Has this ever happened in your agency? You have a great new plan. Something that will better serve your customers, over time improve productivity and solve some major issues you have at the management level. You are excited but nervous at the same time because you’re not sure the team will share your level of enthusiasm. We all know if we can’t get buy in, we can’t get adoption and well we all end up wasting a lot of time, resources and money and still don’t solve the challenges you were working towards ending.
As many of our readers know one of our core programs is our AppX Renewal Call program. Imagine this – you had to walk into your agency tomorrow and announce every client was getting a renewal review phone call every year. Would you be excited to get to work? Or dreading the idea that everyone would walk out in revolt? Generally you may be feeling somewhere in between. The reality is that how you present a program has everything to do with how you will get buy in on your new initiative. We as outsiders do this every week across the country and with a a little fun, patience and encouragement we get the program to stick and it becomes something the teams actually want to maintain.
So what’s our secret? It’s not pockets of glitter, bribes or candy. It’s a strategy. We believe that in order to get buy in on day one you have to do a few key things that make a big difference. We are happy to outline our ninja mind tricks just for you!
Talk to Your Team: Before you can get buy in on new initiatives having a good old fashion chat with your team individually can be a great benefit. Don’t use this as an opportunity to explain what you are doing but just get a check in on how they are doing. This will help you understand what’s working and what’s not to help bring some solutions prior to delivering the news of change.
Get a Beta Tester: If you have some time ask one person to beta test the new initiative. Why have everyone find the speed bumps. This is far too time consuming for your team. If one person is the guinea pig you gain a system matter expert, reduce any challenges and already have one person bought in to your new plans!
Announcing it to your Team: Please don’t have a meeting. Meetings are stressful and down right boring. If you want to gain momentum and start your new game plan on a positive note you need to make it fun. Parties sound way better than a meeting. Depending on the size of the initiative you are trying to launch consider getting t-shirts, having it catered, decorating. If you make it a big fun deal the team will take it seriously too! Remember, work can be fun.
Share your Accountability Plan: People love to know the plan. The details of the who, what, why and when. If you know that they love this stuff don’t hide it from them. As part of your launch you should know what reports, what meetings and what goals you are looking to hit. Don’t eat the elephant all at once. Plan milestones to hit. However, you need to let everyone know that you will be checking in and what your expectations are. For our renewal call program we always say it’s OK if you didn’t make all the calls but you had to raise your hand and ask for help by Thursday of that week. If you didn’t ask for help and we find it in a report that’s where the problem lies.
So next time you are planning something new think of this blog!
