by Ron Carucci
Republished from Forbes February 21, 2017
At some point, every leader is faced with the challenge of having to rally others around a journey of uncertain change. For most, that challenge is daunting and often goes poorly. Many leaders try to over-sell positive aspects of change, manipulating information and downplaying risks. Others inspire dread with messages of fear. And some just resort to “announcing” change while communicating nothing helpful. Research shows that around 70% of organizational change fails for a host of reasons. How leaders build the commitment of those who must embrace change is pivotal to beating the odds and successfully leading major change.
Dr. Robert Cialdini, world-renowned social psychologist and best-selling author of Influence, has written another masterpiece about influence and persuasion, Pre-Suasion. Though largely directed at marketers, sales professionals, and others trying to influence consumer and customer behavior, I found the material brilliantly applicable to leaders trying to influence their organizations to do difficult things that hadn’t been done before. I spoke with Cialdini about how leaders could be more effective by learning to pre-suade, and as I expected, he had these masterful insights to offer.
1. Establish yourself as a credible source of vision. For leaders to inspire confidence in would-be followers to embrace change, they have to be viewed as an honest broker of information. Says Cialdini, “Warren Buffett begins his annual report by describing something his company didn’t do well that year, and what they are doing to correct their error. That builds confidence by establishing a level of honest credibility. Then when he talks about the company’s strengths, people process them more deeply.” Before leaders launch into grand visions for change, they should begin with an honest conversation about what the setbacks might be, what might be difficult and where the risks are. Then, as they discuss the potential upsides of the change, followers will be more inclined to believe those possibilities in the face of an honest assessment of what could prove difficult. Says Cialdini, “Whenever you suggest something new, there is uncertainty. You can reduce the doubts about what you are saying and convince people that your evaluation of the future is accurate and honest, and that your vision is potentially worthwhile.”
2. Appeal to people’s sense of adventure and openness. Citing a study from his book, Cialdini says, “Research showed that if people were approached and asked if they wanted information about a new soft drink, their response was dependent on how they were asked. If they were told, ‘If you’ll give us your email address, we’ll send info about free sample,’ only 33% gave their email. But if the question was pre-suaded with ‘Do you consider yourself an adventurous person?’ almost every person could get in touch with their adventurous side. 77% then gave their email address to get something new.” Leaders can put people in touch with their openness to change. They can ask, “When did you experience change that worked and was positive?” Leaders can cite honest experiences of past change that worked effectively. They can ask people to describe what those experiences were like at the beginning and at their conclusion. Having people remember early feelings of angst, and recalling how those gave way to optimism, can help followers gain needed commitment to new journeys of change.
3. Timing is everything. Though it may sound like a small detail, research indicates that people are far more ready for change at the beginning of a year, a quarter, a month, even a week, than at the end. Again citing his research, Cialdini notes, “In the US armed forces, there is a big attempt to get personnel to enroll in retirement programs – to set aside income for future. They don’t have a lot of disposable income. The programs haven’t been successful even though in long run they will be of great benefit of participants. There is even a matching fund. There is one particular time when people are most willing to enroll in a retirement program. After they’ve moved to a new base – when they’ve relocated. If you make requests for change at the start of something new, people are more open to it than when they are comfortably set in their status quo.” When leaders discuss change at the end of a quarter or year, it is often backward-looking and experienced as corrective. Change then, can be heard as an “antidote” to fix what hasn’t worked. But when leaders communicate change at the outset of a new quarter or year, and yes, even month or week, there is a greater sense of anticipation for what is possible, and less defensiveness about past-performance challenges. Because of their own anxiety, leaders often disregard the timing of their messages. They reflexively blurt out what they believe to be urgency-inducing pronouncements at inopportune moments.
In the middle of a quarterly business review, after hearing about declining results for the second consecutive quarter, I watched one very frustrated leader pound the table, stand up and declare, “I’ve had it. This organization is obviously stuck. So I’m going to get it un-stuck. The following organizational changes are effective immediately.” And with that, he announced a re-organization. The agonizing irony was that the changes he announced were actually needed, and had the potential to be very effective. The organization had been highly fragmented and badly-needed coordination across groups was weak. The changes he wanted to make could have significantly improved performance. But his anger-driven declaration at that moment sabotaged the change, delaying any benefits it might have delivered by months.
4. Create common ground. The threat of unwanted change causes people to naturally hunker down, often to self-protect in isolation. Fragmentation (when an organization behaves in a splintered set of silos or “camps”) is one of the greatest threats to change. Leaders can set the stage for positive change by establishing a sense unity among their people . Says Cialdini, “A sense of togetherness is critical to extending broad influence. When people act in unitary ways, they become unitized. The resultant feelings of group solidarity produce degrees of loyalty and self-sacrifice that strengthen organizations.” Uniting an organization around change is profoundly difficult under the best of conditions. But working with a sense of unity produces a natural inclination toward cooperation. Cialdini cites one study he says was very surprising to him. “Participants were shown pictures of people standing alone, people standing apart, and people standing shoulder to shoulder in cooperative partnership. Then the researchers pretended to drop things on floor. Those who’d seen images of people standing together, those perceived to be cooperative and collaborative, were three times more likely to help the researchers pick up the things they’d dropped. The participants were 18-month old children.” When leaders model a sense of connection, of standing shoulder to shoulder with their people, they increase our fundamental impulse to cooperate and participate, reducing the urge to isolate. Practically, how leaders work alongside followers, where they sit or stand when talking to them, how they ask for advice and act upon it, and how they set a tone of mutuality, all contribute to followers’ sense of belonging and togetherness. And under those conditions, people are far more likely to see the shared benefits of change, and feel less anxious about others winning while they lose.
To be sure, the velocity of organizational change is intensifying. For some industries, it’s a way of life. Leaders must learn to effectively guide others to thrive during change. They must also ensure their organizations realize performance aspirations desired from that change. Pre-suasion – setting the stage for success before change – can make all the difference.