Change management: Learning the secrets of persuasion

Change management. It’s an increasingly common concept threading through businesses regardless of size, age or industry. While it seems explanatory, management of change can be a tiresome and strenuous process which varies from industry to industry, change to change.

The fundamental factor is that of social norms. Altering the community consensus through systematic persuasion acts on providing justification, evidence and logic to the cause. Simply put, if people understand the reasons behind the change they’re more likely to reduce resistance. Soon, a domino effect should start to occur.

Not to mention heuristics. These are our subconscious, and somewhat naïve, cognitive processes based on the message deliverers’ likeability, attractiveness, familiarity, authority or influence. So dare I say it, but having an appealing message deliverer may make the change a tad smoother.

How will change ever be readily adopted without pressure or reinforcement? Keep your message consistent across platforms. It should be a topical concept in the workplace environment physically and virtually.

Keep in mind, grasping the new concept is a timely process. Don’t expect change overnight. So our word of advice? Plan it out. People tend to approach change blindly without strategic thinking. Don’t forget to consider three steps ahead.

While this topic of change management seemingly diverges from our usual design and marketing related topics, it can undoubtedly be applied to persuasion of consumers via marketing avenues. Persuasion is a very powerful tool.