Respond to two W4D1 Wald

Discussion: Selling Your Vision

There are multiple avenues that leaders and managers can use to present their vision of change. The first step in this process is to identify the target audience that will be addressed and impacted. Careful consideration needs to be given to the best path for reaching this particular audience. Leaders and managers will face more difficulties in the change process if the change vision is presented and the target audience does not respond well. Therefore, careful consideration of how to communicate the vision to the target audience is a necessary first step.

Consider the following questions in your Discussion this week:

· How can you determine the target audience?

· How can you get other people to sell your vision so that communication snowballs, or goes “viral?” How can social media be used to assist this process?

Review this week’s Learning Resources, especially:

Kotter, J. P., & Cohen, D. S. (2002). The heart of change: Real-life stories of how people change their organizations. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.

· Step 4, “Communicate for Buy-In”

Laureate Education (Producer). (2012e). Step 4: Communicating the change vision. Baltimore, MD: Author. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Assignment:

Read a selection of your peers' postings.

Respond to at least two of your peers' postings in one or more of the following ways:

· Offer specific input to your colleague that will improve the process that was presented by your colleague to sell the change vision.

· Compare your approach to selling your change vision with that presented by your colleague, and examine what you have learned from your comparison that you will use to better sell your vision.

· Offer other examples of snakes and egos that need to be considered with strategies for how your colleague could deal with them.

· Offer other things that could occur when your colleague starts selling his or her change vision.

· Offer examples that illustrate or support your colleague’s plan to sell his or her change vision.

· 3 – 4 paragraphs

· No plagiarism

· APA citing

1st Colleagues – Natasha Mills  

Week 4 Discussion: Selling Your Vision

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The change vision that I identified for my organization was to have a more unified enterprise by increasing the level of collaboration and trust between the various departments. This change vision is intended to make every member of the organization an effective representative of the company’s brand reputation, mainly when dealing with current and potential customers. I have determined that the change vision is compelling as far as the first three steps of Kotter’s eight-stage change process, which include establishing a sense of urgency, creating a guiding coalition, and developing a visual strategy, are concerned (Kotter, 2012). Therefore, it is safe to move to the next step of the process that involves communicating for buy-in.

An effective change vision may fail due to inadequate or unclear communication (Laureate Education Producer, 2012e). Employees in contemporary organizations are bombarded with a lot of information, resulting in immense clutter that is often challenging to cut through. Therefore, it is essential to search for the proper communication channels to use to cut through the clutter and ensure that the intended message does not get lost in between. “With clogged channels, even if someone is emotionally predisposed to want to understand a change vision, the information can become lost in the immense clutter” (Kotter & Cohen, 2002, p.89). With this knowledge, I intend to take the proper steps to remove the clutter and adequately and effectively communicate the change vision to the organization's members.

The communication channel that I will significantly rely on will be face-to-face communication, both direct and indirect, with the employees from the various departments. I will also use the organization’s website, specifically the employees’ portal, to publish additional information about the change vision more detailed. These are the most promising channels of communication that will enable me to cut through the clutter of information that employees receive, as opposed to other channels such as emails and social media that contain information overload. Simply, these channels will help me, and the guiding coalition create the needed behavior and influence the audiences' feelings (Kotter & Cohen, 2002).

The first step of the communication for the buy-in process will be to work with the guiding coalition to gather enough information about the change to ensure that we are well-equipped to address all the possible insecurities that may arise from the audiences (Kotter & Cohen, 2002). The next step will be to commission the guiding coalition, who, as already mentioned, will be appointed by the different departments to share the information about the change vision with their respective members. This process of sharing information about the change vision will involve brief face-to-face meetings every day, where two-way communication will be highly encouraged.

Therefore, the communication process will be designed in a question-and-answer format to allow the audiences to address any concerns and express their feelings about the change. “…their feelings were addressed and modified. With that, minds opened to hear more clearly any direction for change, and energy developed for helping make it happen” (Kotter & Cohen, 2002, p.88). Further, the aim of communicating the change vision to the employees every day is to hit them with repetition to help them see the message over and over until it cuts through the information clutter and makes them accords it high-level importance (Laureate Education Producer, 2012e). The last step will be to walk the talk, which will be significantly demonstrated through increased collaboration with the guiding coalition, who will hail from the various departments that the change vision will be trying to unite.

The main stakeholders that will need convincing with a sales strategy will be the employees from the different departments and senior managers. Among these stakeholders will be those who buy into the change vision and those who pose as snakes or those with egos. To ensure that those who buy into the change vision communicate effectively and accurately about the vision to others, they will be equipped with relevant information about the change to help them adequately and confidently address questions from any quotas whenever they spread the change vision. Ensuring that they are armed with enough information is one of the most effective ways of capitalizing on their buy-in and using their help to get more buy-in (Kotter & Cohen, 2002).

For the snakes, the first step would be to identify and remove them from the guiding coalition to stop them from sabotaging the change vision (Kotter, 2012). On the other hand, those with egos will need more convincing to turn them into allies. I will achieve this by emphasizing how the change vision will ensure the organization's greater good and how they will benefit as a result (Kotter, 2012). However, the overall strategy will be to closely monitor the moves and actions of these two groups and find ways to stay ahead of them during the change process. These strategies, combined with constant communication and the integration of input from all quotas, will help in continuing the momentum once the change vision is popular and widespread.  

