Engage & Transform June 2023
Jo Ann Sweeney
Explaining Change Expert, Clarifying the Complex. Helping Stakeholders to Embrace, Understand, Believe & Support Change.
Identifying Change Advocates
“How do we identify advocates for change? I believe it is a truism that without advocates within teams that need to adopt change, we will struggle.”
Variations of this question are regularly asked during our monthly webinars, usually following my explanation of the Influence Pyramid. It says roughly 10% of our stakeholders will be enthusiastic advocates for change and 20% will be negative resistors.
The 70% in the middle sitting on the fence can be influenced by the advocates, giving us 80% support. Or influenced by the resistors, giving us 90% resistance and change failure.
So how do we identify the 10% and persuade them to influence the 70%.
The way I’ve found that works, in different organisations, sectors and countries, is with a piece of upfront research in which I have conversations with a representative cross section of stakeholders.
From our interactions and their answers to my questions I’m able to tell who is positive, who is negative and who is neutral. I also talk with the programme team members, asking for their perceptions of individual stakeholders.
Together we identify named individuals, aiming for a rough 10% of advocates across each of our stakeholder groupings.
Once we have the names I contact each person, asking them if they will be willing to be an advocate for our change programme and explaining what this means for them in terms of their time and energy, as well as the support we will be providing.
Most people say yes. We may give them a title such as change champion, change agent, or gold user and let everyone else know who they are. We also allocate them as leaders of small groups of stakeholders and provide the ongoing support that enables them to feel confident and be effective.
Overcoming Cultural and Psychological Barriers to Change
Join us as we explore key topics addressing psychological and cultural barriers to change, and share how to engage stakeholders in meaningful ways that demonstrate the potential of change.
There is still time to join our webinar tomorrow at 13:00 UK time.
We will be looking in detail at the five psychological and eight cultural barriers that we need to manage for change to happen.
Plus I’ll be sharing some of the engagement and communication tools I use with my clients to overcome these barriers. They are practical and easy to apply; you will be able to use them with your teams also.
Reserve your place here and join us on 28 June at 13:00-14:00 UK time https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAldO2opz4iEtMeB7SWVjzNaUDnBG6ijzIy
Do register on zoom even if you can’t join us live, as then we are able to send you the link to watch the playback afterwards.
Realising Benefits from Explaining Change and Engaging Stakeholders
In May we started a new Knowledge Sharing workshop series in our People Change Mastery community of practice.
Over the next 12 months we will be delving into proven techniques to help you win recognition for the value your change and transformation programme brings to your organisation.
Our second workshop in this series, Calculating a RoI that is Relevant, is live on Thursday, 29 June from 15:00-16:30 UK time.
During our workshop we will be looking at how to:
Would you like to join us? You can do so by applying to join People Change Mastery here or by emailing Jo Ann at support@sweeneycomms.com
Valerie Merrill Shares Her Experiences of Programme Training
Recommended by LinkedIn
Transformation training expert Valerie Merrill shares her tips for improving transformation training, what works in practice, mistakes to avoid and the capabilities that make for great trainers.
In our Expert Insights interview, Valerie advises being clear on what you are trying to achieve and on the wants and needs of the people you will be training.
This includes understanding what the change is all about, the desired outcomes, how people work and their work cultures.
Spend time getting to know people, building relationships with them, so you can make training relevant, and feel relevant, to them. Be prepared to put time and energy into engaging people before launching training.
Valerie Merrill, founder and director Merrill Consultants, and her team focus on embedding learning and changing ways of working through a bespoke training process. She and Jo Ann spoke during May as part of our People Change Mastery community of practice.
Training White Paper
Valerie Merrill and Jo Ann Sweeney are authoring a white paper exploring training delivery during change and transformation.
We would love to include your experiences, what you expected to happen versus what actually happened, what worked and didn’t work, what you changed the next time.
Are you willing to share your experiences with us? What you share will be confidential. If yes, can you let Jo Ann know via email to support@sweeneycomms.com
What Has Jo Ann Been Up To
Lots of successes, both champagne and lemonade, that I am proud of over the last month.
The Deloitte transformation manager I’ve been mentoring has her ideal job and is enjoying working with her new global team, as well as the challenges and responsibilities.
Two inspiring training delegates on different courses; a Saudi Arabian energy ministry executive wanting to know about sustainability in practice; and a Pakistani gas company executive exploring community relations in the tribal areas. I learnt as much from them as they learnt from me.
Mike and I hosted a fundraising walk for the charity Grace & Light in early June. Fifteen of us walked the green lung in south London taking in Riddlesdown Common, Kenley Common, RAF Kenley Aerodrome, Coulsdon Common and Farthing Downs.
We are raising funds for church leaders workshops in Nigeria. If you would like to support these workshops you can do so here.
Overview of How We Work With Clients
Sweeney Communications is a virtual stakeholder engagement consultancy based in the United Kingdom supporting change and digital transformation in the IT, technology and telecommunications sectors; the consultancy was formed in 1993.
As experts in the people side of digital transformation, we take your stakeholders from knowing little and resisting change, to willingly embracing new ways of working. Then you can deliver the revenue and reputation benefits your executives expect of transformation.
We’ve created an overview of how we work with clients for digital transformation executives.
Do have a read through then contact Jo Ann to begin exploring your challenges and how we can support you and your team.
About Jo Ann Sweeney FCIM FIIC MCIPR
Jo Ann Sweeney is a Kiwi living in London and the founder of Sweeney Communications. Typically she acts as engagement director for a client’s digital transformation programmes.
Clients value her deep understanding of audiences. She is experienced at segmenting and prioritising stakeholders according to their influence and attitudes, then tailoring engagement activities to take them on the journey from where they are to where they need to be in terms of involvement and commitment.
Jo Ann’s expertise was recognised by her transformation peers when she, along with BT and Wipro, won EMEA and global awards for outstanding cooperation and collaboration.
BT’s programme director said, “Jo Ann was the grit in our oyster. She created a tempo of urgency, a drumbeat that has inspired others. With her just-do-it mindset she acted as a lightning rod conductor, making things happen. People are positive. They are asking how can I help? They are proactive and interested.”
If you want to talk with Jo Ann about your challenges persuading people to change, contact her at support@sweeneycomms.com. She is also available to speak with communities of practice about the people side of change.
Do connect with Jo Ann on LinkedIn if you haven’t already done so.