You're facing resistance from your team on a new strategy. How do you overcome their skepticism?

Resistance is natural when introducing change. By listening, communicating effectively, and involving the team, you can build trust and overcome skepticism, ultimately driving successful implementation of the new strategy!!

Make sure that you understand what are the concerns that they have with the strategy or the execution of the strategy. I personally love this part of strategy development. This process is often where I can identify the blind spots that I have when developing a strategy. It's through the view of multiple people that are as invested as you are in a successful strategy that you can fine tune your strategy to be even better.

From my experience, more times then not resistance to change( particularly with change in Strategy) and /or skepticism originates from lack of clarity in what and why factors. Actively listening and gaining insights from teams can help ease concerns and more importantly getting them to buy in!

Our passion and determination toward a new strategy can sometimes make us dominant, leading us to impose the plan on our team members. This approach can stifle creativity and hinder team morale. To avoid such situations, it is crucial to actively listen to team members. Engaging in active listening fosters an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued. Moreover, team members often bring diverse perspectives and unique insights that can enhance the strategy and lead to better outcomes.

The strategic vision and the compelling reason for it are stories that have to be strongly communicated from phase zero to post-implementation. A communication plan should be drawn and incorporate both giving & getting information. Plan for delivering info through a variety of methods: email, meetings, town halls, announcements, newsletters, 1-1 conversations, etc. The plan should also include info gathering via focus groups, questionnaires, evaluations, suggestion box/meetings, 1-1 discussions, social media & open forums. An outcome of good comms plan is an increase in engagement in the process. This is important to: -Expand every individual’s ownership of the strategy -Hasten the process -Build a critical mass of/increase support

In my experience and in my opinion, if you have to explain why then you haven't done a good job at developing the strategy. My style of defining the strategy is that when a stakeholder you sees the strategy, the immediately think: "I could have come up with the idea... the strategy is so Effective yet so simple". In my opinion, if you make it simple enough then the WHY will be self evident.

Después de escuchar las preocupaciones del equipo, el siguiente paso es comunicar claramente la razón detrás de la nueva estrategia. Es esencial proporcionar un contexto sólido sobre por qué se necesita el cambio y cómo se alineará con los objetivos a largo plazo de la organización. En mi experiencia, los empleados son más receptivos cuando entienden el “por qué” detrás de las decisiones.

A well-crafted strategy becomes a welcoming forum when the story and reasoning behind it are clearly communicated to the team members. Understanding the intention behind the strategy helps the team become more aligned and motivated to achieve the company's goals. Clear communication prevents confusion and frustration, transforming potential misunderstandings into a shared vision and collective effort towards success.

To overcome resistance to a strategy, get others involved in many different ways. You will reap many side benefits: commitment, support, and faster results. Involve as Many People as Possible, including not but not limited to: -Executives for sponsorship and support and to provide recognition -Your colleagues in other departments -Teams focused on a part of the strategic initiative that may need to be updated about the rest of the effort -Informal leaders who can help connect to the workforce -Stakeholders who have a place in the process, even those on the fringe -Anyone who can advocate for the strategy to others -Naysayers who can be queried about issues you may have overlooked -Focus groups who can contribute input and ideas

We, as humans, are conditioned to be suspicious of what comes from outside. So either co-creating the strategy or a plan to socialize the strategy with representative user groups is a way to soft-test the approach, invoke ownership and ambassadorship on the ground and meaningfully understand and address skepticisim.

This is such an obvious step, I don't know why it was included. It always takes a village to get anything done. It is the same case with strategy. It's never a one person job. By definition, you need to involve your team when developing a strategy. Otherwise your strategy will not be as effective and people will not be willing or able to commit and align to it.

Don't hesitate to actively support your teammates. By offering assistance and sharing knowledge, they can acquire new skills and innovative ideas. This collaborative approach not only fosters personal growth but also enhances the team's collective capabilities, leading to comprehensive and sustainable progress towards shared objectives.

What has worked for me is being vulnerable and authentic with colleagues and share what I am trying to do and acknowledging that without their willing support, the strategy may not lift off. Being open to understand their apprehensions, taking time to genuinely address those and be ready to tweak as required. It takes time, but it helps build a coalition for success.

Beyond strategy, building trust within your team is one of the biggest enablers of success of any team, no matter what the function is or what the company is, or even what the industry is. As a leader, be purposeful about building trust from day one and continuing to invest in growing the trust within the team.

There is no perfect implementation strategy, only a journey of continuous adaptation and improvement. When we launched our new strategy, we faced numerous challenges from different cross-functional teams. It became clear that adapting was crucial. By establishing feedback loops, regular meetings, ground level connections and seeking opinions on alternate directions, we were able to adjust our approach. This not only improved our strategy but also fostered a sense of collaboration and trust among team 1. Establish Feedback Loops 2. Seek Alternate Directions 3. Anticipate Roadblocks 4. Communicate Transparently 5. Empower Teams: Delegate decision-making 6. Iterate and Evolve PDCA and Kaizen frameworks can be of help sometimes

Author Rick Maurer identified 3 levels of resistance that can be treated accordingly. * Level 1 is due to lack of information, disagreement with the idea, lack of exposure or confusion. * Level 2 is physiological & emotional and may come from fear of a perceived loss of power, control, status or respect; or a feeling of too much to do or incompetence. * Level 3 may come from a personal history of mistrust; cultural, ethnic or gender differences; or a values clash. Resistance is natural & will occur differently for each person. Examine from all perspectives. Does the resistor need to know “what’s in it for me”? Need clarity? Need you to acknowledge the concern was heard? Need to share important info? Need to feel a part of the change?

Alinear a todo el equipo con la nueva estrategia es el objetivo, pero es importante reconocer que no siempre es posible lograr el 100% de alineación. En aquellos casos donde los empleados no puedan o no quieran alinearse, puede ser necesario ayudarles a encontrar otro horizonte o tomar decisiones difíciles para mantener la cohesión y el avance del equipo. En mi experiencia, mantener una comunicación abierta y honesta sobre las expectativas y la dirección de la empresa facilita estas conversaciones difíciles. Si, a pesar de todos los esfuerzos, algunos empleados no logran alinearse, es crucial manejar estas situaciones con empatía y profesionalismo, ayudándoles a encontrar un camino que sea mejor para ellos y para la organización.