How to Make Change Happen When You’re Not CEO

Most human beings are wired to keep doing what they did yesterday because it costs less energy and it’s safe.

So how do you create lasting change within an organization—especially when you’re not in charge of it? Changing a culture from the inside takes time, and it starts with the culture you create within your team.

Here are six ways to challenge and convert mindsets to change when you’re not the CEO:

1) Answer the question. When we’re asked to change, all of us have one overriding question: “Why should I?”

Before proposing a specific change, take time to connect the dots. What about the current situation isn’t working? How will this change improve the lives of your staff? The lives of their clients?

Know your audience here: One person cares about the data, another is concerned about the business’s reputation and a third is focused on how changes will affect people.

2) Make them partners. People don’t argue with their own input.

After you’ve shared the problem you hope to solve or the results you want to achieve, ask your peers for their ideas about how to make it work. Acknowledge the limitations and competing priorities they face.

Ask, “How do you think we can do this and also meet your objectives? What might that look like?”

3) Demonstrate success. Can you pilot the change in one area to demonstrate how desirable it would be for others? Can you find people in that test case who can be ambassadors for the change with their colleagues?

4) Take baby steps. People often resist change because they don’t know how to do it. We are more likely to adopt small behaviors than large ones.

Try focusing on one or two fundamental behaviors, then building from there.

5) Share the score. Find a meaningful way to publicly track progress. It may be a scorecard, a weekly video or client testimonials.

When people learn they’re 70% successful but their colleagues are 92% successful, they often work harder to close the gap.

6) Celebrate success. To win over those who are more reluctant, acknowledge those who are doing it well.

Be specific about what people are doing and why it’s important, and celebrate in ways that are meaningful to the people you’re acknowledging.