Influencing ChangeGetting Stakeholder Buy-In When They Have the Power

Liz Fraley

I have an idea!

You’ve thought it throughThe conclusions are obvious

The benefits are clear

You’re full of enthusiasm

You race to share it with

others—your boss, your

peers, your subordinates

What will their reaction be?

Which response do you get?

How many of you get this? How many of you get this?

The typical reaction

The typical reaction:

• Resistance

• Disinterest

• Sabotage

It’s human nature

Internal instinct for the majority

of people is to protect the status

quo

Today we’re talking strategies

to gain support and cooperation

…and avoid sabotage

What’s the first thing that happens?

What’s in it for Me?

Example: Coming to the conference today

• This was the first question you had, even if it was phrased

differently

• How will attending advance my career?

• Improve my skills?

• Improve my understanding?

• Make me a stronger contributor for my company?

• Any number of motivating factors

Key #1: What’s in it for me?

This is the “First Primal Question”

“We don’t do nothing unless we’re going to get something”

- Dr. Phil

We all share the same primal drive

Doesn’t matter if it is negative or positive: There is

always some kind of reward

= ACTION!

RISK

________

REWARD

What we have so far…

1. We know and understand the answer to the first

primal question:

So…what comes next?

What’s in it for me?

Stakeholder buy-in

People are people

• Role power isn’t enough

• Your company doesn’t exist without others (employees,

customers, home life)

• Decision authority doesn’t buy you freedom from madness,

mayhem, and mutiny

• No one exists without interdependence on others of

some form at some point

No man is an island

Ideally you want to get

support from all sides

Advice from Catherine Lymon, NetApp (DITA NA 2012)

• I did not go to business and engineering leaders early

enough.

• They couldn’t see any short-term benefits for their team.

• Look at potential problems in your organization..

• Identify ahead of time where you have business leaders that

tend to be micro-managers and get to the root of the concern

• Are writers of questionable skill or subversive inclination

fomenting mistrust? Fix that first

“If Only We Had Known: Snares and Pitfalls of Managing in a DITA Environment”

Catherine Lyman & Martha Morgan, NetApp @ CMS DITA NA 2010

Everyone rowing the same way

Key #2: Identify Stakeholders

• People are People

• No one exists without some

interdependence on others of

some form at some point

• Role power isn’t enough

• Decision authority doesn’t buy

you freedom from madness,

mayhem, and mutiny

• Ideally you want support from

all sidesNo man is an island

What we have so far…

1. We know and understand the answer to the first

primal question:

2. We’ve identified stakeholders

What’s next?

What’s in it for me?

How does this benefit others?

How do I get others to agree?

How do I get my way?

Although both of these are

what it turns out to be for

the novices…

…or these are what many

people think this step really

is all about…

in truth, to be successful,

it’s not.

Back to our conference example…

• You figured out the benefits for you

• You had to go get someone to take action on

something that would benefit you

• Approval for time off

• Budget reimbursement

• Someone to cover for you…

• How do you do this?

What response would you have gotten?

What if you’d said:

“I want to attend this conference because they have a session that

will help me get my way and I want to learn how to get what I

want?”

What response would you have gotten?

What if you’d said:

“I really think you should approve my trip because I will get more

professional contacts and build a stronger network?”

What response would you have gotten?

What if you’d said:

“I’ll get more advanced skills so I can advance my career?”

Bosses: How would you have responded?

If an employee had said…

• I want to attend this conference because they have a session that will help me get my way and I want to learn how to get what I want.

• I really think you should approve my trip because I will get more professional connections and build a stronger network.

• I’ll get more advanced skills so I can advance my career

If this is what we have so far…

1. We know and understand the answer to the first

primal question:

2. We’ve identified stakeholders

…what comes next?

What’s in it for me?

Here’s a hint (by way of a short demonstration)

When I say…

Orange

You say what?

Orange

Did you think of the fruit?

Did you think of juice?

Pretty sure only I thought of

my favorite orange shoes…

What if I had said…

The most popular,

fresh-squeezed,

breakfast drink

We all would haverelated to orange juice

Speak their language

Make your idea relatable to your audience

It’s your responsibility

• To answer the first primal question for them

• And to put it in to words they can relate to

Let’s try an example

“Switching to DITA will allow us to maximize reuse”

We all understand this

• We understand DITA

• We understand reuse

• We understand what the statement implies

How about this one...

“We’re thinking of redesigning how we

create content to make it easier to rebrand”

Or this one...

“We’re considering redesigning how we

create content so the customers get the

most accurate product information on

demand”

For the executive...

“We’re proposing a change in how we

document in order to maximize efficiencies”

“and we’ve calculated the ROI and the cost

can be fully recovered in 3 years”

That will get you some attention!

It’s all in how you say it

• Nowhere did we say “DITA” or “reuse”

• Talk in terms that are critical to what’s in it for

them

• Changing the way you say what you intend to do

makes it easier and more relatable to the receiver

Key #3: Speak their language

• Make your idea relatable

to your audience

• It’s your responsibility:

• Answer the first primal

question for them

• Put it in words they can

relate to

It’s all in how you say it

We’re thinking of redesigning how we create content to make it easier

to rebrand ~ for marketing

We're considering redesigning how we create content so the customers

get the most accurate product information on demand

~ for support

We’re proposing a change in how we document in order to maximize

efficiencies… and we’ve calculated the ROI and the cost can be fully

recovered in 3 years ~ for the executive

Changing the way you say what you intend to do makes it easier and

more relatable to the receiver.

If this is what we have so far…

1. We know and understand the answer to the first

primal question:

2. We’ve identified stakeholders

3. We’ve put it in language that’s relatable to them

What’s next?

What’s in it for me?

What’s in it for them?

What’s in it for them?

• This is a step that is often missed

• We talk about features and benefits

• We show our reasoning

• We show our enthusiasm

• All of this is What’s In It For Us (not them)

• You haven’t told them why should they spend time/energy

supporting you in this (much less figuring it out for

themselves)?

What’s your angle?

Two final stories

• Team lead went to every

touchpoint

• People are waiting in line to

jump in with just as much

enthusiasm

• Teams from other divisions

want to follow suit

• Collaborative, cooperative!

• Boss dictated

• Team sabotaged when he wasn’t

around

• They’ll get there, but all the pain

and anguish that could have been

avoided

• Not to mention the delayed ROI

Team TwoTeam One

Key #4 - What’s in it for them?

This step is often missed.We talk about features and benefits

We talk about reasoning

We show our enthusiasm

All of this is What’s In It For Us (not them)

You haven’t told them why they should spend

time/energy supporting you in this (much less why

they should spend time figuring it out for themselves)

Change your perspective

All 4 keys will open the door

• Enthusiastic support from

others for an initiative you

are interested in

• Motivated help in executing

a plan

• Attentive listeners when

you are presenting an idea

What’s in it for you?

• Increased adoption

• Higher degree of success rolling out new initiatives

• Strategies to facilitate and encourage new skill

acquisition

• Enthusiastic transition to new content authoring

processes

• Effortless rolling out to distributed teams

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