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Intro
Hi, everyone. I'm Ben Wright, successful entrepreneur, corporate leader and expert sales coach to some of the most talented people our amazing planet has to offer. You're listening to the Stronger Sales Teams podcast, where we bring together and simplify the complex world of B2B sales management to help the millions of sales managers worldwide build, motivate, and keep together highly effective sales teamsâŠteams who grow revenue and make their businesses actual profits.
Along the journey, we also provide great insights and actionable steps to managing your personal health. A happy and productive you is not only better for your teams, but everyone around you. So if you're an ambitious Sales Leader who wants to build the highest performing and engaged teams, Stronger Sales Teams is right where you need to be.
Ben Wright:
Welcome back to Stronger Sales Teams, the place where we provide real-world and practical advice to help you develop super-powered sales teams. Change Management. Two words that strike fear into many, even the most senior leaders that I've worked with over my 25 years in business. Why can two words strike such fear or anxiety, or even just apprehension into leaders and how they work? For me, the answer is very simple. And that is because change management is hard. It's not easy to get a group of people to say, hey, we're chasing the blue ball. I want everyone to now stop, turn around and go and chase the red ball. We're so used to seeing the colour blue that to change all the way to red is quite difficult. Even if we want to go from dark blue to light blue, it still involves changing something that we have built certainty and routine and rituals around.
We know that humans crave certainty. It's on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as something that's very important. But it doesn't mean change can't happen. And today we're going to talk a little bit about how we can do just that.
But before we do so, we'll look at the sobering statistic. It's from Harvard Business Review. I love looking at the work that Harvard does, and unfortunately, the numbers say that 70% of change fails. In fact, in their piece, which I've referenced in our show notes, they call it the brutal reality that seven out of ten initiatives around change that we try to implement simply don't succeed. But that doesn't mean it has to happen to us. And for me, like many things in life, I believe for change management to work, it just needs a little bit of love and attention and perhaps some good old structure and process that might go with it. And everyone who knows me and knows this podcast knows I love a good framework for making things happen.
Today we're going to talk change management. And over the last 20 years, I think I'm reasonably well qualified to talk about this because I have been involved in hundreds and hundreds of programs, particularly in a business that grew really fast. And not only did that business grow really fast, which meant we were constantly building and evolving and changing, but it was in an industry that was undergoing rapid change across the entire time I was in it. So we are layering in not just rapid change within a business, but also within an industry. And for me, we had to roll out change management on a monthly basis within this business. So I'd love to share with you ten tips that I think can impact any change management program and make a difference for you.
Okay, so let's start with number one. Before we get to this point, I'm going to say that our change management program has been decided. We're not going to talk about how we can go about building the change, the blue ball to the red ball. We're going to talk about how we can start getting people from that blue ball across to the red ball in a really impactful manner that's going to stick for the long term.
So step one back to it. The most important part of change management, before we begin, is taking our broader goal, blue ball to red ball, and picking some steps along the process. So, some little pots of gold where we might move from blue ball to blue ball with a bit of red ball and then a bit more red ball and then 50 50 blue and red ball, and then start to really roll in the prevalence of that red ball. An example for something like this might be that we have a goal to be spending more time with our customers and less time at an administrative focus.
So how do we do that? Well, the first steps along, we will look at perhaps a dozen meetings that we can start to phase out, or we might look at meetings that we can roll in together, or we might look at ways that we can shorten meetings. We also might look at ways about how we can reduce the amount of after sales contact. So once we've met with a customer, the administration that we have to do, we might look at our CRM system and breaking that into a more effective process, perhaps something that's supported by a bit of generative AI. But when we're moving from where we are now to where we want to be in front of our customers, we have lots of steps along that journey. Now, that's a small example of change management, and certainly they get bigger, like when we're rolling out significant changes to our sales process, for example. But the point here is that when we have an end goal, we need to have lots and lots of steps along the journey.
