Unlocking Success: Securing Leadership Buy-In For Change

In an era where businesses must constantly evolve to outperform competitors, improve productivity, and drive revenue, organisational change is not just a necessity but a strategic imperative. While change management is a relatively mature business elements, with clear processes, stages and milestones, 70% of all change initiatives fail. This failure rate is often attributed to the neglect of the people aspect of change management. At a time when the current employee engagement levels stand at 15% across the European Union and mere 10% in the UK, this is detrimental to business future success.

Change goes by many names: restructuring, reengineering, transforming and many other more creative versions. Regardless of the terminology, the core idea is the same: finding new ways to cope with evolving business environments. Despite understanding the importance of continuous improvement, many organisations fall short in one critical area—leadership buy-in.

In a recent conversation with Csaba Toth, Executive Coach, Author and Founder of ICQ Global, and Faris Aranki - Strategy and Emotional Intelligence, Founder of Shiageto Consulting, we delved deeper into understanding the role of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and Cultural Intelligence (CQ) in change leadership and the sustainability and success of change initiatives.

What is the Role of EQ and CQ in the Change Process? 

We often treat layers of organisation as monolith: front line in one bucket, middle managers in another and senior leaders in the third. However within these artificially distinct pools of people live individuals with different information processing styles, communication preferences and fears. There is an acute need to humanise change process and communicate to people not their titles. 

This requires evolved levels of Emotional Intelligence (EQ), Cultural Intelligence (CQ) and Psychological Safety.

Change, by definition, requires introducing something new: a system, process, standard. As such, it requires high levels of openness, agility, resilience and courage to explore new ideas and facilitate frank discussions about potentially unpleasant facts and realities. This carries a lot of uncertainty and ambiguity, which can trigger fight-flight-freeze and keep people in a rigid state of defensiveness. Therefore, people aspect cannot be underestimated or overlooked in the change process. Developing and constantly evolving EQ and CQ skills in the workforce and certainly among leaders should be every organisation's top Learning & Development (L&D) priority.

Crafting a Compelling Narrative for Continuous Buy-In

Ongoing Re-contracting

Gaining buy-in is a continuous, agile process. You can't seek leadership buy in just once at the beginning of the initiative and expect it to hold the same weight a year or even 6 months later. Change needs to be broken down into small, bite size components that are measurable and present an opportunity to demonstrate progress. Instead of seeing change as a one-dimensional linear process, we should treat it as a series of sprints that are a complete process in its own right.

Persuasion vs. Convincing

Persuading and convincing are not the same thing. Senior leaders do not want to be convinced to do something; but persuasiveness in its essence is about presence, advisory and consistency, which tends to be better received among senior leadership demographic.

Honesty and Transparency

Be honest about the duration and complexity of your change initiative. In a world that is characterised by instant gratification we often skip steps to create an illusion of progress and speed. But that more often than not bites us back later. This is damaging not only to that particular initiative but change leadership in general. Change and transformation are often glamorised to how exciting it is and how it will make things better, while downplaying, hiding or ignoring the challenges that are inherent to the process.

We have all been through a number of professional and personal changes and transformations to know that in the thick of the process things can get dark and sticky. So telling people otherwise is demeaning to their lived experiences and intelligence. 

Maintaining Momentum and Engagement

Given the complexity of some change initiatives and the long-term commitment they require, it is common to experience loss of momentum during the transformation. This can manifest as missed milestones, changes not sticking and an overall lack of confidence in the organisation’s ability to deliver change.

Researchers at Wharton University found that momentum-powered companies delivered 80% more shareholder value, had 93% higher revenue growth and a 58% advantage in earnings growth compared to those that lacked momentum.

Here are three examples you should consider:

1. Regular Progress Updates and Celebrations: Keep the team informed about the progress of the change initiative with regular updates. This can be achieved through weekly team meetings, monthly newsletters or a dedicated communications platform. Seek to reduce friction by meeting people where they're at. Consider how people engage with information these days and their span of attention. According to research by Microsoft people now have lower attention spans than goldfish. Communicate often and in bite size portions, making it exciting and easy to engage with. Celebrate small wins and milestones to boost morale and demonstrate progress.
2. Leadership Visibility and Support: Ensure that senior leaders are visible and actively supporting the change process. This cannot be underestimated, as their active involvement emphasises the importance of the initiative and reinforces commitment. As Dr. Sandra Upton writes in her book "MAKE IT LAST: A Roadmap and Practical Strategies for How to Do DEI Work", while you need to aim for 100% commitment from senior leadership, you only need 75% to get started.
3. Training and Development Programs: While providing training for skills needed in the post-implementation state of the change seems to be a common sense practice. However, the skills training grossly overlooked is for the skills needed to deal with change. This primarily includes self-awareness, EQ and CQ skills. Moreover, the impact of the training should be measured for continuous improvement and optimisation, as these skills are not just change leadership but also critical business skills.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the success of any change initiative hinges on the ability to keep the human aspect at the forefront, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and adaptability. By prioritising the development of EQ and CQ skills, involving employees in the process and leveraging the right tools, organisations can not only survive but thrive amidst constant change.

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