To start building buy-in for change, lift your team’s sights

Supervisors face a leadership challenge when the organization asks them to implement difficult changes.

Before you get out your change management toolbox, remember this: Your people may not even see why the changes are necessary. And there’s little chance they’ll embrace them until they do.

Perspective
It’s an issue of perspective. Usually, the rank-and-file spends way more time implementing priorities and completing tasks than reflecting on the strategy that sets the priorities and dictates the tasks.

So it’s no wonder folks don’t get it when a strategy shift higher up the organization reverberates down to them.

Here’s what you can do as the first steps toward building buy-in:

• Call your people together and ask what their understanding is of the need for the changes. Hear them out.
• Explain how top management sees the situation. Think of it as giving people a boost so they can peek over their cubicle wall. You may be surprised what a revelation this is for some.

Even if people don’t agree with the top execs’ thinking, they’re more likely to go along with it if they can see where management is coming from.

Source: “The Leadership Pocket Guide,” by John Baldoni, AMACOM.