When you introduce to people in your organization a new way of doing things, frequently the first response from them is to come up with all the reasons why it won’t work, or why things don’t need to change.  The criticism can seem harsh, unwarranted, out of the blue, and… fully expected.

Understand that this response is natural and instinctual.  Our brain’s automatic response when introduced to a new idea is to reject it as a threat with the fight-or-flight response.  It’s not personal, and it’s not a reflection of the change itself.  The part of the brain that doesn’t think and just reacts responds before the logical part can catch up.  That’s just the way it works.

My point is – don’t respond defensively to people’s objections about change.  Allow people the opportunity to express their emotional reactions.  Acknowledge their concerns and strive to understand them.  Then address their objections without making them wrong.  Use objections to build the change strategy stronger together.

What objections might you need to address?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.

In their book Switch:  How to Change Things When Change is Hard, Chip and Dan Heath explain that in order to change, the logical, planning, control part of our brain needs to know where to go.  Similarly, one of John Kotter’s eight steps in Leading Change is Communicate the Vision.  If you want to influence change, point to the destination.

This necessity is best illustrated in the interchange between Alice and the Cheshire Cat in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll:

One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. “Which road do I take?” she asked. “Where do you want to go?” was his response. “I don’t know,” Alice answered. “Then,” said the cat, “it doesn’t matter.”

Communicate the vision.  Share what the end result of the change looks like.  Point to the destination.  That way, people will know in which direction to change.

What is your destination?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.

Let’s just be blunt.

If someone was the wrong person for a team, can’t contribute appropriately or hinders the rest of the team’s performance, then you might need to ask them to leave the team.

If someone can’t make (or isn’t willing to make) the necessary personal changes and are holding the organization back from achieving its goals, it might be time to make that person available to the industry.

This conclusion is harsh, I know.  And it should be a last resort after listening to understand their objections and trying to get them on board with some of the other methods on this list.  But hold on to dead weight too long and the change will drag to a halt.

You might be concerned about the effect on the rest of the team or organization if such a decisive action is taken.  Based on my experience, their reaction will probably be relief!

What dead weight might you need to remove?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.

Influencing change is not a one-man show.  You are not the only person in your organization who feels that change should happen.  Whether your initiative is the grassroots variety or the top-down kind, find other people in the organization with the same or similar goals (or complaints) and join forces.

Change is a lot of work.  More people means more feet on the ground.  Working with others also means that you add strengths that you don’t have to your change toolkit.  Joining forces with someone in another part of the organization means you can approach the problem from multiple fronts.  When you work with others to implement change, you gain more ideas and also someone to provide feedback on your ideas.

Recruit individuals to join you in the inner circle of the change initiative and you will gain ambassadors, partners, and friends.

With whom might you join forces?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.

After motivating people with the vision and a sense of urgency, they will understand the What and the Why.  They may still be left wondering, How?  To that end, provide useful tools to facilitate the change.

Some examples of useful tools to help people change are:

• Meeting facilitation toys and games
• Tracking forms for strategic measures
• Interactive meeting notes
• Forms and templates to complete the job
• Easy-to-find and easy-to-use instructions and flowcharts
• Reminders
• Effective reports

What defines a useful tool will vary by change initiative.  Some people will want to find their own way, so work with them to create something that will work.   Others may not have the time to figure it out from scratch, and will be grateful that you didn’t leave them to their own devices.

What tools might you provide?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.

Fast Company Magazine is conducting an experiment to find the most influential person on the internet.  And while I have no illusions that I am that person, I also feel compelled to use The Influence Project as a demonstration of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.

I’ve only posted 45 of the 99 ways so far, so I’ll start with those for now.

