Sven de Ridder
For six years I have been guiding teams and organisations in change, always fascinated by the dynamics that make a top team unbeatable one minute and crashes the next. As in sport, I see how crucial it is in business to get people involved and keep them involved. From my role as advisor at Groupmapping, I help organisations to find answers to these issues. Feel free to send a message via LinkedIn!
Involving people as a foundation
In my Groupmapping work I help organisations to make strategy, projects and programs a success. Recently I hear one specific sentence more often than ever: "We really need to take our people into account." That statement makes me both hopeful and alert.
Hopefully, because it shows that we realize that a project only succeeds when the people who do the work are behind it. Alert, because taking it is too often a euphemism for: "Telling back what is meant."
Sincerity as the key
In everyday highspeed train transport, there is a great temptation to see organizing moments with people as an administrative hurdle and a huge investment. It is easier to schedule a short meeting, tell what is going to change and put a tick behind the head 'carrier created'.
But people are allergic to false involvement, and they pierce flawlessly through a lack of sincerity, and when you ask people to think along with you, while the course has long been fixed, you do not create support, but cynicism.
Sincerity is the key word here. When you involve people because it 'must', it becomes a play. When you engage them because you sincerely believe that their expertise is needed to complete the puzzle, it is an investment that pays back twice and in reverse.
Why engagement makes the solution better
Why is this sincerity a better result? There are three clear reasons for this:
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The experts of in context: A plan can still make sense on paper, the truth lies on the workplace. The people working with it daily see the details missing from a driver or consultant remotely. By letting them think along, you avoid expensive corrections afterwards. The solution simply becomes more robust.
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Understanding through insight: If people are allowed to think along, you don't have to 'sell' the need. They have seen the trade-offs, the frameworks and the compromises themselves. They don't only understand the what, but especially the why. That saves them time during the implementation.
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ownership above explanation: This is the best effect: you don't have to explain the solution anymore, because it has become their solution. You see the shift from "They have thought that we should do this" to "We are going to do this."
So how do you do that? Three hurdles to overcome
In Groupmapping we do not believe in endless talking sessions without direction. Involving is a subject. It is a process where you have to take the right hurdles step by step.
Horde 1: Set the boxes down
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Sincerity does not mean that everyone decides on everything. This leads to indecision. Start with clear frameworks: what is certain (budget, time, quality) and where is the space for their own interpretation? Clear boundaries give people the security to use their knowledge and skills optimally within that space.
Hearing 2: The right stakeholders at the right time
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Not everyone has to be at every meeting. The art is to attract people when their expertise has the most impact. We often help organisations to make this overview: who do we need to successfully lay this piece of the puzzle?
Hear 3: Make the change clear
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People want to know what they are up to. What will change in my work tomorrow? What is needed to keep this successful? By making the change alive and discussable, you take the discussion out of abstraction and make it tangible.
Listening sincerely
Involving people sincerely may require the most of the leadership: the courage to let go of control. You have to dare listen to what is really alive, even if that is uncomfortable. And more excitingly, you have to act on what you receive.
If you do this only for the form, you lose the trust faster than you've built it, but you do it honestly, and then you tap into an inexhaustible source of energy and knowledge.
A solution that is supported by the people who have to deliver it is the only solution that really stands.
Sharper, faster, smarter: I want that too!
Contact us to explore the possibilities together.