Strategies for Overcoming Resistance Moving ideas into action

1. Strategies for Overcoming Resistance Moving ideas into action Serve Idaho Conference on Service and Volunteerism February 2013 Contact: kari.compton.rishel@hp.com

2. Focus Often a very good idea fails to see the light of day because there is a lack of supportto get it implemented. How we identify and address resistanceenables us to move ideas into action.

3. How about you? What are examples of ideas or solutions that failed to achieve results?

4. Why is Identifying and Overcoming Resistance Critical? Q x A = E

5. Steps for Overcoming Resistance • Identify stakeholders • Determine if there is a gap in current vs. needed level of support • Capture motivation style • Identify resistance type • Develop a strategy to address specific resistance using motivation styles

6. Steps for Overcoming Resistance • Identify stakeholders • Determine if there is a gap in current vs. needed level of support • Capture motivation style • Identify resistance type • Develop a strategy to address specific resistance using motivation styles

7. Identifying and Overcoming Resistance:Who are you speaking to? A Stakeholder is Either: • Someone Affected by Your Idea(s) • Someone Needed to ImplementYour Idea(s) In order for ideas to become reality, you need to understand your audience – who are key stakeholders? What are some examples of your stakeholders?

8. Steps for Overcoming Resistance • Identify stakeholders • Determine if there is a gap in current vs. needed level of support • Capture motivation style • Identify resistance type • Develop a strategy to address specific resistance using motivation styles

9. CULTURAL IMPROVEMENT -Stakeholder Analysis Once Stakeholders are Identified, Track Their Current/ Needed Commitment to Your Solutions. Recruit Against Make it happen Help it happen Let it happen Name & Role Not SupportHidden

10. CULTURAL IMPROVEMENT: Stakeholder Analysis Once Stakeholders are Identified, Track Their Current/ Needed Commitment to Your Solutions. C = Current N= Needed Kate: Hotel General Mgr. C N C Tom: Purchasing Mgr. N C N Lisa: Head Chef C N Juan: Customer Assurance Mgr. C N Han: Food & Beverage Mgr.

11. Steps for Overcoming Resistance • Identify stakeholders • Determine if there is a gap in current vs. needed level of support • Capture motivation style • Identify resistance type • Develop a strategy to address specific resistance using motivation styles

12. Motivation Styles: • Identify your Stakeholder’s Style • Data Driven • Sharing of details • The “why” behind the solutions • Demonstration • “Show Me” • Graphs and visual presentations • Demand • Peer Pressure & Hierarchical motivation • Obtain support from management and other key people first

13. Motivation Styles: • Data Driven • (40%) Data driven people love the details and are not overly impressed by management pressure or fancy slide decks. These people are typically analytical and appreciate any effort you have made to get the facts right. • Demonstration • (35%) Demonstration driven people are more interested in the bottom line and the key points. They appreciate demonstrations or a walk-through of the solutions when it makes sense. If you try to show all the data, they often become frustrated and it can backfire. Focus on sharing a few key points referencing your data at a high level but not diving into the details. • Demand • (25%) Demand driven people often will listen to your data and your nice presentations, but will then look to the people that influence them for direction. If you encounter a demand driven person, make sure his or her influential peers and management have become supportive of your solutions before meeting with the demand driven person. Then you can talk with enthusiasm about the support of the managers and influential peers.

14. Motivation Styles: • What is your personal motivation style? • Data Driven • Sharing of details • The “why” behind the solutions • Demonstration • “Show Me” • Graphs and visual presentations • Demand • Peer Pressure & Hierarchical motivation • Obtain support from management and other key people first

15. Steps for Overcoming Resistance • Identify stakeholders • Determine if there is a gap in current vs. needed level of support • Capture motivation style • Identify resistance type • Develop a strategy to address specific resistance using motivation styles

16. Identifying Resistance to Your Ideas: People Based Resistance • Technical • Personal Solution Based Resistance • Organizational • Individual

17. Identifying Resistance to Your Ideas: People Based Resistance (1) • Technical Resistance stems from a fear of looking stupid or a lack of knowledge of how things work. • We tend to send people to classes which can compound this type of resistance • Technical resistance is often “over-diagnosed” so look closely to see if there are other types of resistance occurring.

