In business there are two types of strategies. The first is a straightforward ‘stroke and pen’ affair – ‘I’m going to buy/do this’ and no other human interactions are required. But these are comparatively rare, says Ashton Bishop, CEO of Step Change. “Most strategies are actually behavioural change strategies. And when you have humans in the mix, then it becomes complicated, because humans aren’t always predictable or rational.”
Indeed, behavioural economist Dan Ariely wrote a book about this very subject. It’s called Predictably Irrational, because that’s what humans are – consistently irrational, but in surprisingly predictable ways.
And as there is a degree of predictability involved, it is possible to manage change in a way that has the greatest chance of success. And the most vital tool is communication, which is the simplest and most direct tool to get people from point A, where they’re thinking, feeling and doing one thing, to Point B, where they’re thinking, feeling and doing something else.
This means communication is an “essential part of strategy and an essential part of change” says Bishop, because nothing is going to change and no new project is going to be successful until you first of all communicate and do so effectively.
There are various effective change management frameworks you can reference, including John Kotter’s Eight-Step Process, but the first thing to understand is the nature of communication itself and how it is received. As famed psychology professor Albert Mehrabian discovered, while you may think you have imparted information, it can only be called communication when the other party fully receives it. And this is dependent on a lot more than the words. Indeed, Mehrabian found that in high stress situations what is actually communicated can be broken down into: 55 percent environment and expression, 38 percent tone... and words? Just seven percent.
“Change situations are high stress situations, because change implies risk and can evoke feelings of being ostracised or rejected,” explains Bishop, so it is necessary to consider the format of your message to ensure you are not being misunderstood. If you take the time to win people over emotionally first you’ll find them much more open to rational messages. “You cannot bully someone into believing you and you cannot bully someone into change. You have to want to open the space,” says Bishop.
Entrenchment
The next step is to diagnose the level of entrenchment. “How long have they been doing that behaviour, how stuck are they in that behaviour and how tightly are they holding on?” he adds. If a team has been working together for some time, there can be a significant amount of entrenchment. This is compounded if they have built or designed something themselves and are very happy with the status quo.
Also think about distance – how novel, radical or different is the new requested behaviour?
If you do find people are very entrenched and the proposed change will require a big shift in the way they think, feel and act, how do you effect that desired change? There are two primary ways, says Bishop. The first is to aim for a really strong emotional impact. It may seem counterintuitive, but identify and spell out all the things that are already right and successful and don’t need to change.
When people feel appreciated and valued, they are much more likely to be receptive to ideas that enhance the current situation. But if a powerful emotional impact is difficult to achieve, the flip side is effective frequency. It has been calculated that in a work environment people need to be told something eight to 13 times before it really resonates.
So the next time you are rolling out a major technology change or improvement, save yourself a great deal of time and money by ensuring your communication with those who will be most affected by the change has been carefully planned and executed. That way no matter how predictably irrational your people are, you will still be able to get them onboard and happy to embrace a change that is better for them and the business.