Eden Alternative Tip of the Week: Influencing Others on the Culture Change Journey

To be a wise leader (Principle Ten), you need skills in influencing change. To be an effective influencer, you have to get clear about what you are trying to change. More specifically, what behaviors do you want to change? A great question that is posed in the book is "In order to improve our existing situation, what must people actually do?" It is easy on the path to change to focus on the outcomes or goals and not spend much time thinking through, and driving people toward, different specific actions. Think about the role models or star performers in your organization. What do they do that is different from others, and do those behaviors actually lead to the desired outcomes? If they do, then you have a good idea of where to focus your influence.

Identifying the key behaviors starts you on the way. Then you need to think through your strategy. In the book, they talk about two parallel paths. One has to do with motivation and the other with ability. When people are challenged with change they ask two very basic questions: "Can I do it?" and "Will it be worth it?" These two questions speak to the personal assessment of ability and motivation to get involved with a change effort.

Along the path of motivation, you need to consider personal motivations. What makes a new behavior desirable for a person to adopt? Then look at how you can use peer (or social) pressure to motivate someone to change their behavior. Lastly, consider how you can design rewards and accountability so that it aligns with the desired behaviors. All of these combine to help drive motivation toward change.

Along the path of ability, people need training and skills in the culture change world. Old ways that we have been taught often are not a good fit in the new world. In order to personally commit, people need to grow their skills. They need to have the help of others to guide them along in their learning. How do the social networks within the organization support the growth in skills needed in the new world? Lastly, the deeply imbedded systems and structures need to be changed in order to support the ongoing use of the new behaviors and skills. If people keep running up against the system, they will struggle in their ability to commit to change.

From Influencer: The Power to Change Anything by Kerry Patterson, et al, 2008.