Have you ever struggled to get stakeholders bought in to a new initiative? You're not alone. We are thrilled to kick off our Future Perfect Expert Series with Ashley Hoytema, HR Generalist at AdvanTec Manufacturing Canada and former panelist at our event, Future Perfect: Humanizing the Candidate Experience.
Agency recruiter turned HR professional, Ashley believes in the power of sales techniques when it comes to getting organizational buy-in for HR initiatives. Ashley attributes her ability to engage stakeholders and demonstrate value to her experience as an agency recruiter. She developed her buy-in skills in agency recruitment, getting candidates excited about a job and getting hiring managers excited about a candidate. For Ashley, it comes down to understanding what people want and then delivering results that count.
People are often confused when I say that HR is like sales. In HR, we create programs, policies and initiatives to make businesses better. But even the best initiatives and changes fall flat if we aren't able to get stakeholders bought in. That's where the sales element comes in. The most effective HR people I have worked with are experts at rallying people around a new initiative, around change. As with selling a solution to a customer, our job is to understand what our stakeholders care about, creating solutions that are relevant and getting their buy-in by demonstrating the value. Focusing on the why and emphasizing benefits.
The most important thing is to stay on top of communication, especially with management. No matter how well you sell something, you have to follow-up because people get busy and forget - even if they see the value in it. Find a way to communicate that is effective for your stakeholders and be consistent with that method. Follow through with what you have promised and keep communicating the change until it has been picked up by everyone. Share successes along the way to keep people engaged and motivated.
As a manufacturing company, this approach was very out of the box for Garibaldi – out of people's comfort zones. It took time and lots of enthusiasm and communication from HR, but we finally got to a point where our employees knew that when we had a new hire, we would be making a GIF. We built the habit. By the time I left, people were excited to be part of the GIFs – they were even bringing in their own props! Employees have really gotten into it, which is largely because we explained the value and showed why it mattered. New employees loved receiving it too!
Start by engaging with the audience that is going to be affected by it, partnering with them to understand the best design. Work to understand their pain points. Always stay focused on their pain points and how you will alleviate them.
Figure out who your audience is and how they best receive information. Make sure your message is representative and adjust your communication style to the audience.
I have found the most success in selling ideas by being as energetic, optimistic and positive as possible. Make change a good news story, showing that you truly care and getting peoples' energy up. If It's appropriate for your audience, incorporate humour. Put yourself out there, try something new! Do something memorable.
In our quest to make businesses human, we are proud to launch the Future Perfect Expert Series. These Q&A blogs feature industry experts sharing inside scoop on how they are tackling common pain points in their organization. Subscribe today to receive new instalments of the Future Perfect Expert Series right in your inbox!
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