In my last post, we discussed the Identification of Stakeholders. With that, you should have a better view of the landscape now, and it is time to start Engaging Stakeholders, or more succinctly, validation, and placement within the overall roadmap of an initiative.
In my opinion, for the OCM side of an initiative, it is needed to look at it as “Influencer Marketing” within an organization. By definition, Influencer Marketing is as follows:
A type of marketing focuses on using key leaders to drive your brand’s message to the broader market. Rather than marketing directly to a large group of consumers, you instead inspire, hire, or pay influencers to get out the word for you.
Within an organization, you have to find and gain the buy-in of both the “Early Adopters” and the “Influencers” out of the gates. Stakeholders are not just the CXO or Board based decision-makers. They are also those champions (not necessarily nor has to be a “leader” or “manager”) within the trenches that have the innate ability to influence the culture and or environment within groups, teams, and even the silos that are broken up throughout the process.
Now let me be clear, in this particular post, I am not talking about Social Media Marketing campaigns or even talking about the execution of the actual communication. Those will be in forthcoming posts. This post is only a high-pass overview, as this topic is as deep as it is wide within real change.
In my last post, we started with identifying the Key Stakeholders for each of the “Stakeholder” categories. For a refresher, they are:
Those impacted by Process Changes
Those affected by Role Changes
DX Program Team
Those affected by DX Product Changes
IT (New DX Product Support)
Related Programs & Initiatives
Customers/ Suppliers/ Other Business Partners
Each of those categories mentioned is centric to the initiative’s success and how the business will function in the desired future state. It is imperative to discover the initial level of acceptance and or the general attitude of those identified critical stakeholders regarding the program, as well as ways they can individually and collectively influence the successful delivery of the initiative.
Validation of Key Stakeholders
Though it can be an initially challenging and sometimes humbling or awkward step, honest questions have to be asked. Are they indeed the “Change Agents” or “Influencers” within their group, team, or environment? Will they buy-in and (more importantly) play their role in the Change Management process by their interaction and activity within the initiative? Most importantly, will people listen to them and give credence to their efforts?
Categorize & Rank Stakeholders (in terms of influence)
This aspect is more for the hierarchy of engagement. Understanding the organizational culture and the influencer(s) is key to proper placement within the DX Program Team and or within the rank and file as roll-out ensues. This is very difficult, and it will consist of misfires, missteps, and or reshuffling as you go, so do not be overly concerned and or frustrated with this part of the process.
Inform & Empower
Once the Stakeholders are placed within the path to success, investing, and pulling insight from them is critical. By this, discovering the real organizational culture index, and understanding how it will fit within the confines of the OCM portion of the initiative is first and foremost. Next is giving the influencers an understanding of what is about to take place—continually updating them along the way—defined by their category and or role within each phase of the roadmap. By empowering them to speak with knowledge and encouragement each step of the way. Directly to their sphere of influence.
I hope you enjoyed this post. Communication is one of the critical drivers of the AMIGO platform. Keeping the cadence and optics intact down to the Work Package level will ensure proper communication is realized. Change and approvals are all tied to the Teams, Roles, and Work Packages as well, allowing for timely decisions and cost containment. Precious budgets are met and kept, while stakeholders rejoice.
There are so many things we can discuss within AMIGO that will transform your initiative to gain the much-desired benefits realization level you built into the business case. All you have to do is visit our Face The Challenge Head-On page or DisruptingDX.com and set a time for a FREE 30-Minute Consultation or Live Demo of AMIGO. I promise you will see the exceptional value, stability, and controls we are offering your organization. In this time, it is necessary to take every opportunity to safeguard not only your current resources but your organization’s future. We at Platinum PMO would love the opportunity to assist you with just that!
