There's one thing that's constant, and that's change. But why is it that some organizations seem to manage change so effortlessly, while others appear to buck it?

Turns out most companies approach change all wrong. They see change as a barrier that needs to be overcome rather than the by-product of something that’s happened.

On today’s episode, I talk to Tamsen Webster – part idea whisperer, part message strategist and part presentation coach – about ways companies (and people) can navigate change and get buy-in for their ideas. She’s also the Executive Producer of TEDxCambridge, the largest and oldest, locally-organized TEDx events in the world.

Today we’re going to talk specifically about change, how we can get people to embrace change and how to affect change in our organizations. Whether we’re trying to change the minds of our customers, our sales reps, the people on our teams, or people in our personal lives, we can all benefit from learning how to navigate this inevitable force to achieve the outcomes we desire. If companies want to handle change more effectively, Tamsen says, then they’d do best to change the way they look at change.

“We look at change as the thing we’re trying to accomplish when, in fact, change is the result of something,” Tamsen says. “Change isn’t the means. It’s the end."

I know you're going to love this discussion, and you're going to learn a ton from Tamsen Webster on this edition of Grow My Revenue!

Listen to this episode and discover:

· The key ingredient that so many companies overlook when it comes to communicating change. (It’s what Tamsen calls the ‘Trojan Horse’ of change.)

· The (wrong) ways companies and managers try to change people’s minds.

· How companies can make things make sense internally, so they can make things make sense externally, and therefore make the change happen.

· The 5-step framework that companies can use to communicate and effectuate change.

· And so much more…

Episode Overview

As a speaking and presentation coach, Tamsen Webster knows how to capture an audience's attention. More importantly, she knows how to communicate complex (and, at times, controversial) ideas clearly, so they can effectuate change.

There’s a big difference, she says, between trying to convince people of something that makes no sense to them, and making your case so compelling that people willingly make the decision to change.

“We need things to be meaningful in order to make a different decision from what we’re doing right now, and that’s critically important, because if they don’t make any sense to us, then we’re not going to move off of status quo,” Tamsen says.

The meaning we ascribe to things and our decision to embrace change is the ‘red thread’ that ties the two together, Tamsen says. In this episode, she talks about:

· How people make sense of things.

· Examples of the ways most companies try to persuade people to change.

· The five questions she asks all her clients who are trying to effectuate change.

· The “Dark Side” of persuasion and selling.

“This is not in any way about manipulating people to your point of view. It’s about making your reasoning for something as clear as possible, in language that’s going to be as clear as possible to (your audience) so that the meaning that you have transfers as frictionlessly as possible to them.”

Tune in for all of these nuggets of wisdom, and more, on today's Grow My Revenue with Tamsen Webster.

For full show notes and other resources, please visit: http://www.ianaltman.com/podcast/tamsen-webster/