Become a Coaching for Leaders Plus member and listen to Dave’s Journal ongoing
And I have a special invitation for you right now:
Join Coaching for Leaders Plus by Friday, November 20th, and you’re invited to a special live event with me in early December.
I’ll take you behind the scenes of Coaching for Leaders: how I find guests, prepare for interviews, and produce the podcast. You’ll also have a chance to ask questions.
An executive leader recently asked one of our Academy cohorts for advice on shifting the culture of a team.
A longstanding problem with one of her teams has recently been identified by both her and other stakeholders. Since the team is in her portfolio, she wants to do everything possible to help them shift to a better way of working.
A new reality has emerged:
- A few people are all in on the new way of work.
- A few people are completely opposed to the new way of work.
- A bunch of people are somewhere in between.
This is completely normal. Regardless of the kind of change, three groups always emerge:
First, there will be the champions. These are the people who either immediately love the new direction or very quickly see the benefit of it.
Second, there will be the naysayers. These are the people that will never like the new direction, regardless of how much evidence you show them about the new way being better.
And then there’s the fence-sitters, somewhere in between. They could go either way on the change, depending on how things shake out. This is almost always the biggest group.
How do you handle these three groups?
Be a politician.
However you feel about politicians, the ones that get elected and stay in power are good at one thing:
Winning.
Smart politicians spend a TON of time and energy with their champions. They invite them to events. They give them photo ops. They ensure they show up on election day.
They also make asks of champions – and a lot of them respond, because they believe in the mission.
The other group politicians spend lots of time with? Undecided voters.
Those people could break either way. Politicians know that every undecided voter that comes their way makes it more likely they win.
So they show up at town halls and forums and debates where undecided votes often get featured – to make their case.
How do they address their naysayers?
They don’t. They ignore them.
This is where being a politician and being a leader in an organization diverge. You don’t get to entirely ignore the naysayers.
But you certainly don’t start with them.
Leaders often give way too much time and mental space to the 1 or 2 people who aren’t excited about the change and, as a result, end up missing the larger opportunity with everyone else.
Start with the champions. Socialize their work inside the organization. Highlight the wins they’ve had in public ways. Get them visibility with senior leadership.
Then, invite champions to engage the fence-sitters who show interest. Spend time listening to the concerns you hear about from them. Involve them in the change.
Addressing the naysayers comes last.
(A lot of leaders run the playbook the other way.)
Reverse the typical playbook. If you do, you will win on the change and you’ll make it so much easier for more naysayers to gracefully come on board or opt out.
Become a Coaching for Leaders Plus member and listen to Dave’s Journal ongoing
