Change management toolkit: implementing conversations and consumer connect.

So, you crafted a fancy consumer connect strategy. You have a great plan to make every company touchpoint worth sharing. Now what?

People in general are hesitant to change their ways. It is key to involve them, educate them, give them ownership and give them time to learn, experiment and fail. That makes change management the hardest part of implementing a strategy.

It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it.
Upton Sinclair

So here are four change mechanisms:

1. Workshops, training and coaching. A large part of implementing new thoughts and tools is sensitizing and educating the organization. The purpose is to change personal, structural and cultural skills and knowledge.
2. Pilot projects. Pilot projects are outposts of consumer connect implementation. They have clearly defined scopes and goals and help the organization learn, change and set next steps. Also read “Using pilot projects in your social media strategy”.
3. Social power. Which people within the organization can collaborate with us to implement consumer connect? Who can help us spread the word, influence peers and take our efforts to the next level?
4. Guidelines and best practices. Guidelines and procedures to set boundaries and guide consumer connect (converging), and best practices to stimulate inspiration (diverging).

Let’s bring some change 🙂

Written in 2011, left as it was.

Original: Change management toolkit: implementing conversations and consumer connect, 10 May 2011. Historical links may no longer work.