Tasks that are left open-ended have a tendency to be postponed indefinitely, especially when people are busy doing other things.  Without a due date, activities that are easier, more fun, or more urgent might take precedence over those required to implement your project.  To influence change, establish deadlines.

Setting deadlines helps people better plan their work.  It aligns people with others who are waiting for the job to be done.  And, it gives people who tend to be deadline-driven a reason to get started.

People may still miss deadlines because they forget, or it’s not a priority, or they procrastinate.  Set reminders.  Communicate a sense of urgency.  Seek to understand any underlying resistance.  Help people meet their deadlines once they are set.

Where might you establish deadlines?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.

Often, when we think of change management, we think of top-down driven initiatives.  Someone decides where to take the organization, or what system to install, and then the task is to implement the idea.  However, there is another route that is less heavy-handed.  You identify and lead people to see the need for change, but then the details for how the organization will change is more of a collaborative effort.  Instead of the final vision being sent down from on high, many other layers can share in the design of the change itself.

Before the path is deemed, involve people in the design.  On a small scale, let the users help select new software, or enlist people to select the method for redesigning processes.  For more organization-wide projects, use large group methods, like World Cafe or Open Space Technology, to build the collective direction for the organization.  When you find yourself making a decision that impacts how the change will happen, ask yourself whether it is possible to include others in the decision.

When you share in the design, you provide not just a sense of ownership, but actual ownership!  The participants help bring the path to life.  They can see their contribution.  And they have more of a stake in seeing it happen.

How might you share in the design?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.

Your ability to personally influence someone depends on your relationship with them.  If you don’t know them at all, you will have minimal, if any influence.  If they know your name and face, they might pay some attention.  But if you have a relationship with them, there is a better chance that they will listen, care, and take action based on what you say.  To influence change, build relationships.

It’s just a fact that you have more influence with people who like you and trust you.  Take a look at the relationships you have with people who have a big impact on your change initiative.  When you see them in the hall, do you make eye contact?  Do you say hello?  Do you stop and talk?  The nature of the relationship will also affect how you might influence someone.  Is you relationship built on respect, authority, and expertise, or on humor, service and friendship?

By building a relationship, you find out what makes the other person tick.  You can better understand their concerns, their trigger points, and what they care about.  You can learn what they need most from the change, and how you might support them through it. Likewise, they can get to know you, and understand what you are trying to do and why it is important to you.

With whom might you build relationships?

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I recently had a conversation with a plant manager about a quality initiative his team was implementing.  He talked about all the training they were doing for plant employees.  I said, “Yes, but what is their motivation to learn it?”  He replied, “Or else.”  In other words, learn this and use it correctly, or else you won’t work here any more.

Some people just won’t change until you light a fire under them.  As a last resort, it might help to inform someone that if they don’t play along, something bad is going to happen to them.  To influence change, sometimes you have to threaten people!

The manner in which you send this message makes all the difference, since you don’t want crank up the fear factor to paralyzing levels.  It’s more effective in the long term if it sounds like a kind warning instead of intimidation.  If your next course of action is to get their boss involved, it might be a good idea to bring this up, so they have the opportunity to act before that happens.

Of course, I would never condone or recommend the use of physical violence or verbal abuse.  The threats I’m talking about are ethical consequences or punishments that you have the authority to carry out within the normal bounds of organizational behavior.

What threats might you make?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.

Most of organizational change consists of breaking old habits and creating new ones.  The status quo, after all, is just doing what you’re used to doing, on autopilot.  To influence change, install new habits.

Habits are the activities and behaviors that require no planning or intentional thought process for them to occur.  Some of the habits you might want to look at breaking or installing are:

• What information you use to make decisions
• Forms and processes
• Who to call when you need something
• Meeting rituals
• Automatic judgments
• Routine activities

By the end of your change initiative, you want the new way to be automatic; in fact, the initiative is not fully complete until that happens.  Break old habits by adding reminders and removing enabling artifacts.  Install new ones through practice and repetition until the new way feels natural again.

What new habits might you install?  (And which habits might you break?)

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I’ve heard it said that awareness is the first step toward change.  Before you can change anything, you have to see that something exists that needs improvement.  To influence change, increase awareness.

Some of the things that should be brought to light are:

• Culture and its effect on behavior – and the behaviors that maintain the culture
• Processes that people use to get things done
• Undiscussables, 400 lb gorillas, and other remnants of fear
• Consequences of not changing

Be bold.  Shine a light in the shadows of the organization.  Point out the things that hide in plain sight.  Make people aware of the everyday forces that hold the organization on its current trajectory.  Give people a heavy dose of reality.  Only when you increase awareness can change start to occur.

How might you increase awareness?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.

Like the adoption rate of new technology, people getting on board with change follows the typical bell curve.  Leading the way, there are the innovators – the people like you, who are implementing the change.  Then, a few early adopters come on.  Next, the majority sees that the early adopters are having success, so they jump on.  Last are the laggards, who eventually – or never – decide to accept the inevitable.

One of your jobs as the change agent is to facilitate the first people to participate.  Until you do, no one else will be coming with you!  To influence change, enlist early adopters.

Who are early adopters?  It depends on what you are trying to do.  Different people will be early adopters depending on your project.  But there are three categories of people who will typically sign up to help first:

• People whose values line up with the initiative – people who believe in what you are doing and want to be a part of it.
• Your friends – people who believe in you personally, want to help you succeed, and think you are capable of delivering.
• People who have nothing better to do – those who want to add meaning to their job, or those who would like nothing better than to have an excuse to get out of their cubicle.

By definition, early adopters for your change are fairly easy to convince to get on board.  All you have to do is find them, ask, and help them free the way to be able to participate.

Who might you enlist as an early adopter?

Read more of the 99 Ways to Influence Change.