27 November 2022

Season 3, Episode 24. Change Marketing and Innovation with Kathya Acuña

Welcome to Innovation Meets Leadership! I’m your host, Natalie Born. In this episode, Kathya Acuña of Change Strategy at LOCAL focuses on the human aspect of change. She discusses the importance of communication and bringing people along in the process. By effectively engaging employees, organizations can have faster adoption and establish a healthy work culture.

 

Kathya is the Director of Change Strategy at LOCAL, a Change Marketing™ consultancy helping some of the world's best companies make change stick by treating their employees as an audience worth winning. She is a business transformation consultant passionate about human-centered storytelling. Over the past 12 years, Kathya has worked in various roles, from helping non-profits define their vision, mission, and values to launching a brewery in Bogota, Colombia.

 

[00:19] A Human-Centered Approach to Change

  • Kathya defines Change Marketing

  • We often talk about the tool or the product but not how we bring innovation to the organization

    • You can have the best idea but if you don't effectively communicate, no one will adopt it

 

[04:20] Co-Creating Change

  • Employees feel disengagement and frustration when leaders don’t ​​communicate critical changes

  • With a healthy culture, people are actively co-creating change and there’s less resistance

  • Think about not only the project timeline but also the change timeline

    • Include employees in the process and spend time to take their insights at the beginning

  • Leadership is serving and we serve people well if we value their opinions and thoughts

  • Without curiosity, you are always making assumptions

  • When you have curiosity, you acknowledge that there are varied perspectives on the matter

 

[13:42] Handling Dissension

  • There are always going to be different reactions to change

  • The dissenters are the best source of insights

    • Get their pain points or the reasons why they're unwilling to really even consider the idea

  • Empower them to give their opinions and co-create

 

[17:21] Success Ties Back to Adoption

  • Just because somebody is emotional about a change does not mean they're unwilling to take the journey

  • It’s vital to build in more space and time for them to process their feelings

  • Human-centered storytelling is essential in determining how people feel about the change

 

[21:21] Avoiding Learned Helplessness

  • When organizations ignore their people’s voices, cynicism takes over

  • Leaders should foster a safe environment where employees can feel comfortable in speaking and trying things

 

[24:58]  Closing Segment

  • Final thoughts from Kathya

  • Connect with Kathya!

 

Key Quotes:

“When it comes to change, everything comes back down to adoption, which comes back down to people. It's not so much about managing change as it is about marketing change and making sure that the change is very much human-centered.” - Kathya Acuña

 

“In a really healthy culture in which there's high trust, where leadership is engaged, where employees actually believe the communication that's coming down and trust that leaders are making the right decisions, oftentimes we find that leaders are in fact asking employees  for their opinion.” - Kathya Acuña

 

“How do I ensure people see the problem and I create awareness of the why? Why is this a problem? What are the pain points? Who's feeling those pain points?” - Kathya Acuña

 

“If you practice curiosity, you can push a little bit in and go, okay, tell me more. And the moment they tell you more, then maybe you realize that you didn't know what they were going to say after all.” - Kathya Acuña

 

Connect with Kathya 

Website: https://www.localindustries.com/, https://changemarketinguniversity.teachable.com/  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathyaacuna

 

Today's SPONSORSHIP is brought to you by Territory Global. You can connect with us on Instagram, and Twitter or visit our website territory.co Join the workforce movement! 

 

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