Getting the right people “in the room” is a powerful tactic when you’re embarking on a strategy roll-out or change project. Here's why, and how to do it well...
“When you got skin in the game, you stay in the game
But you don't get a win unless you play in the game…
I wanna be in the room where it happens
The room where it happens, the room where it happens”
(with apologies to Lin-Manuel Miranda)
Getting the right people “in the room” is a powerful tactic when you’re embarking on a strategy roll-out or change project.
Whether you’re launching a new Code of Conduct, introducing compliance training, designing a change initiative, getting employee engagement for a new programme, or leading anything that depends on connecting with colleagues, gaining input from key stakeholders is a brilliant kick-off point.
Here’s why and what’s involved…
The room where it happens
Gathering stakeholders together at the start of planning a project has some important benefits. These include listening to different perspectives, pinpointing the things you need people to do, generating ideas and identifying pitfalls.
Alongside that, creating a group of people who will become the ambassadors for change is potentially an excellent way to boost the chances of landing that change successfully.
Let’s explore those benefits in a bit more depth.
1. Listening and understanding perspectives
What are the perspectives from across the organisation, of colleagues in the roles and operational areas who’ll play a part in this project? What do they think, and what’s it like to be in their shoes?
Crucially, what might be stopping them from already doing the thing you need them to do?
Representatives of these different audience groups can help express and empathise with day-to-day employee experiences and potential obstacles. And they can reveal how best to connect with these audiences, by ensuring messages really speak to the things that people care about.
Starting by building this insight and empathy with the audience is vital for setting the project up well.
2. Pinpointing specific actions
Next, the strategy needs to be translated into specific actions. What do people actually need to do?
Having early input from a group of stakeholders who really know the business, and who understand the strategy you’re aiming to implement, is a powerful way to identify what those actions should be – as well as any likely challenges involved in making them happen.
Work with this group of stakeholders to pinpoint the actions people need to take. The more specific you can be in defining the actions, the better. And this shouldn’t be ‘read a policy’ but about what happens in the moment. For example, how should a colleague react when a customer says they’re leaving? Or what should they do if they think there’s been a data privacy breach? Or what particular behaviours could they use to make sure a team meeting is inclusive?
Pinpointing specific actions will help design a successful campaign because:
- people will know what to do and how to do it (capability)
- people will understand why it matters, and feel encouraged to do it (motivation)
- leaders and managers can ensure that people have everything they need in place to take the desired action – tools, time, support, access (opportunity).
Then prioritise. Which actions or behaviours have the most power? Which ones have the biggest impact?
3. Generating great ideas
Once you’ve defined and prioritised the key actions, next you need to engage people to do the right thing in the moment.
Messaging and campaign creation are key for engagement. What messages will be most relevant for the audiences? How will you connect with them in ways that they’ll appreciate and respond to?
This is a chance to tap into the creative thinking of colleagues, pooling inspiration and building on ideas. Workshops can be brilliant for ideas generation – at Acteon we regularly lead workshops which open up creativity, and often it’s been from the seed of a concept in a workshop that an entire communications campaign has germinated and flowered.
Our workshops allow room for creative development, dot voting for ranking and prioritising ideas, and for exploring cultural fit for messages and communications styles.
4. Having ‘change makers’
A fourth benefit of bringing these key people together is to make them part of the change.
This group can become the ambassadors for change – a vital channel out to the different audiences they represent. You might consider making them a visible part of the communication too – perhaps ‘employee voice’ video interviews or quotes, or initiators of forums or chat groups. (Examples of how we’ve used employee voice include a campaign for Wellcome called ‘Trust your judgement’, and for Channel 4 called ‘WTF is Dovetail?’).
Involving people in the conversation about the change itself, and making them part of creating a campaign, means it’s more likely they’ll support you, be enthusiastic about supporting the aims, and encourage their colleagues.
This group will also be a valuable source of information for understanding how the campaign is landing. They can bring insights into what’s going well or what people are finding difficult. They’re your ‘eyes and ears’ on the ground, and enable you to tweak, improve and evolve the campaign and be more successful in embedding long-lasting change.
See an example of how we put this into action for the UK’s largest care home provider, HC-One.
Getting the most from the room
So who do you want to get in the room to make this magic happen?
It needs people who can be thoughtful and articulate, and who are able to represent different business areas with their experience. Our workshops help people to be open minded, share ideas and listen to each other, and it will give you a head start if you can invite colleagues who are likely to bring a willingness to get stuck in and be positive.
There are options for flexibility in how you set this up. If schedules are busy, you can run a series of virtual workshops instead of one face-to-face meeting (‘the Zooms where it happens’?!)
The exact mix of colleagues you bring together will depend on your project, but might include:
- The owners of the business objective that you’re focused on – e.g. people from sales if it’s a customer service strategy.
- Frontline workers – who can voice their lived experience and why they already do or don’t do whatever actions you need.
- Managers – who can represent their teams as well as how they connect with other teams, and what’s required for supporting frontline workers to take the action.
- People development/L&D/HR – to represent what’s needed on the people, capacity, skills and resourcing side.
- Comms & engagement – who can help think about increasing motivation, getting through to colleagues, effective channels, and what tends to land well.
- Operations – who can give voice to what people need in terms of time, opportunity, resources and systems to take the required actions, and what the barriers might be.
- Ideally – behavioural specialists (like us) to help design the journey and run the session.
In summary…
Successful change always depends on people: what they do, what they say, and whether they’re ‘on board’ or not. This may seem obvious, but too often change initiatives are rolled out without really listening, understanding, or bringing people along as part of the change.
Starting with a group who can represent your audience, pinpoint what actions are needed, and generate ideas for getting people engaged is a powerful way to start. And making this group an ignition for change is a great strategy too.
Here are a couple of case studies explaining how we’ve used stakeholder workshops at the start of projects:
HC-One: Improving quality of life for care home residents
A workshop brought together people to identify specific actions that care home staff could take to support quality of life for residents, and generated ideas for a creative campaign.
Co-op Funeralcare: Putting colleagues at the heart of Covid safety
We lead a Design Thinking collaborative workshop with Co-op Funeralcare to identify key actions needed for Covid safety, and tie those actions to values and the things colleagues really care about.
If you want some advice or a partner to help, we’re experienced in working with “the room” in really effective ways – drop us a message on hello@acteoncommunication.com if you’d like to chat!
