Whether your end goal is to change suppliers, programmes, technology, policy or all that and more, a stakeholder is any individual, group or organisation that affects or is affected by your project. They matter. They might be collaborators, facilitators, barriers to success, or all three. But, involving these people in the decision-making process will help you to reach agreement for change and must be done if you want to achieve the best possible results.
The title above may sound like a rubbish slogan but it's important to remember. Stakeholders are human and getting their buy-in can be difficult. But it is attainable, so, how do you do it? It's a question a lot like 'how long is a piece of string?' because people and organisational cultures are so varied and complicated that you have to have a flexible approach.
There's no quick fix when it comes to something as emotive as travel. Following the points below will help you in your mission for buy-in from the people who matter.
Clarity: Be clear on your objectives
If you haven't got these straight yet, you won't know who is potentially involved. Answer some basic questions
- What do you want to achieve for the business including its customers, travellers and suppliers?
- Why do you want to achieve it? Bring the end goal into a picture or vision for people to connect to.
- What are the priorities? It might consider cost reduction, cost avoidance, duty of care, CSR, visibility and control, traveller and booker experience.
- How are travel targets being set, by whom? Are they realistic and does the data you're using allow you to make the right decisions?
- How does the approach to travel and meetings (technology, payment, booking etc) fit with the current company strategy and are they managed centrally, regionally or at divisional level?
- What has changed about the organisation since the current arrangement was rolled out and has that arrangement evolved?
Understanding the objectives and scope of the project are essential. This will help you identify the people who need to be involved in the project. It'll also help you to differentiate them from people who are likely to be interested in it but who are not affected by its outcome.
Cliques: Identify the people, their concerns and their circles of influence
You know what you want to achieve but you need to know who can help (or hinder). What I have learnt from successful project management, is that it's about being prepared to socialise ideas, concerns and considerations so that your initial project group is made up of a set of people who themselves have acknowledged the extent of the stakeholder reach. Consider the following.
Your travellers: Identify which groups travel or meet most frequently and why. Do you engage with them regularly or know the return on investment for their travel? Do you know their views on current service and products and if their needs aren't being met, are they attainable?
Your travel bookers: Are they making the right decisions for the travellers' welfare and for the organisation's bottom line – do they know how? Ask how, when, who, how often and what type of bookings are they making. Are the tools they're working with meeting their needs?
Looking after stakeholders helps when changes are "‹taking place ©iStock/AndreyPopov
Your suppliers: Assess if you are delivering on market share promised to preferred suppliers and if changes in booker and traveller behaviours could increase compliance. This could strengthen your position in negotiation. Are you getting the right data from suppliers to help you make the most informed decisions? Look at which of your existing technology, payment solution and TMC providers will be the best fit for the future and if they need to change to help you achieve your goals. Likewise, what resource and expertise do they have to support you? You may also look at what has changed in your key markets.
Other areas of your business: A company-wide approach will work best for big changes. Try to get the views of those in other areas of the business such as your board, HR, IT, communications, facilities, commercial and finance. How are their views currently addressed and where does responsibility for travel and meetings lie? Do you generally have senior level support and whether the answer is yes, or no, do you know why? Look at external expertise are you using in relation to travel and meetings and how they can help.
Investigate and engage: You know who they are, but what makes them tick?
Stakeholders all need to understand, and endorse, approaches to change. Get to know each person's circumstances within the business and areas of interest. You know who they have influence over but be clear on how and try to identify previous project patterns and the context around them. Ask what swayed them to support change before and how they interact with your other influencers. Assess your options and use everything you find out to make progress at the next stage. Get answers to questions like
- Who will benefit from change?
- Who will lose out?
- What are the relationships between stakeholders?
This type of analysis is particularly useful when various people or business areas have competing interests. For example, commercial teams will likely view travel as an investment in growth rather than a cost to be reduced so friction can arise between commercial and financial department heads if any proposed drive for cost reduction means less travel.
Resources might be limited, but differing needs must be appropriately balanced. As well as evaluating an existing situation, it can be used to evaluate possible scenarios. Your goal might be to implement new technology. In this scenario, it's possible that it'll slot straight in with an existing IT infrastructure. If it won't, and an alternative new technology is a compromise, then the disadvantages that brings might outweigh the advantages to be gained from investment in change, so start speaking with your IT people early. Your TMC will be able to implement and manage third party technology but be absolutely clear on the consequences of you decision for all; if you opt to integrate with expense management for example, are you simply able to switch provider or is your choice restricted based on your booking tool? Technology changes fast and you need to future proof as much as you can, especially in an age of tech-savvy travellers with high expectations.
Engage again, and again, and again: Balance hearts and minds with results.
Trust and relationships are an all-important factor in gaining buy-in. By knowing who you're communicating with and engaging with them early, you're half way there. Then, by designing environments for change you can produce measurable results. The secret is to help people make the right decisions by making change not just easy but unavoidable.
High level business plans can address each need and assess the positive impact of change relative to those. Peer case studies can make your case stronger. The same can be said for end-users. If an entire system needs to change then shift focus away from trying to change individuals to improving the environment first. You might have the ability to make change all but invisible by changing the environment and allowing employees to simply adapt.
The chances are that you'll need to do much more than that, especially when introducing major change and making it mandatory. It's important to get people involved. You have to be honest with them and you have to work with people on the same level. Follow-up launch plans can require regular nudging rather than major initiatives and either way, it will require dedication and persistence.
Recruit 'champions' or 'ambassadors' amongst groups of high frequency travel bookers and/or travellers. As well as helping get their buy-in, it'll make transition smoother for other users and limit the additional resource you need for roll-out. They can help you assess the positions of others on a project, measure the level of support or opposition from others, and predict how others will behave if/when a change is made. Your network of champions will be the foundation for success.
Ongoing relationships: You never know when you'll need help in future!
Buy-in isn't just about raising awareness through a one-off effective communication campaign. It's about creating channels for feedback and ongoing interaction. Channels can encompass MI results reporting, employee road shows, surveys, social media, blogs, and intranets. Depending on the size and culture of the organisation and the employee demographic, you might need to reinforce the same messages in different ways.
Getting it right can help maintain compliance and give you a smoother ride for future projects and it all comes back to the human element so some final tips.
- People like and need to know what the context and the goal is
- Be empathetic – understand the issues
- Deal with disagreements head on. People can agree to disagree, but if left unaddressed, key differences may cause final sign off failure
- Keep people informed so they feel continually involved
- Be prepared to be flexible – new subject matter experts may come into play as your project progresses