I manage risk, why am I not seen as part of the business?
Updated: Jul 13
That's what my client told me, frustrated by yet another meeting where she got sidelined.
With new compliance measurements on the horizon, her message mattered. But in meetings she was uninspiring, She walked people through her team's work, in granular detail, step by step by step. Her thought, "They'll see and appreciate our extremely thorough effort."
Instead, people tuned out.
They didn't see why the work mattered to them.
And, as a consequence, she didn't get the go-ahead of a vital system upgrade.
I asked her, "What is the value of this work, directly to the business?"
She looked at me puzzled. "What do you mean? Doing this is simply a regulatory issue. They have to do it."
"I get that," I said. "But if I were on the business side, I would still be wondering, why does this matter to me?"
That's when it clicked.
She was assuming people were already on board.
She was proving herself, not partnering with them.
This awareness prompted her to make a huge shift from telling others WHAT she and her team do, to INFLUENCING the way they think about it.
She stopped leading with her team's process and started speaking to:
The pain points her audience really cared about (disruption to them, managing risk...)
The positive impact of her work on THEIR business needs
How she and her team would seamlessly guide them through the transition
Same work. Same goals.
Different lens.
And the result immediate.
People started listening.
Conversations become more collaborative.
She ultimately got the green light.
At Radiate we offer coaching and workshops to help you and your teams move from purely process to persuasion.
Take a moment to consider:
What is it that my audience needs to hear to be persuaded of this?
