Event Planning

Is your Organization Fighting Change: Look for These Signs

Signs your organization is fighting change
Signs your organization is fighting change

For some organizations, "change” is a four-letter word. Things seem to be working just fine. Why do we need to "change things up?”.

You may hear, "We should stick with what has worked, it has never let us down in the past.”

However, you see a different horizon, one where the organization becomes irrelevant to a new generation.

You feel that the organization needs to evolve and adapt. Change is inevitable you argue.

Why can't others on your board, committee or staff see that? It could be because they don't want to see it. Change brings people out of their comfort zone, it poses a risk to what they perceive is "working just fine.” So, they fight it. Do you see that happening in your organization? If you are the agent of change, you need to prepare (arm) yourself to battle the "change resistance movement”.

This may be especially true if you want to introduce mobile bidding into your next fundraising gala and silent auction!

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Four signs that someone in your organization is fighting change


THEY FIND FLAWS WITH THE IDEA

Have someone nit-picking the idea? No matter what the idea is, they find things about it that just aren't good. For every progressive idea brought up, there are at least 2-3 issues with it. Or at least it seems like that.

 Look for objections and "issues” that are a signal of the resistance movement spinning up: "it costs too much”, "it is missing this feature and we MUST have this feature”, or "our guests are too old to use technology.”

 

THEY TRY TO KILL IT WITH QUESTIONS

So you have prepared and delivered a response for every objection, but the fight is not over! The next round is what seems like a never-ending series of questions. Most of them starting with "what if”. The point of these questions is to establish a set of hypothetical scenarios that you can't possibly address. The end goal is to establish a sense of doubt in the decision-makers. At some point, the questions become so absurd that you don't even want to respond. Hang in there, your objective is not to address all of them but to help others on your team of decision-makers to see that these absurd questions are … well absurd.

 

PLAYING THE "BEEN THERE DONE THAT” CARD

You are on a roll and have successfully addressed the nit pickers and managed to get through the barrage of absurd questions.

But they haven't given up yet.....nor have you! You are still promoting the idea. But it's not over! Here comes the "Oh, we've done that before and it didn't work” tactic.

Look for comments like, "You want to do a mobile/online auction? Oh we did that 3 years ago and our guests hated it.” Never mind that technology has evolved and so have people's comfort level with technology. This tactic is meant to shut down the idea once and for all.

THEY BRING IN THE CHOIR

It is not over... the resistance will not give up.  So next is a final resort to combat change! You are in your office and the head of the resistance walks in, sits down and says "You know, several people are upset that we are considering this.”

Here we go, the "several people” approach, or what we like to call "the choir”. Which, by the way, is full of anonymous (maybe even imaginary people) in most cases. This tactic is meant to convince you that their numbers are larger than they are. This choir is often comprised of co-workers, board members, and major donors. It needs to be people that have influence so the effect is increased.

Group of retired senior people using laptop and tablet


Look for signs like: "Our guests are old and don't know how to use technology” or "Our board is not going to approve this cost”.

PREPARING YOURSELF FOR BATTLE

Does any of this ring a bell? Have you been able to successfully combat some of these tactics but not all? We face these objections daily in our interactions with prospects, customers and others in the industry. We would love to help. If you want more information on tactics you can use specific to mobile bidding and how you can overcome this resistance movement, click here and reach out to us for a FREE CONSULTATION. This won't be a sales pitch about Handbid but just a free offer to speak with you about how you can overcome the resistance in your own organization.

 
ARE YOU PART OF THE RESISTANCE?

Are you just simply nervous about the unknown vs. the known? Do you want to speak with us to get a better understanding of why all of these people around you in your organization are pushing for this? We would also love to speak with you and are happy to provide you with a NO SALES PITCH point of view about mobile and technology and our services. After all, we are fundraisers too! Click here to reach out to us!

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