Reimagining Change
BRIAN ALFOND: Hello, folks. Welcome to this episode of the Reimagine Marketing podcast. I'm your host Brian Alfond and I'm part of SAS's Global Customer Intelligence group, where I work with customers to find elegant and creative solutions to their marketing problems. Today I want to talk to you about my kitchen. It was recently completely remodeled and I do mean completely. It was demoed down to the studs and then reconstructed with an entirely new layout. The only thing that's the same from the original design is the location of the sink.
Now, I'm three months into using this new design and I still find myself opening a drawer near where the silverware used to be, or heading toward the spot where the refrigerator was, or looking for the trash with a trash can previously resided, and, sad to say, I think I'm going to be doing this for a while.
This kitchen layout is infinitely superior to what it was before. Instead of walking five steps from the stove to the sink, now I just simply turn 180 degrees. And the dishwasher and refrigerator are a single step of the way, rather than the hike I had to previously complete to go from one to the other. So if it's so much better, why am I still going to all the old spots?
I only lived with the old kitchen for six years, but this evidently dug trenches in my brain such that I'm definitely entrenched in those old patterns or it really is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. And at this point I'm sure you're thinking what could this possibly have to do with Reimagine Marketing? Well, please bear with me for a little bit longer.
In a past life, I spent over 10 years implementing marketing software specializing in marketing operations and marketing process re-engineering. Then I jumped to the sales side and I've spent another 10 years offering solutions to a wider range of customers marketing challenges. But with every customer I've interacted with, I've encountered a similar phenomenon to my momentary kitchen confusion.
I'm called in when an organization decides it's time to reimagine their marketing and bring in something new. Maybe they want to rip their marketing down to the studs, like in my kitchen, or maybe they're just replacing part of their martech stack that they feel they weren't getting optimal return from. Whatever the case, I found that the people who do the work within the new tools are not happy when the proverbial silverware is not in the very first draw they open. And in many cases their first instinct is to blame the software.
Now, when an organization brings in something new, the reasons and benefits are typically clear to the executives making the decision, yet I've found often not so clear to the folks doing the day-to-day work.
People take pride in the work that they do. They're invested in their processes and the tools that allow them to get their work done and any threat to this is going to cause fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Think about your own experience. Typically the thought of any change is initially going to spark thoughts of resistance. And I've seen some brilliant martech implementations struggle and even failed because not enough attention has been paid to how processes will change, the adaptations people will need to make to those changes, and most importantly to the communicating of why the change is being made in the first place.
Now, with my kitchen project, I fully understood why it was being changed as well as the benefits the change would bring me, the primary cook in the house. I initiated and drove the change. I even played a major role in the new design and layout of the thing. And yet I'm still not getting 100% efficiency out of the design because not enough time has passed for me to replace my old habits with new ones.
Really, it's all a matter of time. People need time to get used to the idea of change. Then they need time to get used to the idea that what they used to do isn't how it's done anymore. And this is very much akin to a grieving process. We should make time to allow for people to work through this. Then they need time to turn the new way of doing things into habit.
Now, that's a lot of time. But I found that the best way to minimize the impact to a project plan is to start managing change as early as possible.
In my current role, I won't even mention software until I make sure the customer knows how vital understanding and managing the impact of this change to their people and process is to their success, which is why I emphasize the importance of early change management, of communicating well before any change happens the reasons why an organization is making a change, the expected benefits from the change, and an acknowledgment that the change is going to affect the day-to-day work of people involved. And, ideally, your communication plan should be bidirectional
Now, I have seen and worked with companies who resort to the BP Richfield method of "we say so." But success in those cases is rarer than a non-inflammatory political tweet. And as we know from life in general, listening is key. If conditions are such that you're seeking to reimagine your marketing, then your teams probably know that a change is needed and would be beneficial. They also probably have valuable input into how to make things better at the boots on the ground level and they want to, need to, and indeed should be heard.
I always ran my process re-engineering sessions with all the stakeholders in a room together. And I deliberately kept myself ignorant of the titles or levels of the people involved because I wanted all voices to be equal, at least to me. And all of my successful customers were those that worked together to understand the problem, identify remedies, and design a cross-functional and cross-hierarchical solution.
Someone once told me all change is painful until you can look at it in the rear view mirror. I really wish I could remember who said that, but I can't. But it stuck with me throughout my entire career and life.
And another thing to keep in mind is that no change is perfect. Believe me, there are things that I wish I had done differently in my kitchen remodel, but these things are minor and don't even begin to move the scales when weighed against the efficiency and benefits of the new design.
So when it's time to reimagine your marketing, I urge you to first take some time to reimagine the way that your processes and people will need to work in your bright, new future and talk about it with all stakeholders impacted. Ask what the change will mean to them, discuss the disruptions of a new process, a new system, and any other concerns. Then make sure that everybody understands the benefits you expect from the change and how it will directly benefit your team, your marketing, and your company. And then I'll be happy to come talk to you about the software to enable it.
Of course, this is just my take on change management and marketing and I hope to extend this conversation here with some folks who have spent their time in professional trenches similar to my own. So please look for that discussion in an upcoming episode.
And I'm curious about what your experience has been with marketing change large or small. Do you have any horror stories or great success stories? Let us know and you may be invited on to discuss.
In the meantime, if you enjoyed today's show or even if you didn't, you can head on over to sas.com/reimaginemarketingpodcast-- all one word-- and join in the conversation. You can also subscribe to the series on your favorite podcast platforms, just search for Reimagine Marketing.
And I'd be happy if you shared your topic or guest ideas by emailing us at reimaginemarketingpodcast@sas.com, where, once again, Reimagine Marketing podcast is all one word. Thank you for listening and please consider joining us. Next time. Until then, this is Brian Alfond, hoping all the important things in your life are good.