1. Tell stories – Once upon a time, there was a woman who talked a lot about influence in her blog, and she decided she’d better join The Influence Project.
2. Model behavior – I joined The Influence Project.  You should too.
3. Involve them – Only you can help me increase my influence measure!
4. Say “please” – Please click this link to learn more about The Influence Project.
5. Allow failure – Even if you sign up and fail to influence anyone else to sign up, your picture will still be published in the November issue of Fast Company.
6. Ridicule – Seriously, all you have to do is click the stupid link.  You can’t even do that?
7. Generate scarcity – You must click or participate by August 15, 2010.
8. Transfer ownership – Once you sign up, it’s up to you to build your own influence score.
9. Clarify expectations – At the very least, I want you to click this link.  If you sign up to participate, that would be gravy.
10. Provide feedback – If you click the link and wait until you see my photo, you’ve done it right.
11. Establish a sense of urgency – If you’re going to sign up for the Influence Project, you need to do so right away so you have as much time as possible to rack up clicks.
12. Remove status quo enablers – One way would be to make it so you couldn’t leave this page until you click this link.  But that seems a little heavy-handed.
13. Acknowledge fears – I realize you might think if you click this link you will be seen as gullible or easily influenced.
14. Show you care – Your taking the time to read this list means a lot to me.  How may I help you increase your influence?
15. Start conversations – What do you think of The Influence Project or the 99 Ways to Influence Change?  Add a comment below and let me know!
16. Demand compliance – Click this link RIGHT THIS SECOND!  Or else.
17. Develop support systems – Let’s start a club, and we’ll all click each others’ links.
18. Admit mistakes – If you think it’s annoying that I would even write blog post about The Influence Project, I can see why you might feel that way.  I apologize.
19. Make it viral – The Influence Project itself is viral, and you can also share this list using links at the bottom of this post.
20. Remove obstacles – In case you don’t like hyperlinks, click here directly:  http://fcinf.com/v/bf8u.
21. Show that others are doing it – View the collage of all the people participating – over 7,700 as of this writing.
22. Tell the truth – I know that The Influence Project is controversial.  After all, isn’t it just a popularity contest?  I’m torn between whether it’s fun or annoying, but I do know that it’s a learning opportunity.
23. Ask for ideas – How else should I get people to click my Influence Project link?  Please add a comment below.
24. Make it easy – Click here.
25. Rely on friends – Many of you have already clicked the link from my personal Facebook page, not because you are interested in influence, but just because you like me.  Thank you.
26. Beg – Please, please, please!  Pretty please, it’s really important to me that you click my Influence Project link.
27. Instigate competition – If you are the first person to read this and sign up to participate, I will add your link here (Congratulations, Melanie!).
28. Instill curiosity – Don’t you want to know how influential you are and how this works?
29. Reframe it – Consider that you might use The Influence Project to learn more about how to influence people in your organization.
30. Customize learning – 1.  Click the link.  2.  Wait for all the site to load all the photos.  3.  If you don’t want to participate, just close the window.  If you want to sign up, click the “Discover Your Influence” button.
31. Set the default – I suppose it would be possible to set it up so going to my website re-directs you to my Influence Project link.  But then you wouldn’t be reading this.
32. Build trust – If you really don’t want to click the link, then don’t.  I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable or coerced in any way.
33. Listen – What does influence mean to you?
34. Bribe -If you sign up using my link, I will click your link in return.
35. Encourage – You are more influential than you think. Sign up and see!
36. Prioritize – I’ll admit, there are far more important things you can do than click the link.  But if you click it now, it will open in a new window.  By the time you are done reading this list, the site will be loaded.
37. Give praise – Thank you so much for clicking this link!  You are a great blog reader and a valued part of my online community.
38. Educate – I think the Influence Project is more than just a popularity contest.  Using methods like these, it is possible to influence people to take action without being popular.
39. Help them succeed – If you sign up with my link to participate in The Influence Project, it’s actually in my best interests to help you succeed at getting others to click your link (I get partial points from people you influence).
40. Build new skills – To increase the number of people who click on your link, learn how to use Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, among other social networks.
41. Do favors – Now through August 15, 2010, use code “INFLUENCEPROJECT” to get $5.00 off the Beyond Buy-in Workbook, my step-by-step guide to influencing leaders.
42. Fix problems – For a while, the loading time for The Influence Project was excessive.  While I had nothing to do with fixing it, it seems to be better now.
43. Keep promises – I promise that clicking the link will be painless.  Have I let you down before?
44. Remove doubt – If you want to check out The Influence Project without using my link, you can go directly to http://influenceproject.fastcompany.com.
45. Laugh about it – If you have read this entire blog post and you still haven’t clicked the link, you really are being stubborn, aren’t you?!  Just click the stinkin’ link already!  I know this is a silly contest, but this is not a battle of wills, it’s a fun learning exercise.

If you clicked any of the links above, which one influenced you the most?

Stay tuned to the blog for the rest of the 99 Ways to Influence Change!

When I worked at Palladium Group, a strategy execution consulting company, a new CEO (and former MD) addressed the company on a conference call:  “I’m a doctor.  I’ve seen people die.  What we do here is not that serious.”  I’m not sure if that was supposed to be a pep talk, but it sent a message:  Don’t take yourselves too seriously.

Organizational change is not all business and no fun.  In fact, if you aren’t laughing about it, you’re probably doing it wrong!  Laughter reduces your own stress, and sharing a laugh with other people in your organization is a great way to show empathy, build relationships and put things in perspective.

So laugh at the absurdity of trying to stop a speeding freight train, or turn the Titanic (or your metaphor of choice).  Make fun of your corny acronyms and slogans.  Joke about the weekly team progress status update meeting.  Isn’t it funny?

What might you laugh about?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.