Kotter, J. P. (2012). Leading change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.

Kotter, J. P., & Cohen, D. S. (2002). The heart of change: Real-life stories of how people change their organizations. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2012e). step 4: Communicating the Change Vision. Baltimore. MD: Author. Retrieved from  https://class.waldenu.edu

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2nd Colleagues – Sandra Patterson  

RE: Discussion - Week 4

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A specific plan that I would use to sell my vision would begin by confirming that my target audience will be university campus students. When planning to open a bank, insurance agency and a social security agency on a university campus, I would emphasize that these services would be vital for students to have while they’re on a university campus. The steps that I will take to sell the vision will be to: a) create a sense of urgency so that campus university students and staff can start telling each other that they need to have such services on a university campus to be able to operate around times when students aren’t in classes yet b) pulling together a guiding coalition that is strong enough to guide a big change by including a banker, insurance agent, and a social security agent on my team,  c) creating simple visions and strategies by outlining how these enterprises will be an asset to the area because university students will be able to know that the staff will arrange to have classes start or end at convenient times so that the students can have time to use these services, d) communicating the vision through simple messages by sending alerts to university students to their emails and by having campus-wide announcements in their university newsletters. In this manner, university students can begin to buy into the change, (Kotter, 2002) and e) empowering people by removing obstacles to the vision. The main obstacles that will be removed will be that the guiding coalition can influence the university staff to arrange to have classes begin at convenient times so that the university students can have time to use these services. (Kotter, 2002)

The stakeholders that I need to convince with a sales strategy should have relevant knowledge about what’s happening. These stakeholders will be individuals with appropriate skills, leadership capacity, organizational credibility, and the connections to handle organizational change. These individuals will include bankers, insurance agents, and social security agents. The barriers that may occur when starting to sell such a vision will include the fact that people have been taught that “ charting the future “ means planning and budgeting. (Kotter, 2002) Therefore my team will emphasize the need for planning and budgeting when making plans for such services on a university campus. The best way to outline how individuals buying into a vision of change will effectively communicate the vision to others will be by: a) articulating the vision in less than one page, b) articulating a moving vision by being committed to have a bank, insurance agency and social security agency on a university campus because these services are vital for students to use in between classes, c) articulating that a bold strategy needs to be created that can move quickly by sending alerts to university students’ emails that such a change is coming on campus, then d) don’t assume that logical plans and budgets are enough by making sure that other financial plans are in place, e) don’t rely on analytical, financially-based vision exercises, and f) don’t rely on visions that cut costs. (Kotter, 2002)

The main problems within the organization will be to have enough space on the university campus for the bank, insurance agency and social security buildings. Then some of the other problems will be the cost involved in having such buildings on campus. The main steps that will be taken to counteract attempts to sabotage the vision will be to send email alerts and newsletters of the upcoming plans to many other organizations and students. Then I will make the change vision easy to understand. I will make sure that the bank will be close to the administration building. I will make sure that the insurance agency will be close to the grocery store on campus. I will position the social security building close to the library on campus.  Finally, the posters about the upcoming venues will be posted online on social media, throughout the business community, in the university newsletters, and in students’ emails. As far as changing egos is concerned, I will go about doing it by controlling emotions through being a good influence.  I will remember that influence is earned by responding instead of reacting. (Rockwell, 2013) Then I will make sure to understand that there are clashes of belief systems. There may be clashes of belief systems between the university’s values and that of those agencies. But I will acknowledge their ego by remembering that ego wants control. So that need will be met by spreading out and delegating various duties wisely. I will stop thinking that it’s only people out there who have ego issues and that I don’t. I will set the proper frame by remembering that influence has an environment. So by choosing to be a good influence, I will be able to empower the university and my team to proceed with the project. I will communicate with tact because tact is the language of strength; it can keep others receptive. (Rockwell, 2013)

I will illustrate what I will do to continue the momentum once change vision becomes widespread by writing my goal. As I write it down, I will start by focusing on one thing that I can do one day at a time. Writing down goal keeps it fresh in our minds. I will recharge myself by doing anything that inspires me. The things that inspire me can be an organized desk, good weather, and basically spending time doing things that give me energy. This will keep me motivated. I will concentrate by identifying the most important task. I will remember that success comes by identifying that single most important task that needs to be accomplished. I will control my finances by spending wisely. I will make sure that my purchases are in line with my business. I will identify a handful of people who I trust to be able to help me move forward such as trusted bankers, insurance agents and social security agents. I will always find a way to find time. I will do this by tracking how I spend my time for one week. Or I can also organize my inbox to make it easier to sift through the e-mails. I will highlight small wins by helping my staff to stay motivated by acknowledging their progress. I will have a goal and be flexible. I will pay attention to clues and opportunities that are presented by being aware of environmental shifts and market changes that will affect my organization. Finally I will be committed by starting with at least one idea at a time.  (Sage, 2012)

 

References:

Kotter, J. (2002) The Heart of Change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press

Rockwell, D. (2013) Leadership Freak. Leadershipfreak.blog

Sage, S. (2012) Ten Ways to Maintain Momentum in your Planning Process. Onstrategyhq.com>resources

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