18. Identifying Resistance to Your Ideas: People Based Resistance (2) • Personal Resistancestems from a feeling of loss – regardless of whether or not the loss is real or perceived. • A common perception is that the person feels they are not as valued and less important. • It’s important to help the person see “What’s in it for me?” by stressing the opportunities the idea brings to this person personally. WIIFM

19. Identifying Resistance to Your Ideas: Solution Based Resistance (1) • Organizational Resistance stems from issues around pride, ownership and control of a particular space. Common type of resistance when you see “Turf wars.” • Effective strategy is to involve the person in the decision making discussions and to get feedback on your idea. • It’s important for a person who is exhibiting Organizational resistance to gain an understanding of, “What’s in it for me?” • At times it may be necessary to modify the idea (potentially lowering the Q) in order to come to a supported solution by this key stakeholder. WIIFM

20. Identifying Resistance to Your Ideas: Solution Based Resistance (2) • Individual Resistance stems from fear and emotional paralysis often from a feeling of overload due to the impact of the solution on the individual’s workload. • It appears to be about the person on the surface, but it is the nature of the solution. • The strategy is to sit down with the person and find out what is not working and why. (Or why they think it will not work) and then modify the solution together.

21. Identifying Resistance to Your Ideas: People Based Resistance • Technical • Personal Solution Based Resistance • Organizational • Individual WIIFM WIIFM

22. Steps for Overcoming Resistance • Identify stakeholders • Determine if there is a gap in current vs. needed level of support • Capture motivation style • Identify resistance type • Develop a strategy to address specific resistance using motivation styles

23. Overcoming Resistance Strategies:

24. Exercise instructions: • We will divide into four groups. • Each group will gather around one persona. • Discuss the motivation style(s) your persona appears to exhibit. • Imagine you are organizing an event for this person and it will take some buy-in, support, and resources. • Identify the main type of resistance you think this manager will exhibit. • Identify how best to overcome the resistance by determining a strategy to address it. • Hint: Use your handouts, notes, and experiences!

25. Project Lead: Brent Recently Promoted • In his new role, Brent’s calendar is booked from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. There are many areas in which he is trying to come up to speed quickly. He is very process oriented that likes to take time and data to make decisions. He is very quiet and chooses his words carefully before speaking. When you have a long list of questions for him, you sometime overwhelm him. Brent needs to feel successful in his new role and never wants to appear incompetent.

26. Volunteer Coordinator: Cheryl Detailed note taker • When Cheryl requests something it is always thorough and she trusts you will follow up. You have freedom to make decisions, but it is important to explain your decision to Cheryl showing her how it works. Often she wants her own fingerprints into your decision. Strangely, she has a very messy desk and is not as organized as you would expect. Cheryl needs to feel like her work is valued and can push back when she feels your ideas jeopardize the perception of her value.

27. Agency Director: June Seasoned Leader • June has been successful in the agency for many years and has a strong network of people she trusts. She values the leadership hierarchy and tends to push hard to deliver what the executive board defines. June can be opinionated making quick decisions and will “die by the sword” supporting her position and the people under her. Tends to micro-manage and believes she is mentoring. She has a strong ownership for her area and feels it is her responsibility to control it.

28. Program Manager: Tim People Person • Tim supports anything that keeps the people he is coordinating happy. He isn’t as concerned about the big picture in terms of how many people will benefit from something; more that the final result made someone happy. Not afraid to speak his mind or make a decision, he values both visual displays and data when making decisions. He tends to be protective of his people’s time, wanting to keep them happy, so when your ideas could result in an overload, he will push back.

29. Dealing with Resistance to Your Ideas: Exercise What type of motivation style, resistance, and underlying issues are exhibited? What should the strategy be to address the resistance for each?

30. Q&A

31. EXERCISE DEBRIEF: • Q&A: • What did you find was the most difficult? • What was the easiest? • How would you modify doing this for your own situations?