This session covers leading change and stakeholder mapping, then hands most of the time to a breakout. It ends by looking forward to Cannes.
The premise is that driving Humanized Growth is a change management journey, and that 70 percent of transformation efforts fail. The session spends its time on why they fail and what to do instead.
Key findings
- Four reasons are given for failed transformations: they are based on old ways of working, they extract value rather than create it, they rely on technology for the solution, and they are not human-centric.
- The counter-claim is stated in one line: transformation is about humans, measured as value for colleagues, customers, community, and capital markets.
- The model used is Kotter’s eight-step process for leading change, grouped into creating a climate for change, engaging and enabling the whole organization, and implementing and sustaining change.
- The exercise is deliberately small in scope: map your top three stakeholders, then develop a 45 second elevator pitch for the most important one.
- The champion election is judged on three criteria: the impact and feasibility of the plan, the passion and conviction of the leader, and the plan’s snowball potential.
The eight steps
Creating a climate for change means establishing urgency by leveraging energy and never wasting a crisis, building a guiding coalition on volunteerism rather than a limited few, and developing one change vision that starts from the business strategy.
Engaging the organization means communicating the vision like a brand and being a broken record, empowering broad-based action by leading from the top and inspiring bottom-up ideas, and generating short-term wins through pilots and lead markets.
Sustaining change means never letting up, being patient without celebrating too early, and building the change into the culture by cascading it horizontally and vertically, creating an ecosystem with influencers, and fostering a growth mindset.
Three outside references frame the section: Kotter’s book Accelerate, Derek Sivers on starting a movement, and a message from the Airbnb co-founder and CEO.
Eleven ways to influence
The influencing toolkit names reciprocity, doing something in the belief the other person will do something for you later, and consensus, appealing to the fact that everyone is doing it.
Likeability is described as the power of easy going pleasantness and being genuinely nice. Scarcity works on the fact that nobody wants to miss a rare opportunity.
The rest are building alliances around shared outcomes, consulting to genuinely seek input, referring to the person’s prior beliefs, offering more than one option, providing rational evidence-based proof, inspiring with a picture of the future, and pointing to the positive outcomes of a decision.
The breakout then runs in groups of three, with one minute of context, three minutes of pitch practice, and six minutes of feedback per person.
The run-in to Cannes
Six deadlines close the program: the validated personal and business growth opportunity on 15 March, the growth plan on 1 May, the video script on 17 May, video submission on 31 May, the shortlist Zoom session on 4 June, and the champion election on 17 June.
The summit itself runs 14 to 17 June, opening with welcome and mindfulness, two impact carousel sessions, a session on understanding the ego, and one on community at the heart of business.
The following day is built around partnering with the CMO across five C-suite corners, with Lindsay Pattison of WPP on HR, Hanne Sondergaard of Arla on strategy, Tiffani Sossei of Mondelez on technology, Laura Jones on finance, and Robert Tas of McKinsey on the CEO relationship.
A fireside with Marcel Marcondes and Khensani Nobanda and a Monday keynote from Jay Shetty on personal passion and purpose sit alongside the program, which ends with the closing ceremony in Cannes and the Humanized Growth Champion election at WPP Beach.
The next cohort
The session also announces a new cohort of the Marketing Leadership Program in partnership with the ANA, aimed at the next generation of CMOs with ten years of marketing experience and leadership responsibilities.
It runs as a twelve-week blended learning journey across three modules, from personal introductions and the growth study to open culture, the anticipative organization, whole brained teams, leading transformation, and a growth presentation. Contributors named are Dean Aragon of Shell, Morgan Flatley of McDonald’s, and Douwe Bergsma of Piedmont Healthcare.
Source
This page summarises Planning & Stakeholder Engagement, by Institute for Real Growth, 2024.