Under ambiguous circumstances, we look around to see what other people are doing to help us understand the situation and select the appropriate action ourselves.  Robert Cialdini, author of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, calls this phenomenon Social Proof and says it is rooted in conformity.  If you want to influence someone to do something, show that others are already doing it.

How does this work in organizational change?  Here are some examples:

• Showcase early adopters so people can see that “real” employees (not just change agents) are using a new system or process.
• Coach key people prior to meetings to demonstrate new behaviors.
• Recruit people to be the first to sign up on a volunteer list.
• Report the number or percentage of people who have participated in the change (i.e. accessed an online system, completed a survey, or went through training).

The power of Social Proof and conformity is strong.  To feel it in action, just get on an elevator and try to face away from the door.  Even in an empty elevator it seems awkward!  You can harness this same phenomenon to influence change in your organization.  Just show that others are doing it.

How might you show that others are doing it?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.

Often, some people in the organization are on board with the change and would like to modify their activities and behaviors, but too much stands in their way!  To enable change, you need to remove obstacles.  Consider the following:

• Not enough time to add a new activity to their routine and to move through the learning curve
• Outdated rules, policies and procedures
• Insufficient equipment, tools or software
• Lack of support from managers*

Help employees who are advocating for the change to identify the barriers to change.  Then, work to get these obstacles out of the way!

What obstacles might you remove?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.

* Need to increase management support for change?  Find out how in the Beyond Buy-in Workbook.

In today’s attention-overload workplace, it is easy for your change message to be lost.  With the advent of social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, it seems the only way to gain a lot of attention nowadays is to make your message viral.  That is, it needs to gain momentum by spreading from person to person.

First, make the message or activity something that people will want to share with friends and coworkers – for example:  entertaining, informative, fascinating, fun or helpful.  Next, build in the capability for people to share what they learn or what they are doing, perhaps add the ability rate it or comment on it.  Some examples:

• A quiz about the organization’s strategy in which employees can challenge each other to beat their high score
• A volunteer activity sign up form where employees can invite their coworkers to participate
• An idea contest in which employees encourage their colleagues to vote for their ideas

Of course, enabling a change message to go viral requires letting go of control, but in exchange it becomes more visible and can gain momentum on its own.  And if it doesn’t have the intended effect, you will be able see that easily as well.

How might you make your change viral?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.

Mistakes happen during the course of organizational change:  lack of communication, bad strategy, poorly aligned incentives, misdiagnosing of a problem, and other leadership bobbles.  It can be tempting to smooth them over, make a course correction and hope nobody noticed.  Or worse yet, let the change initiative fizzle out and disappear without explanation.

The trouble is, every day people give you permission as a change agent to mess with their jobs, their routines and their habits.  They give you their time and attention to learn and try something new.  And that is a privilege that must be earned.

If a mistake has been made that requires altering course, admit the mistake.  Let people know what happened, what the new path is and how you plan to avoid similar mistakes in the future.  Perhaps an apology is appropriate.  Otherwise you wear down their resilience and their trust in you.  Cynicism about change – and increased resistance to future changes – can occur when mistakes go unacknowledged by those who made them.

What mistakes might you need to admit?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.

Many familiar programs designed to help individuals form better habits surround people with support systems.  For instance, according to WeightWatchers, “People who attend meetings lose 3 times more weight as those who go it alone.”  Their website says that meetings provide guidance, encouragement and accountability for those who attend.

If support systems work for changing personal habits, why not for organizational change?  I once formed a peer group of cross-functional directors that met for lunch on Fridays to improve our leadership skills.  We discussed leadership articles and conducted an internal 360 degree feedback questionnaire (although only being peers and self I suppose it was only 180 degrees).  Not only did we have eye-opening discoveries about our personal leadership traits, but the group also improved cohesiveness.

Support systems might also take other forms:  A website to look up the answers to questions.  A phone number to call when someone is stuck.  A trusted name they can reach out to when someone has a question or needs some help.

What support systems might you develop?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.

Sometimes, if you want people to do something, you’ve got to use brute force.  Enough with the buy-in and consensus-building efforts; just make people do it already!

I’ve known plenty of change agents who tried to implement new processes whose efforts were foiled by a boss who did not demand compliance to that process.  If you wait for everyone to use the new process because they want to, you might be waiting a long time.  At some point, someone might have to say “this is the way we’re going to do things” and then not accept any alternatives.

Of course, to have any effect, demanding compliance requires that you have authority to tell people what to do. Otherwise you are just a bossy windbag who will probably be ignored.

Where might you need to demand compliance?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.

Confusion and hesitancy about change occurs when the only conversations about change happen around the water cooler, or behind closed doors, or as whispers in the corner.  Even with clear official communication, without open conversations people can form their own interpretation of what is going on.

The most important conversations are usually the ones people would rather avoid.  Create safe environments so people can talk about concerns, share ideas, and productively process the change, either one-on-one or in groups.  Provide the opportunity to discuss the otherwise undiscussable with someone who can do something about it.

As an individual, it is probably impossible for you to have conversations with everyone in the organization who is impacted by the change.  It is important to equip managers and supervisors with the information and skills they need to have conversations about the change with their direct reports.

What conversations might you start?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.

The best way I know to gain respect as a change agent is to show that you care about people personally.  People are more likely to go along with you, even in difficult times, if they feel you have their best interests at heart.

Of course it starts with actually caring – a good dose of empathy is always good.  I don’t recommend pretending to care when you really don’t.

So get to know people personally.  Understand how the change is affecting them.  Advocate on their behalf for what they need during the change.  Show that you care.

How might you show that you care?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.

One of the key elements of resistance to change is fear.  Fear can keep people from trying new things, stop people from speaking up during their change experience, and create anxiety about the future.

And let’s face it, most changes that are intended to create high-performance organizations have some element of reducing fear involved, whether you want to increase employee engagement, improve teamwork or encourage people to take more risks.

In the book Driving Fear Out of the Workplace (Ryan and Oestreich), the authors state that the first step to reducing fear is to acknowledge its presence.  Essentially, you can’t deal with something until you recognize that it exists.  Let people know that fear is natural and expected during change, so they might help you illuminate it and understand it.

What fears might you acknowledge, in yourself and in others?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.

In 1519, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, upon arrival to what is now Mexico, ordered his men to scuttle the boats so they could not leave (legend says he burned them, although history shows they merely ran them shore).

Until the change has been firmly established, the temptation remains to go back to the old way.  It is safe and reliable.  The new way has yet to be proven.

So, one way to influence change (or force it really) is to eliminate the option to return to the old way.  Remove the previous software.  Delete the old spreadsheet.  Throw away the old templates and forms.  Remove the status quo enablers.  Burn the boats.

What enablers of the status quo might be eliminated?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.