(E21) Getting buy-in for complex decisions
In this episode I’m looking at the one single thing leaders and organisations can do to change their fortunes. And that is by focussing on how they get buy-in for their vision and ideas. I share why so many organisations fail to make or sustain change, and I talk through the five skills senior leads for successful change during complex times.
There is a strange paradox in the fact that people inherently prefer things they are comfortable with. We know change is the opposite of comfortable. Yet we keep instigating change.
And it makes sense, we have to change - as people, as leaders, as organisations. We have to respond to a changing environment we operate within. We have to make sure we’re financially sound or even making a profit. We have to adapt as new technologies come into play, as our workforce grows and evolves. There are so many influencing factors that we can’t stay in a little protected bubble and believe that everything will be ok. But we’ve seen so many organisations who are no longer with us because they couldn’t adapt to the circumstances.
Organisational growth - organisational survival even - is dependent on change.
So why are organisations - and leaders - still struggling to do it well?
Only 30% of change initiatives succeed.
And by that we mean meets it’s stated objectives or has the desired outcome.
For everyone else, not only are they not making change happen they in fact create a whole load of other organisational problems. The original challenge or opportunity isn’t resolved and that has its own issues, but the ripples of that are - trust of your team, your staff and your stakholders is diluted or disappears (depending how bad the handling was), performance can nosedive, morale falls, time and money is lost. And this can badly affect reputation as well.
Think about the organisation you work in…
Typically the responsibility for the change process - the doing bit - is passed to a department; it might be a strategy or transformation director, maybe a quality improvement team, perhaps you have a PMO in place.
Organisations may invest money in upskilling those responsible for change - some project management training, a QI programme for service leads, a leadership course for department heads.
Considerable time and money can be spent. And therefore expectations on a return of investment are set. For these specific individuals.
Change is going to happen - everyone assumes that.
And if things aren’t going as planned then more resource, more governance, more accountability, more meetings, more paperwork, is put in place to ‘support’ those managing the change.
More time and money spent. More expectations for a return on investment.
Yet, for all of that, 70% of change initiatives still fail.
Why?
Because leaders have missed those all important first-steps required. Steps you have to take BEFORE you begin marching others up that hill.
And it’s not about resourcing a change team, it’s looking closer to home at what your senior leaders are doing to lead and inspire the change to begin with.
Because this is often where the real failure stems from.
And organisations overlook the need to upskill their senior leaders - the ones who after all will be shaping the direction and approach and tone of the change, regardless of how great your ‘change specialists’ might be. A poorly skilled senior leadership team can undermine the whole lot.
Let’s look at those skills senior leaders need?
Being able to set a vision and purpose. What will this change mean, why is it important? How does my vision fit with the organisational vision? Leaders need to understand the challenges from the perspective of the people affected. So often leaders position it at too macro a level or they come at it from their own vantage point and why it’s important to them, and that makes them feel distanced and unrelatable to others and out of touch with the real issues.
Senior leaders need to ensure they have alignment of their Board and exec colleagues. I’d be a rich woman for every time I’ve heard someone say when I talked through the slide deck, there were no questions or people didn’t say anything, but they’ve all gone off and either done nothing or done their own thing. Let’s be clear. Silence doesn’t mean agreement. Nodding heads doesn’t mean agreement. Silence can mean they don’t understand. It can mean they don’t agree. It could mean they’re scared to ask a question or don’t want to rock the boat by coming across as challenging. They might think their idea and plan is more important, which is why they go off and do their own things. Not enough time and energy is spent getting alignment at a senior level before a strategy or inititiative is launched. And members of that senior team aren’t supported to help make it relevant to them and their teams, which is why they carry on with their own agendas and priorities.
Leaders need to focus on how they are engaging with others around the need for change. How are they testing that what they’re trying to fix is realistic, is needed, is what people are going to get behind? You don’t do that at the point you launch the change. You need to be doing this work all the time - listening, triangulating, asking the right questions - so that you can make sure your vision is the right one.
Communications is another overlooked skill. I see senior leaders who either have too much to say, don’t want or think they should say anything, or they get bored really quickly with the message they’re giving that they’re constantly evolving it. And this can be as big a reason for why you don’t have Board and exec alignment as you not taking your teams with you. If you get into the weeds with detail, if you use loads of jargon, if you’re focussing on messages not relevant or interesting for the audience you’re talking to, you’re going to fail to take people with you. As your starting point, you should be able to summarise the change in one sentence. That’s the same sentence you want every member of the Board, the exec team, your team, to have as a golden thread going through everything you do. And then have three bullets that articulates what that will mean for each stakeholder group - how will they know the difference? And it will be different - your board are interested in different outcomes to your clients or your community. A one size fits all approach won’t cut it. Then you can get into how you’re going to do it, how you will know when it’s done, how you’re going to resource it. But if you don’t have that golden thread to begin with - the one-liner, the differentitated pointers for stakeholders - you’ll really struggle to provide clarity and consistency.
And the final area that leaders overlook is that self-leadership piece. How you’re going to make decisions and prioritise those decisions. How are you going to show support without micro-managing. How are you going to encourage learning instead of perfectionism. What’s the tone you’re seeking to set. Again, organisations can get bogged down in organisational governance and don’t consider the impact of individual leaders.
All of these things need to be considered and worked through indiivudally and collectively as a senior leadership team, before any change happens. That’s how you increase the chance of success.
There is an assumption made that those who reach senior leadership levels know how to do this stuff - set a vision, show self-leadership, communicate with clarity, take people with them.
However, 82% of people entering management positions have not had any formal leadership training and 1 in 4 organisations don’t offer leadership development to new leaders. And most typical leadership development programmes don’t even focus on these areas anyway!
Too often people are promoted to senior roles through their skills and achievements in their area of expertise. And in the conversations I have with executive leaders, many tell me they weren’t prepared for the all-round input they’re expected to offer at a strategic Board level. And it’s vulnerable for them to admit to their peers, their CEO or their Chair, that this is out of their comfort zone.
Which is why we keep seeing this cycle repeating itself.
Through the 1:1 work I do with leaders, we focus on the underlying factors that are stopping them from having the right impact in the workplace. We tackle those five success criteria. Whether it’s getting clarity in their strategy, setting the right personal conditions for success, or developing an action plan that allows them to build and nurture meaningful relationships, we use a variety of tactics and tools to help them identify and tackle the challenges they face. It’s highly personalised because - as Susan Charlesworth said in our interview about human factors - people are people. Every member of your exec team will think in a different way, will communicate differently, will be comfortable or confident in different circumstances. That’s why blending coaching and leadership strategy can be much more impactful than an ‘off-the-shelf’ leadership development course.
Resources and helpful links
If your organisation needs to make changes this year, let’s discuss how getting the right support package in place for your senior leaders can be the difference between success and failure. Book a free consultation call and chat with me directly about your transformation plans. I can then develop a bespoke proposal to meet your organisational needs. Drop me an email lwi@sundayskies.com or book a free call.
