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(E21) Getting buy-in for complex decisions
Episode 21 • 10th June 2024 • Leaders with impact • Lee Griffith
00:00:00 00:16:37

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In this episode we're looking at the one single thing leaders and organisations can do to change their fortunes. And that is by focussing on how they get buy-in for their vision and ideas.

I share why so many organisations fail to make or sustain change, and I talk through the five skills senior leads for successful change during complex times.


If your organisation needs to make changes this year, let’s discuss how getting the right support package in place for your senior leaders can be the difference between success and failure. Book a free consultation call and chat with me directly about your transformation plans. I can then develop a bespoke proposal to meet your organisational needs. Drop me an email lwi@sundayskies.com or book a free call.

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About leaders with impact

Want to know the secret of great leaders? In Leaders with impact we'll be exploring what makes an impactful leader; sharing stories of success and strategies that set them apart.

If you are ambitious for your organisation but are struggling to identify what you can do differently as a leader to deliver the right improvements, then hit subscribe to learn how you can get clear on your strategy, implement some self-leadership and connect with those you serve.

New episodes are released every fortnight.

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If you enjoyed the episode please leave a review on Apple podcasts (or your app of choice) and let me know what you thought on LinkedIn or instagram.

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Transcripts

Lee Griffith:

The only constant is change is a tired phrase, but

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those whose job it is to make change happen at it, and no

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wonder they're tired if 70% of change programs in organizations

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fail. I'm Lee Griffith, the leadership strategy coach and in

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the leaders of impact podcast, I'm proving it's possible to

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succeed without following outdated rules and old school

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stereotypes. I'm here to help you get clear on your personal

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strategy, implement some self leadership, and connect with

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those who serve through your communication so that you can

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deliver improved organizational performance, engagement and

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reputation. If you want more leadership insights, sign up to

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my monthly newsletter at Sundayskies.com. In today's

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episode, I'm looking at the one single thing leaders in

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organizations can do to change their fortunes. And that is by

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focusing on how they get buy in for their vision and their

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ideas. I share why so many organizations fail to make or

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sustain change, and I talk through the five skills senior

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leaders need for successful change during complex times

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enjoy. When I hold VIP intensive days with my clients, often what

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we're working on is formulating a plan around their strategy.

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And their approach to either delivering a large change

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program of some sort, or if they're a CEO, in particular, we

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may be mapping out how they're going to be showing up in the

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next three to six months to achieve all the organizational

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priorities. And I find the same challenges crop up each time

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around taking people with them. So I thought I would talk it

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through with you all today. Now there's a strange paradox in the

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fact that people inherently prefer things that they're

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comfortable with. We know change is the opposite of comfortable,

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yet, we keep instigating change. And I get it. Like we have to

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change as people, as leaders as organizations, we have to

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respond to the changing environment we operate within,

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we have to make sure we're financially sound or even that

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we're making a profit. We have to adapt as new technologies

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come into play as our workforce grows and evolves. There are so

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many influencing factors that we can't stay in a little protected

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bubble and believe that everything will be okay. I mean,

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I wish we could as a highly functioning anxious person, I'd

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love to be in my bubble all the time. But we know, shit happens,

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we have to change. And we've seen so many organizations who

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are no longer with us because they couldn't adapt to the

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circumstances. Rip Woolworths. I mean, I know it's been 15, maybe

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more years, I don't I don't know, still still would love to

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see the return of Woolworths on the high street. But c'est la

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vie. organizational growth, organizational survival even is

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dependent on change. We know that to be true. So why are

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organizations and leaders still struggling to do it? Well, only

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30% of change initiatives succeed. And by that, I mean,

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it's met its stated objectives or its desired outcome. For

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everyone else, that 70% Not only are they not making change

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happen, in fact, they're creating a whole load of other

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organizational problems. So not only is the original challenge

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or opportunity not resolved, which will have its own set of

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issues. There are all these ripple effects that go on the

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trust of your team, your staff, your stakeholders, becomes

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diluted, it might disappear Depending on how badly the

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situation was handled. Performance could nosedive

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morale can fall time and money is lost. And all of this can

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have a negative effect on reputation as well individually

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collectively, organizationally. Think about the organization you

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work in, you might have an ambitious target to meet, it

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might be financial, it might be quality, it might be some other

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form of performance metric. There's usually a time pressure,

