Branding Change
What would it be like to have your employees advocate for and support your organizational changes the way they do for their favorite brands?
Would you consider BMW owners to be passionate about driving? Are Apple users open to new products and ideas that come from the Cupertino headquarters? Is your friend that supports the New York Yankees, or only uses their Dyson willing to tell you why they think their team or vacuum are great? The answer to all of these is obviously yes. The reason why, is because of strong brands. The thing to consider, for the purpose of this post, is that all of these people, at some point, changed – and now support the new norm. The BMW driver might have always had Hondas, the Apple user might have had a PC or a Sony Walkman, and the Yankees fan may have preferred football. But at some point, they changed. And now, they support that change.
If a BMW driver is passionate, an Apple user trusting, and the Yankee fan is loyal (maybe I should have used the Cubs), I think we can all agree that they are engaged.
Your employees can be just as engaged and advocate for your change. Ironically, it takes the same efforts that the marketers of these brands have mastered, to keep their constituents engaged, loyal, and even forgiving. The key factor in building brands like these, and in driving your organizational change initiative in such a way that it truly becomes the norm, is communications. Consistent, compelling, targeted communications delivered in the right way, and at the right time, are key factors in building the understanding and buy-in, support and loyalty, and commitment to doing something new, and sticking to that decision. Interestingly, we could say that implementing a change and building a brand are nearly the same thing. In either case, you’re asking someone crucial to your existence to do something new, or to do something differently; this by definition is change.
As you implement you next organizational change effort, we invite you to, “Brand your Change.” Treat your change initiative like the launch of a product that is crucial to your survival – because it is. To do this, you can employ the following principals to help your employees embody, advocate and normalize the new way of working, long past the initial trainings and roll-outs.
1. Get the story straight – If customers don’t quite know what your company does, or why your product better meets their needs, they wont buy-in (pun completely intended). The most important issue in change is communicating the reason for changing. To this end, the leaders driving any change should have a strong, concise set of key messages that explain why change is needed, why it’s not only good but in fact crucial, how each employee plays a part, and what success looks like. In other words, what is the copy for your brochure about the change? What are the two or three sentences you would say at the press conference about your change effort? These key messages are the core points that will brand the change in your employees’ minds and hearts.
2. Align to the front line – Every employee needs to know how he or she contributes to the change effort, otherwise they won’t fully support it. Keep in mind; different employee audiences will need to understand different aspects of the change to become engaged. Some BMW owners connect to the German style and performance of the car, some may feel that the support offered is the best, or some may like the fuel efficacy aspects. As you lead the change and build your key messaging, keep in mind that each employee audience may need to hear the case for change from different perspectives.
3. Empower communicators – As you deploy your change process, you will build advocates for the new way of working, just as a Dyson owner will tell you their vacuum is the best. However, not everyone may come along as easily so it is our job to supply managers and supervisors with strong communications tools to help them deliver a consistent but tailored message of change to those within their span of control. This comes through building tools such as presentations, speaking points, and question and answer guides based on the previous two items, as well as knowing your audience and the message they need. What goes in your instruction booklet for change, and how can you do it in the way instructions and benefits are delivered with a new MacBook computer?
4. Infuse into the culture – You’ve got the messages, you know your audiences, and you’ve even built tools to help others deliver your change. The mission critical success factor is having the new way become the old way. This is accomplished by figuring out where in your culture the new change can continually be reinforced; on the intranet, as a standing agenda item in the weekly meeting, as part of the performance review process. What channels and events already exist in your organization to keep your employees understanding the change and seeing or experiencing its success? Just as with any of our examples, brand loyalty is truly built in the months and years after the sale. It’s our job as strategic leaders to understand that how we do things is represented by every part of our organization.
Hopefully these analogies may spark some ideas in how you can communicate your change for better reception and ongoing success. Let us know how you do!
