Establish a sense of urgency– Here we need to appeal both to the intellectual and the emotional sides of the executive team. There are two stages. First, ambush the CEO with a compelling elevator pitch so you get to stage two. Second, deliver a masterful sales presentation of around 15 to 20 minutes, aimed at obtaining permission to run a focus group to assess, validate, and scope the proposed initiative.
Create a guiding coalition– In every organization you have oracles, those individuals everyone refers you to when you need something answered (e.g., “You need to talk to Pat”). These oracles exist right across the organization and might hold seemingly unimportant positions. Do not be fooled.
An investment at this stage is paramount. In one case study, an organization held three two-week workshops that were designed to progress their planning tool implementation. Yes, that is six weeks of workshops. The CEO was present for part of each of the workshops and the wisdom from the oracles was channeled by an expert facilitator into a successful blueprint for the project.
No project will ever succeed without a guiding coalition of oracles behind it. In The Three Laws of Performance, Zaffron and Logan point out that when you present the “burning platform” you are aiming for an overwhelming “Hell, no!” response upon asking the question, “Do you want the default future?” The oracles want the alternative future, which you have also articulated.
However, Mills has warned us to be patient, give time for the staff to discuss, think, and mull over the content. In most cases a two day workshop will be more beneficial in giving staff time to let self-persuasion work.
Develop a vision and strategy– In order for the journey to be seen and resources made available, we must master future-based language that is compelling and motivational. As mentioned, Zaffron and Logan have signified the importance of language (the second law) and that it is crucial that you talk using a future-based language (the third law).
Communicate the change vision– Kotter emphasized that it's not likely that you will under-communicate a little bit; you will probably under-communicate a lot, by a factor of 10 to 100 times. This will undermine your initiative, no matter how well planned. During a project, the project leader needs to obtain permission from the CEO to gate crash any gathering in the organization and have a 10-minute slot to outline the project and progress to date. One surefire way to failure is to believe that staff will read your project newsletters and emails.
Empower broad-based action– Early on the need for change and the right to change must be handed over to teams within the organization. Zaffron and Logan concur with this view. Once the invented future is set in the minds of the organization's staff, the staff will march toward this future. All the great writers have emphasized that some chaos is good, so let teams embrace the project in their own way.
Generate quick wins– Obvious to us all but frequently missed. Always remember that senior management is, on occasion, inflicted by attention deficit disorder. Progress in a methodical and introverted way at your peril. We need easy wins, celebrated extrovertly, and we need to ensure we set up the CEO to score the easy goals.
Consolidate gains and produce more change– This is the flywheel affect so well put by Jim Collins in his books, Built to Last14 and Good to Great.15 When the staff are working in unison the flywheel of change will turn quicker and quicker. This was very evident in the planning tool implementation case study featured in Chapter 4.
Anchor new approaches in the culture– Make heroes of the change agents, make sure their values are embedded in the corporate values, and now ensure you weed out those in management who have not embraced the change and who, over time, will be dowsing the fire at night when nobody is looking.
SELLING TO THE SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM
The process of getting the senior management team (SMT) on board requires an understanding of the need to sell through the buyer's emotional drivers, a well-prepared elevator pitch, and a masterful sales presentation. The object of the sales pitch is to obtain permission to run a focus group to assess, validate, and scope the proposed initiative.
Learn to Sell by Using the Emotional Drivers of the Buyer
It is through your audience's emotional drivers, and not through logic, that a story is sold. Failure to appreciate this has undermined many an accountant's pitch to the board.
All major projects need a public relations machine behind them. No presentation, email, memo, or paper related to a major change should go out unless it has been vetted by your PR expert. Do not get offended when they rewrite most of your content. Just admire their genius and claim the credit when the PR process works – that's what everybody else does.
SELLING BY EMOTIONAL DRIVERS: HOW A CAR SALE IS MADE
Three customers arrive on the same day to look at a car that has been featured in the local newspaper. The first person is a young IT professional, generation Y, and wearing latest designer clothing. The salesperson slowly walks up and assesses the emotional drivers of this potential buyer. Having ascertained that the young man is an IT guru, working for a major search engine organization, the salesperson says, “I hope you have some track racing experience. You need to be a Lewis Hamilton to handle this beast. This car has 320 BHP, a twin turbo, and corners like it's on railway tracks. Only a top driver can handle this beast. It's a real driver's car.” SOLD.
The second person could be me, with my gray hair visible. The salesperson might say, “This car is five-star rated for safety, with eight air bags, enough power to get you out of trouble, unbelievable braking when you have to avoid the idiots on the road, and tires that will never fail you.” SOLD.
The third person is wearing stylish clothing and is impeccably well groomed. The opening sales line might be, “This car has won many awards for its design. Sit in the driver's seat and see the quality of the finish. Everything is in the right place. You look a million dollars in that outfit you are wearing and every time you drive this car you will feel like a million dollars!” SOLD.
The Elevator Speech
Having now understood why prior initiatives have failed through poor selling let us now look at how we get the SMT motivated. The key is to have a 30-second elevator speech that is designed to capture their attention. It must be ready so that when we next bump into the decision makers, we are practiced and ready.
The 30-second elevator speech is designed to capture their attention. The term came about in management books describing how you need to be able to get a point across in an elevator ride, as sometimes this is the only chance you may have to have a one on one with the decision maker. The aim is, as they walk away, that they ask you to come to their office in the next few days to discuss this further.
An elevator interaction might go like this.
In answer to the question, “How are you?” you might say, “I am troubled.” “Why is that?” being the natural response from the CEO. To which you reply, “I have just been looking at _______________and I have estimated that over the next 10 years, we will be spending $__M and $__M on this if we do nothing. I have been researching a new approach, tried and tested elsewhere, that would save much of this cost. I just need 15 minutes of your time to explain this.”
The key is to fine-tune the elevator speech so that it is compelling. I recommend you practice your elevator speech at least 10 times so that it is focused and no longer than 30 seconds. As Kotter, says we need to create a sense of urgency and connect both intellectually and emotionally.
Deliver a Compelling Burning Platform Presentation
Assuming the elevator speech