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actual or artificial. We know that, you know, we set these

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smart goals so there is some element of timescale attached to

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it. We haven't always necessarily tested the realistic

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part of smart but that's by the by. And then what normally

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happens is the leaders whether that's the CEO or the executive

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lead, they have a great idea around what needs to happen and

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then they tell others to go forth and make it so what you

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see is typically the responsibility for the change

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process the doing bid is passed to a department it might be a

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strategy or transformation director may be a quality

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improvement team, perhaps you have a PMO project management

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office in place. Organizations can invest loads of money in

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upskilling. Those people who are responsible for change, project

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management training, you might have a quality improvement

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program for your service leads, perhaps there are leadership

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courses for department heads, considerable time and money can

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be spent. And therefore, this expectation by the most senior

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leaders is that they're going to get a return of investment by

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the specific individuals, change is going to happen. Everyone

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assumes that to be the case. And if things don't go as planned,

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then more resource, more governance, more accountability,

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more meetings, more paperwork, is put in place to support I say

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with Barney is those managing the change. more time, more

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money spent more expectations for a return on investment made?

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Yet for all of that 70% of change initiatives still fail?

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Why? Now, I liken it to marching a team up the hill for battle,

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and then turning around to notice that the team are still

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at the bottom of the hill, or they've marched up a completely

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different Hill. And that's because leaders have missed

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those all important first steps required steps you have to take

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before you begin marching others up that hill before you put the

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shoes on, or your kit or whatever it is that you need for

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battle. And it's not about resourcing a change team. Whilst

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there's nothing against that there is a need and a place for

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these people in the organization. But that isn't

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your first step, you need to start looking closer at home or

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what your senior leaders are doing to lead and inspire the

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change to begin with. Because this is often where the real

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failure stems from. Organizations overlook the need

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to upskill their senior leaders, the ones who, after all are

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going to be shaping the direction and the approach and

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the tone of change. Regardless of how great your change

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specialists might be, a poorly skilled senior leadership team

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can undermine the whole lot. Let's have a look at the skills

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your senior leadership team need to have. Firstly, they need to

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be able to set a vision and a purpose. What will this change

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me? Why is it important? How does my vision fit with the

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organizational vision leaders need to understand the

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challenges from the perspective of the people affected. So

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often, leaders can position things at two macro level. I

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often say when you do big financial savings, it can feel

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like a monopoly game because the numbers aren't real to the

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individual. Or a leader can come at it from their own vantage

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point and why it's important to then. And that can make them as

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a person feel distanced and unrelatable and out of touch

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with other people and the real issues. The second skill is the

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senior leaders need to ensure they have the alignment of their

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board and executive colleagues. I'd be a really rich woman for

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every time I've heard someone say, Well, when I talked with

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slide deck, there were no questions or people didn't say

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anything cool. They've sat there and nodded their heads. But

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they've all gone off. And they've either done nothing that

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I've told them to do, or they've gone and done their own thing.

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Let's be clear. Silence doesn't mean agreement. Not in heads

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doesn't mean agreement. Also, side note, can we stop with

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slide decks as a way to get buy in for complex challenges? They

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have never worked, they will not work. It's a comfort blanket for

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you as a leader. That's brand takeover. silence can mean your

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board your colleagues don't understand what you're going on

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about. It can mean they don't agree with what it is you're

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suggesting today. It could mean that they're scared to ask a

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question, or they don't want to rock the boat by coming across

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as challenging in front of others. They might think that

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their idea and their plan is more important, which is why

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they go off and do their own things. Not enough time and

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energy is spent getting alignment at a senior level

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before a strategy or initiative is launched. And members of that

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senior team aren't supported to help them make it relevant to

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them and their teams, which is usually why they carry on with

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their own agendas and priorities. Third area is around

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how leaders focus on The way they engage with others around

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that need for change, how are they testing that what they're

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trying to fix is realistic, that it's needed, that it's something

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that other people are going to get behind. You don't do that at

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the point you launch the change, or you launch the strategy. You

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need to be doing this work over time. You're listening,

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triangulating, asking the right questions, so that you can make

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sure that your vision right in the very beginning is the right

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one to begin with. A link to that is your communications. And

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it's a really overlooked skill. I see senior leaders who either

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have too much to say they don't want or think they should say

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anything at this point. Or they get really bored really quickly

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with the message that they're giving. And so they're

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constantly seeking to evolve it. And this can be as big a reason

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for why you don't have board and executive alignment as you're

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not taking your teams with you. If you get into the weeds with

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detail, if you use loads of jargon, if you're focusing on

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messages not relevant or interesting for the audience

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you're talking to, you're going to fail to take people with you.

