Sales Performance) and neither seem to work?
Thank you in advance for your insights.
Have you tried building movement from the ground up? Be stealthy about it. Make a bunch of small changes that stick, like nudges and don’t brand them as big culture change. Then when you’ve got enough small changes that have been successful, report back to the leaders about the impact those small changes made to the culture and success of the business. Start the ripple effect from the bottom. Ultimately though, for real culture change to happen successfully you need support and buy-in from above AND below. If the leaders aren’t willing to support it, then you have to ask yourself if it’s worth you doing because speaking from experience, you will just be constantly hitting walls.
@JVader thank you very much for the reply…really appreciate you taking the time to provide your advice!
I totally agree with Jacqui - start small and work on a ground swell. Ensure when you report back you use facts and figures - leaders can’t argue with cold hard facts right?
Also play the long game, know your key messages on why the change is important and keep inserting those messages wherever practicable. Eventually it will stick!
@Nicola - I completely agree with all your points! Thank you for taking the time to provide your insights.
Have you conducted any type of engagement survey yet? I’ve found that having the data to back up change initiatives is incredibly helpful (e.g., our high potential employees are the least engaged)!
I agree with anonymous7. If you dont have data to support the need for change its unlikely you will get any leadership buy in. Employee Satisfaction or Engagement surveys provide the anonymous data you need to address the issues. Both leaders and the floor have their own personal biases aswell on what should and should not change. Actual data will give you the evidence you need to start the change.
I also recommend using storytelling techniques! One of our People Scientists, Myra outlined a few important ones here. In particular, you mentioned trying the purpose and the practical angles. I recommend looking at the questions under bullet 1 to consider what will resonate with each leader. For example, how will this culture change support their highest priorities? From there, as Anonymous7 mentioned above, get the data to make that argument!
Thank you to everyone for taking the time to provide your feedback! I will take all of the advice I can get 