Part 4: Change Management

How to Get Stakeholder Buy-In

Rolling out an insights engine may require changes to existing processes, team structures, and behaviors, as well as the introduction of new technology. In other words, it involves a whole lot of change. And while change can lead to innovation, increased productivity, and business growth, it can also come with uncertainty.

As you prepare to introduce your insights engine to your stakeholders, it’s important to think about potential roadblocks and reasons why certain stakeholders might resist change. Anticipating and addressing these concerns ahead of the rollout will help you ensure your stakeholders are excited rather than wary.

Best Practices for Introducing Your Insights Engine

Bring Stakeholders In From the Beginning

Stakeholders need to experience the platform for themselves. Solely describing it to them makes it hard for them to distinguish it from Sharepoint or Microsoft Teams. A small, limited pilot or an extensive demo site helps stakeholders understand the possibilities, beyond what they think they know about knowledge management.

Regeneron logo - Derek Fetzer, Director of Consumer Insights, Regeneron

Get Your Executive Champion Involved

Your leadership team, or an executive sponsor from your leadership team, should play an active role in promoting your insights engine to drive change from the top down. Consider asking an executive champion to record a short video or send an email explaining the insights engine, the goals associated with it, and how it will benefit the organization.

Brand Your Insights Engine

Start getting your stakeholders invested in (and familiar with) your insights engine by giving it a brand that aligns with your organization’s culture. If you’re rolling out a new insights management platform that allows for customization, consider using your brand’s colors in the layout and creating a logo and name specific to the platform.

Make the Rollout an Event

Start driving adoption and engagement as soon as you launch your insights engine by making the rollout a big deal. Tailor your launch event to your company’s culture. For example, if you and your stakeholders work together in the same office and have a culture that often involves in-office events, consider holding a launch party with snacks, branded swag, a brief introduction to the insights engine, and demos of any new technology. If you and your stakeholders work remotely or in different offices, you could hold a virtual event over Zoom or another video platform and use activities such as a virtual scavenger hunt to keep people engaged.

Support Continual Training

Change management isn’t a one-time event, and hosting ongoing training sessions can help your stakeholders continue to maximize the value of your insights engine (and help get new hires up to speed). Use these training sessions to review best practices and introduce any changes to your insights engine, such as a new content type or methodology your team is using or a product update to your insights management platform.

Share Insights Engine Successes

Celebrate your wins–loudly. Share (in writing and verbally) stories of stakeholders using your insights engine to make a decision that positively impacts your business and its customers, and encourage your stakeholders to share these testimonials as well. You may also want to share any notable engagement metrics that come out of your insights management platform. This will help keep the insights engine top of mind and show stakeholders your progress towards the vision you presented.

Write Your Elevator Pitch

When preparing for your rollout, it can be helpful to have an elevator pitch to concisely communicate your insights engine’s value to your stakeholders.

Sample Elevator Pitch

One source for all market research and insights. That was our goal when we created [Insight Engine’s Name]. The process for finding answers to your research questions is now as simple as a Google search. The days of hunting through multiple shared folders and email threads are gone for good!

Ask yourself the following questions to help craft your elevator pitch:

  • What problems are you solving with your insights engine?
  • What specific needs will the insights engine address for your stakeholders?
  • What questions from your stakeholders can you anticipate and answer?
  • What will your organization look like in a year or two thanks to this change?
  • What will motivate your stakeholders to buy into this change?

And keep these helpful tips in mind:

  • Be brief.It’s called an elevator pitch for a reason–you should be able to convey it in the length of time of a short elevator ride (20-30 seconds). Your stakeholders are busy, and it’s important that your message packs a punch in two to three sentences.
  • Know your audience.Remember, this elevator pitch isn’t for you. Think about what matters most to your audience when crafting your message.
  • Think about the future state.Talk about your vision for your organization’s future state after implementing your insights engine. This is your opportunity to get your stakeholders excited and aligned around a shared vision.
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Next: How to Maintain a Culture of Insights Sharing