Now, this does a few things. Number one, and most important is it shows that the big goal is achievable by lots of little steps. And when we have small steps, so one step or one kilometre to run instead of a marathon, it becomes a lot more realistic and achievable. So, firstly, it builds perspective and a sense that we can actually get the job done. The second thing it does is it allows us to measure progress along the journey, meaning we know that if we're off track and need to pivot back in really quickly. Super important, because it stops us going way off track. And the third thing is, it gives us a reason to communicate together. So when we can communicate around progress and around what we need to do next with change management, it stays front of mind. It lives right here at the front of that mind, perhaps just behind the prefrontal cortex, but certainly close enough that we are able to continually focus on it and build momentum. So step one, pick the goal and break it down into lots of chunks and steps and lots of pots of gold along the journey that we can pick up.
Second step for me is all about defining what success looks like. Now, this is different to action items. Action items might be we are going to roll out a new pricing scheme. Bob needs to change the pricing at the back of house. Sam, she needs to get out and look at our customer-facing price lists. And Stephen and Jane will they need to be testing the pricing with our customers. Their action items, they're pretty mechanical. What success looks like is how we measure if the program has worked. So that might be measuring if we have had more customers take on that product by a period in time, if we've had a higher close rate over that journey, if we've had less leakage or less cancellation of contracts. But it is generally about a customer or business outcome that supersedes individual action items, where we can define what success looks like. We keep everyone focused on the goal and the point of what we're doing, but it also allows us to really objectively measure if that initiative is working. Key here, when we're defining what success looks like, is to make sure that we have dates and measurement metrics. Pretty straightforward, kind of like action items. But the clever thinking here is to supersede, go a level above and actually look at the impact it has on the team. So that's number two.
Number three. For me, the bit I actually enjoy the most is assigning teams around our change management project. So generally I like to assign into teams of three people. Now, this doesn't always work because it's dependent on team size. But certainly, when we have a change management initiative and we can break down into multiple teams that have three people, or perhaps we have one team of three people that handles the entire change management initiative, this gets really powerful for me because we get to assign roles and a really strong piece of focus. So let's just say that our change management piece is all around rolling out a new product to market. We appoint one team that's going to take on the change management process. They are going to be the champions of making sure that that actually sticks and that customers buy our product. I like to appoint three roles within this team. So a champion or a head energiser. A champion or a head thinker and your champion, or even I like to call this chief storyteller. So three roles, very specific within our team. Your champion Energiser is all about keeping energy up. They are the people that are going to really look at your systems, your symbols, your norms, your celebrations, your rituals, and engaging people in the process. They would be your perfect example if we look back at episode 60 to take on that gold coin celebration example through the business and drive energy and engagement from the team. The second person or the head thinker, this is your mechanical person. This is where you put in your most detailed, process-driven person who actually makes sure things get done. Now, they don't have to be the bad cop because you should be working as a team here, but they're all about making sure that we have that forward momentum through actions and initiatives. So we call that ahead thinker or a champion thinker. And the third one, my favourite of the favourites, is your chief storyteller. So this is the person who is assigned to tell stories about success. Stories are one of the most powerful ways to engage people in anything. Whilst we might not all be great storytellers, we all have a story to tell. Check back to Episode 58 with Akeem Shannon, the founder of Flipstick. Great podcast around storytelling and particularly around having stories to tell. But the reason I love to see a chief storyteller into any change management program is that for those who are in the program, they may be energised, they may be active, they may be getting things done. When you hear stories of success, it just resonates with you. So I've been working with lots of teams around having chief storytellers, but there's one in particular, and I remember this chief storyteller. For the first four or five weeks, the stories were all about things not working. The van broke down, someone broke something. They had an issue that wasn't solved. But every week he was coming with stories and was trying to include a level of positivity in there. It was about week four or five where he clicked with this great story around a piece of customer success that had come from a bit of adversity, when the stories really started to roll, the team loved the stories. They really got involved calling him the chief storyteller. There were symbols they gave him. I think it was a jack, I can't remember exactly what it was, but it was something quite unique. And this person really got into their role and they actually became a storyteller beyond just that change management process. But for me they connected with people by telling stories. So here it's all about assigning about into teams. One team that runs the whole process, or lots of sub-teams. But the point is we have three people, a champion energiser, a champion thinker and our chief storyteller.
So that's three of those ten tips. Number one was all about picking the goal and then breaking it down into chunks and pots of gold to collect along the journey. Number two was all about defining what success looks like, which is over and above action items. Number three was assigning teams, which we've just said energisers, thinkers and storytellers.
