Why You Need To Create Amazing Experiences For Your Change Program Stakeholders with Leanne Hughes

Does your change program include running workshops, webinars, listening tours, panel discussions, steering committees, training sessions, or meetings?

If it does, you’ve got to make sure you’re thinking about how to make these experiences as engaging as possible for your stakeholders. I mean, we all know how important employee engagement is to the success of our organisational change or transformation programs.

Learning how to take experiences to the next level for our change program stakeholders is exactly what I’m diving into with my guest today on The New Way Podcast.

Leanne Hughes is an entrepreneur and high-performance business consultant. She combines her experience in Marketing, with her education (and obsession) with Group Dynamics and Psychology, to help leaders create engaging everyday experiences - that are so contagious they scale across teams, functions and regions.

In fact, in 2021 Leanne was the winner of the Asia Pacific Learning Impact awards for Learning Professional of the Year, so this is a great opportunity to learn from the best!

Listen in to discover:

Leanne’s approach to inspiring change and if you should be aiming for ‘buy in’ or for ‘pre orders’?
How to create more engagement in your events and experiences
Whether or not using online or virtual channels limits the opportunity to deliver great experiences; and
Exactly what to keep in mind when designing and planning experiences

Leanne has incredible energy. She really knows her stuff and shares so much gold with us in this episode. Seriously, after listening to this, your events and experiences will never be the same again!

Listen in now!

TOPICS DISCUSSED AND WHERE TO FIND THEM:

[00:52]: Today we’re diving into how to take your experiences to the next level.
[1:28]: Kate’s guest today is Leanne Hughs, an entrepreneur and high-performance business consultant.
[2:14]: We cover Leanne’s approach to inspiring change and how to create more engagement in your events and experiences.
[3:20]: In change management and organisational change, stakeholder apathy really impacts the overall success of these programs. Creating engaging, exciting experiences is Leanne’s zone of genius.
[4:40]: Most changemakers are not facilitators - facilitation is its own area of expertise. How can facilitating conversations with stakeholders be so powerful as part of a change program?
[5:45]: When you think of yourself as the expert, you may be more reluctant to co-create. The hardest part of facilitation for Leanne when she started out was letting go of the control. We can’t manage change, we can instigate it.
[6:47]: Instead of buy-in, we need pre-orders. Using facilitation, socialising ideas and going on listening tours are ways of getting pre-orders before change is initiated.
[8:00]: When COVID-19 hit, Leanne went on her own (virtual) listening tour, identifying patterns in what people were saying.
[9:23]: The pre-order approach is listening very closely, taking note of the patterns and mirroring language back (mimicry). This all helps get stakeholders involved and builds a road map for the change journey.
[11:06]: There is science behind mimicry. Jonah Berger discusses the research in one of his two books Contagious / Invisible Influence.
[12:12]: A well-designed process is key. Engage early and engage often.
[13:13]: “Creating unpredictable experiences that predictably work” is the tagline of Leanne’s podcast. People have low expectations of facilitation. Use contrast to retain attention.
[15:23]: People come to facilitations with the expectation that they will be an observer. Leanne shares her suggestions on how to get people out of that passive mode.
[17:40]: Accelerating trust and building a sense of safety is really important when dealing with the sense of uncertainty that change raises.
[18:15]: Is online limiting us in terms of facilitating and connecting? Leanne shares that we only miss out if the facilitation is not designed well. Online does not have to be a limitation.
[20:00]: All the tech or lo-fi. What’s best? Sometimes the tech can act as a security blanket. Only use it if it enables more. Fit for purpose is still highly relevant.
[21:21]: How important is our physical space when creating engaging experiences? Leanne shares an experience in Hong Kong that highlights the importance of physical space and what facilitates blue sky thinking.
[22:55]: How to get in touch with Leanne Hughes.