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I always say as your starting point, you should be able to

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summarize the change in one sentence. That's the same

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sentence that you want every member of the board the exact

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your team to have as a golden thread going through everything

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you do. It's it's the way that you test the decisions that you

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make. And then you need to have, I'd say probably about three,

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certainly no more than five bullet points that will

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articulate what that will mean for each stakeholder group, how

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will they know the difference, and it will be different, your

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board are going to be interested in different outcomes to your

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clients, or your community or your staff, or external

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stakeholders. So a one size fits all approach won't cut it, you

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really got to think about it through the lens of the

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stakeholder that it affects, then you can get into the detail

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of how you're going to do it, how your notes down how you're

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going to resource it. If you don't have that golden thread to

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begin with the one liner, the differentiated points for

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different stakeholders, you're going to really struggle to

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provide clarity and consistency.

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And the final area that leaders overlook is that self leadership

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pace and I you might say I bang on about this, but you can't

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lead others if you're not leading yourself, as I always

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say, so how are you going to make decisions and prioritizes

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decisions? How are you going to show support without

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micromanaging? How are you going to encourage learning instead of

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expecting perfectionism? What's the tone you're seeking to set?

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Again, organizations can get bogged down in organizational

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governance and don't consider the impact of individual leaders

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specify things all of these things need to be considered and

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worked through individually and collectively as a senior

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leadership team before any change happens. That's how you

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increase the chance of success. Now there's an assumption made

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that those who reach senior leadership levels that C suite

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board level, whatever you might call it in your organization.

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There's an expectation on an assumption that you know how to

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do this stuff already, that you know how to set a vision, show

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self leadership, communicate with clarity take people with

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you. However, 82% of people entering management positions,

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haven't had any formal leadership training. One in four

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organizations don't offer leadership development to new

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leaders. And don't get me started on the fact that most

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typical leadership development programs don't focus on these

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areas of development anyway. You'll have heard me say this

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before, but too often people are promoted to senior roles through

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their skills and achievements in their area of expertise. And

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they bring a load of value to that board or executive table

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without a doubt. But the broader issues that they're expected to

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tackle as a senior leader are not considered. And in the

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conversations I have with executive leaders, many tell me

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they weren't prepared for the all round input they're expected

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to offer at a strategic board level. And it's really

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vulnerable for them to admit to their peers, to their chief exec

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to their chair, that this is out of their comfort zone. So they

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don't say anything. They struggle through, they set the

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wrong example. And that's why we keep seeing this cycle repeat

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itself. Through the one to one work I do with leaders we focus

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on those underlying factors that are stopping them from having

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the right impact in the workplace. We tackle those five

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success criteria that I've been taught through those five skills

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that you need if you're going to get buy in for the decisions and

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you and your vision, whether it's getting clarity in your

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strategy, setting the right personal conditions for success

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or developing an action plan that allows them to build and

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nurture meaningful relationships, we use a variety

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of tactics and tools to help leaders identify and tackle the

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challenges that they face is highly personalized. Because, as

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Susan Charlesworth said in our interview about human factors,

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people are people, every member of the exec team will think in a

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different way, will communicate differently will be comfortable

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or confident in different circumstances. That's why I

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believe blending coaching and leadership strategy can be much

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more impactful than an off the shelf leadership development

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course. If your organization needs to make changes this year,

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let's discuss how getting the right support package in place

Lee Griffith:

for your senior leaders can be the difference between success

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and failure. Book a free consultation call and chat with

Lee Griffith:

me directly about your transformation plans. I can then

Lee Griffith:

develop a bespoke proposal to meet your organizational needs.

Lee Griffith:

Visit Sundyskies.com to get in touch. If you enjoyed the

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episode, please leave a review on Apple podcasts and let me

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know what you thought on LinkedIn. You can find me at Lee

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Griffith. I'll be back with the next episode in two weeks time.

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So in the meantime, sign up to my newsletter at Sandy skies.com

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for monthly insights on how else you can lead with impact. Until

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next time,

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