Okay, number four is where we move into sub-teams. Yes, we've spoken about teams and this will depend on your team size. But what I love to see within those sub-teams is they then rope people into the change management process, generally at a lower level. So, typically, your leaders of your change management will be more senior people in your sales team, or leaders within your sales team. Where they can bring in people at the coal face or people from other functions at sub-roles, so we might have a sub-storyteller or we might have a sub-energiser or a sub-thinker. What we start to do is spread the engagement across the team. Normally these people will have small tasks, so if we're launching a new product, it might be something as small as getting some pieces of customer feedback, or it might be something around coming back around which variant is working better or testing a pricing model. But by having them involved at a smaller level, we're getting their engagement and they're starting to share with their peers. So, whilst the team of champions is important having a sub team of sub champions as well. Call them sub-champions if you like. I'm sure we can think of better, but that is really powerful to be building momentum and engagement.
Number five, we picked our teams, then becomes around setting the cadence of the program. So that's how they meet, how they work through the initiatives that they're going to be managing change on and then how they review that progress. So it's all about how they meet and review progress based on a cadence approach. So where you can systemise this, I think that's really, really important because it allows the team some certainty around how they're going to be meeting and that momentum to build.
Number six is defining how they communicate and celebrate. So, episode 60, I mentioned it earlier, celebrations and rituals, this was all about how we involve senior levels around celebration, how we celebrate at our team level and how we celebrate cross-functionally. But if we can define how the teams celebrate and build rituals, then it makes it really easy for them to do so. But more importantly, if we know their communication methods, then they can refer to that as default. For change management, I love the use of video. Why? Well, video is a bit different and when we're trying to involve people in change management, when we can be a little bit different, we tend to be more memorable. And being more memorable allows us to engage at a higher level. So, picking the way we communicate, it might be video with a blend of a whole lot of other areas, but if we make it consistent, and this even comes down to the method, the templates that we use, updates, what's working, what's not working, next steps, for example, then we don't need the team's thinking or spending time around it. They simply do it. So get that communication methodologies right and we're away. So that was number six.
And let's quickly recap number four, five and six. Number four was after we've picked our teams, was to add in sub-teams, those people that will have a smaller level of involvement or championing the program. Number five was all about setting the meeting and review cadence. So how we review progress and how we meet together. And then number six was communication methods like video, using templates and then the celebrations that come with it. When we talk about celebrations, please listen to episode 60. There's a great story in there around the gold coin celebration. It's one that I think every sales leader should have within their repertoire. Okay, so we've looked at our first six.
Let's move on to number seven, getting senior leaders involved. I love this for any change management program, because when senior leaders speak, people generally listen. The challenge senior leaders don't often have time to be thinking about your change management program. That doesn't mean they don't care, but it simply means they have so much on their plates that to be involved intimately in your change management program is difficult. But there's a great step you can take to make this happen. And that is all about doing the work for them. Writing the data, telling them when, writing the communication, speaking the communication, giving them the facts, telling them when and asking them how they need to communicate. So, this is all about managing up and if you can do the work for them, particularly if they have an executive team, an EA or other leaders that help them with their workload, where we can actually do the heavy lifting for our leaders. So they only have to turn up and do what you ask of them rather than any thinking or scheduling. That's when we get the cut-through. The best way I see this work is simply a communication in your one-to-one meeting with your leader or in any type of format where you catch up with them that says, hey, here's what we're doing. Are you buying in? They go, yes. You give them the format and then away they go. Part one. Part two, though, is making sure they are really clear how success in this program benefits their remit and the businessâs remit. Now, some would say that's really easy. Yeah, it makes sense. You win, they win. But it doesn't always work that way because leaders have so much on their mind. So, when we can explain to our leader how our pricing strategy relaunch is going to increase our gross margin levels by one point, which will lead to a bottom line EBIT level of half a point increase, for example, then that engages them. When we can talk about how our pricing strategy is going to increase close rates, meaning we'll need to spend less money at a lead generation in a marketing function level that will engage them. So, making it really clear how they succeed, being consistent in how you communicate with them, but setting up how they can celebrate and provide input to the change management. Super powerful. Number seven, done.
