At a presentation last week, I took a few questions at the end of the “Eight Steps to Get More Members to Attend Your Next Meeting.” A young woman, confident and hyper motivated raised her hand:
“I’m a millennial and I have a lot ideas that I think would help my association, but I’m the new kid. We have several ‘older’ staff colleagues who have been around a long time and don’t really want to change. How do I take what I just learned back to them and influence them to change?”
Lian, a HBA Membership & Marketing Director realized her reality – or challenge on Step Eight of the Eight Steps – Operationalize the changes you want to make in your communications plan.
Another millenial staffer spoke up right away and said “I know how you feel, but there’s a reason they hired you. Don’t underestimate your influence and the chance to make change for the better. Speak up with your ideas!” You have to be different to make a difference.
The best conversation and ultimate solution came from the Baby Boomer Executive Director sitting right next to her. Since there is a lot of politics in business, he suggested “You really need to make it seem like the change you make is ‘their idea’.”
We brainstormed as a group and came up with this solution: In the same way I present before and after examples in my presentations, this young staffer could do her own “before” and “after” examples of the association’s work, ask her colleagues to choose which they prefer.
If SALES is “the process of establishing credibility and rapport in order to further a relationship,” Lian, you are on your way to selling new ideas and making some change!
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