The Change Dude’s Blog

Taxes, Change and Customer Engagement

Walking through a downpour in Washington, D.C. on tax day accross from the White House I ran into a Tea Party in progress.  Not your run of the mill tea party but a group of a few hundred of my fellow citizens exclaiming their displeasure with the present state of their tax bills.  How cool was that?  After I dried off in my client’s warm digs the thought came to me about the relationship between taxes, change and engaging your customers. 

With over 500 of these tax day tea parties taking place all over the U.S. clearly our elected officials have implemented their change program at pace that has truly put their customers (us)  in a state of shocked disbelief.  Spewing trillions of dollars out the top of the treasury building like so many pieces of confetti has gotten citizens a little unnerved.  In the world of managing change leadership has made some serious mistakes that would instantly derail any corporate change program. 

Key Mistakes:

1. No clear awareness of the stakeholders readiness for change

2. Poorly designed and executed communication program.

3. Weak case for change (over 50% of Americans didn’t agree to bailing out anything let along every bank and open hand)

4. No clear vision of the future to gain commitment to the change program.

With all these holes in a strategic change program it certainly wouldn’t have even left the chocks at any of my clients let alone be in full swing.  The result of a poorly managed strategic change is rapidly weakening commitment to the future state.  Guess what? Commitment is flagging.

In this unique case study key stakeholders are also customers.  In developing advocacy with a customer it’s critical to truly understand and analyze the practical and emotional needs required to deliver a WOW experience.  As Billy Mays would say ” Where’s the WOW!”   Government’s customers are far less than delighted by the present state of leadership leading to what we call in the contact center world “abandonment”.  Not good.  Even worst when the alienation occurs in your most valuable customers, those earning over $250,000 annually. OUCH!  How many business leaders would tolerate that behavior in their organization? Not a single CEO I’ve ever met.

Often the Change Dudes are called into strategic change initiatives when they reach the state described above.  Time to get back to basics and accomplish the spade work that wasn’t done before the change kicked off.  If the Obama administration reached out to me as a highly experienced change dude what advise would I provide?   Hmmmm….

5 Point Plan to Enhance Commitment to the US Government Strategic Change Plan

1. Develop and articulate a clear vision for the future state, specifics about what the future will look like and feel like 1, 3 and 5 years out.

2. Complete a change readiness assessment for ALL key stakeholder/customer groups to clearly identify the commitment levels of each unique group of stakeholders/customers

3. Focus commitment building efforts on the groups that need it the most, asking for feedback, acting on the feedback and enrolling support.

4. Develop and communicate a solid, bulletproof business case for the changes at hand, the exisitng case is replete with holes.

5. Make local leadership responsible and accountable for ensuring all points of view are heard, addressed and provided to senior leadership in a timely, unfiltered way.

Sounds a lot like a change leadership program with a sprinkling of customer engagement. 

Change is fabulous when the end state is clear and renews the spirit of as many as possible.  Change fails when a small group forces their vision on everyone.

April 18, 2009 - Posted by thechangedude | Thinking About Change, Thinking About Customers