Number eight is all around setting your review periods for me. The majority of change management programs will need to be reviewed, refined and re-rolled out. Now, it might just be a small change. We might need to change some words in our comms at a really basic level. We might need to adjust the product colours or the functions. We might need to adjust our expectations of customers, for example. Or they might be major, like a complete and utter program redesign. But it's very important. We are setting times that we are going to review, refine and re-roll out our programs. Depending on the initiative size, I would recommend monthly for smaller initiatives or quarterly for larger initiatives. Set those review periods in, put them in the calendar and everyone knows you're working towards them. But most importantly is it provides the tweaks we need to ensure that we are not one of the 70% of change management programs that fail. Okay, number eight. Done.
So let's quickly recap one to eight. Number one, pick a goal, break it down into chunks and remember the pots of gold. Number two, define what success looks like over and above action items. Number three, assign teams a champion team of energisers, thinkers and storytellers. One team, multiple teams, doesn't matter, but it will depend on the size of your change management program. Number four is add in sub-teams or sub-champions who will contribute to the broader teams. Number five is set the meeting and review cadence and systemise it. Make sure we know when we're meeting, how we're meeting, and then roll into number six, which is then around how we communicate and celebrate. Number seven, get your senior leaders involved. And number eight, set review periods so we can review, refine and re roll out. Okay, last two. Nice and easy. These last two.
Number nine, we haven't spoken about you as a leader yet, but for change management, you need to get involved and that simply comes down to leading by example. If you want change to happen, you need to evidence the behaviour yourself. This will be hard for the first period of time. However, once you make the behavioural change, you can expect others are far more likely to follow or more impactfully, if you don't make the change, you cannot expect others to follow. So set up into your calendar the behaviours you need to change to make it happen.
Number ten, last but not least, move quickly. Momentum is king. It's all about finding the quick and easy wins and making it happen. The number of times that I will run a strategic program where immediate action occurs, I cannot tell you how much this increases the likelihood of it sticking. But the same in reverse, where immediate momentum isn't built, these programs have a far greater, and I'd say seven out of ten failure rate. So building momentum quickly is critical. If you can't do it, if you don't have time to build momentum quickly, don't roll out the change. Wait until you do and then build that momentum quickly to make sure it succeeds.
So, there we have ten powerful tips around change management. We're going to quickly recap. Number one, pick the goal and the pots of gold around it. Number two, define what success looks like. Number three, assign your champion teams. And number four, the sub-teams that go with it. Number five, set the meeting and review cadence. And then through to number six, define how you're going to communicate and celebrate. Number seven, get your senior leaders involved. And then number eight, set review periods that allow you to review, refine and re roll out. Number nine, all about you. Set the example, because if you don't do it, others won't. And then number ten is move quickly. And if you don't have time to move quickly, hold off on the change and wait until you do.
Those ten tips around change management, I have to say, have stayed with me over a huge number of change management processes. And of course, I've built them and I've evolved them as I've gone. But if you can stick to those ten steps, I think you are putting yourself into a position where you will not be one of the seven out of ten, but you will be one of the three out of ten. There's also a bit of fun that can be had through that, which overall will have a broader positive impact to your team's engagement levels.
So that's it for today. A nice chunky podcast about ten ways of really nailing change management. Before we go, health and fitness. A little quick snippet from me. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I've been watching âLive to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zonesâ, which is by Dan Buettner. Love it on Netflix. In fact, will I say I love it. I'm enjoying the knowledge I'm taking on it without it being the most engaging Netflix series I've ever watched. But the messages are fantastic. One of the things that I've seen quite consistently across all of the blue zones, whether they be remote villages, rural areas, or even some metropolitan areas which have made an appearance in the program, is that they all have something beyond a fitness program. So it's not just about going running or swimming or bike riding or getting to the gym, but it's about having lots of consistent low-impact movement. And what I mean by that is low-impact movement that happens across the day. So, it's not a big run and then you sit for the day, but it's working in the garden, it's up and down steps. Big run in one of the blue zones, particularly around southern Italy. It's around working out on the land, about being outside, about choosing to walk or move rather than be sedentary. Very common has come out across the program and something that, to be honest, I need to roll into my day in a greater level. So there you have a commitment from me. I'm going to start moving more.
That's it for today. Until next time, keep living in a world of possibility and you'll be amazed by what you can achieve.
The 10-Step Blueprint to Nailing Change Management
