Making a Compelling Case for Change

Ideas and tools for promoting change

"Creating a Shift" is devoted to ideas that have helped change resistance into support and action. If you've had success with a particular strategy, contact author Rick Maurer (sending him a sentence or two description is fine), and he'll get back to you about presentingyour approach to Journal readers. The idea can be simple or complex. It can involve two people, a small team, union/management, or an entire organization. You can reach Maurer at http://www.beyondresistance.com .

Making a compelling case is the most important thing you can do to build support for change. There are four essential questions that individuals and teams should ask themselves at the beginning of any change. In the last issue, I covered the first two questions: Does your own team feel an urgency to change? Who else needs to feel an urgency to change? This column covers the remaining two questions.

What's the Gap Between What They See and What You See?

Perceptions matter! What's the gap between the sense of urgency that you feel and what others feel? Although you don't need 100% of stakeholders to feel the same degree of urgency, you do need a critical mass to feel the heat of the burning platform under their feet.

Listen for signs that let you know there's agreement or a gap. Signs of agreement include statements such as, "It's about time," "Let's get moving," "Here's an idea," and "What can I do to help?" Signs of a gap include statements such as, "What problem?" "There they go again," and "It's a flavor of the month."

In the Summer issue, I presented a tool called the "5/5 Stakeholder Analysis," which is useful for spotting gaps. You also can ask the following questions:

* Who doesn't see a need for a change?

* Do we know why they don't see a need?

* What emotional reactions might get in the way of seeing that something is needed?

If you need a champion or supporter (a rating of 4 or 5 on the stakeholder analysis) and you are likely to get only a "go along," "grumble," or "active opposition" person (ratings of 3, 2, and 1 on the stakeholder analysis), you may have a lot of work to do to make a strong case for your idea.

Remember the reasons for the gap between what you see and what others see could be based on any (or all) of the following:

* They don't get it. (Level 1 resistance)

* They don't like it. (Level 2 resistance)

* They don't like you. (Level 3 resistance)

Making a case for change involves helping people see that something is needed. Avoid pushing for a particular new idea at this point - no matter how urgent you believe the situation. If you try to get people to see the urgency and push your own idea at the same time, you will have a harder time building interest. First make a case that something is needed. Once you know you've made that point, then suggest your idea as one possible solution.

What might cause this gap? The following are a few potential causes:

* We have access to information they don't.

* We've seen things they haven't or they've seen things we haven't!

* Our experiences are different from theirs.

How Can We Make the Most Compelling Case for Change?

The most compelling cases speak to all aspects of Level 1, 2, and 3 resistance. People understand what you're talking about, they literally feel why this is important to them, and they have confidence in the person, delivering the message. An example might help.

A phone company lost a major contract. Instead of trotting out the same old tired assortment of managers to give their budget projections, complete with tired clip art, they brought in someone from the contracting office of their former customer to tell them why they lost. You could hear a pin drop in that meeting. Not only did people get it, they could see why this loss could be just the tip of a dangerous iceberg. Once the case was made that something needed to change, then people could get interested in exploring ways to improve the work of their company.

Level 1 resistance involves a need for information. People need to be able to "get it" intellectually. They need to understand what you are saying. Addressing Level 1 concerns often means sharing information you have and they don't. This type of information could include:

* Trends that affect your type of organization.

* Your organization's financial performance.

* How your performance compares to others in similar situations.

* Shifts in demographics.

* Changes in world conditions, such as September 11.

* Customer satisfaction.

* Quality or productivity data.

Most organizations have many tools at their disposal to get out Level 1 information. Among them are the approaches listed below:

* Microsoft® PowerPoint®.

* E-mails.

* Memos.

* Broadcast voicemails.

* Question and answer sessions.

* Informal management-by-wandering-around meetings.

* And the list goes on.

What can go wrong when sharing information? Information overload. Giving too much information in an undigested form can cause people's eyes to glaze over.

It is important to know your audience. Some do want all the details; others prefer the main points. I remember seeing a two-hour presentation in which the speaker droned on and on, using slides that were too detailed and too small to read. He lost his audience within the first 15 minutes. Mark Twain once said that no sinner was ever saved after the first 20 minutes of a sermon.

Failure to communicate can also be a problem when sharing information. This often takes the form of giving information in your language instead of the language of the audience members.

For example, suppose you work in information technology (IT). It would be risky to present material to a group of finance or human resource people using IT jargon. You'd probably lose them after the first slide. All professions and industries have their own lingo. That's fine for work inside the domain, but don't expect your audiences to be bilingual. It's your responsibility to translate your message into their language.

I've been trying to buy some new stereo equipment. Because I love music, I want to get really good equipment. I've been to three stores and countless Web sites, and all of them assume their customers are engineers who teach wave refraction and sound reproduction at MIT. So far I haven't bought a thing, but I probably will buy from the first legitimate dealer who can speak to me in my language.

As you think about sharing information, ask yourself the following questions:

* Do we give people Level 1 information in ways they can understand?

* Which tools do we currently use?

* Are these the appropriate tools to use with various individuals and groups?

* Are there ways in which we overuse any of these tools? (Hint: Many organizations create a death-by-PowerPoint culture.)

* Do we present information in ways that people can understand? For example, giving financial information to an audience who can't interpret the numbers is a waste of time.

When people seriously address the four questions associated with making a compelling case for change, they make better decisions. Stakeholders are far more likely to support change when we take time to work on "why" a change is needed before jumping into "how" we are going to do it.

Kick Maurer is an advisor to organizations on leading change. This month's column is adapted from his recent book, Making a Compelling Case for Change. You can find information on this book as well as many free resources on his Web site, http://www.beyondresistance.com .

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