As I sat in church yesterday listening to a sermon on reaching others, I couldn’t help but to recognize the connections between evangelism and change management. One of the pastor’s key points was that being successful in sharing God’s word starts with finding common ground with the person with whom you are talking. What is something that you can both relate to that can serve as a foundation for a connection? From there, you build rapport, trust, and maybe even relationship.
How true is that of an effective change management program! Can we be effective staying at a distance from our target audiences? Will a cool, arguably sterile email have the same effect as a message delivered with heartfelt compassion? The answer to both of those questions is no.
Effective change management begins with engaging your audience. Engage is an action verb. It’s not being passive or lobbing information over the proverbial wall. It takes effort. It takes confidence. It takes activity.
Effective engagement can’t be done from afar. It can’t be done well via a conference call. It requires being around and with people. It’s why at Perficient we do almost all our change management work on the client’s premises. It is looking people in the eyes. It is listening. It’s relating. It’s building common ground.
For us to be successful change managers, we must be effective evangelists of the change we’re sponsoring. Making a connection, building rapport and building trust is key to our success. Are you building common ground with your clients to start the process? If you aren’t, you might be surprised at the effect that it will have.