Little Dog, Big Lessons: The Socialize Phase in Action

What Puppies Teach Us About the Socialize Phase

A new puppy joined my family recently. We have been calling her Little Dog and her 6-year-old sister Big Dog. We knew we were getting Little Dog weeks in advance, so I had lots of time to prepare. And by that, I mean predict what could go wrong and try to plan for it. I made a lot of assumptions that turned out to be incorrect. Here are two:

• I assumed Big Dog would be upset about Little Dog’s arrival. In fact, Big Dog is thrilled. It’s been years since she got treats and praise for going potty outside, but now she gets rewarded for being a good role model. 

• Big Dog had an appointment outside of the house just hours after Little Dog arrived. I assumed Big Dog would think she was being replaced. In fact, Little Dog was the anxious one, probably thinking “What is this place that makes dogs disappear?!”

Introducing a new dog to the family wasn’t my typical change management project, but it did remind me of an important lesson about assumptions. When we do engagement work - getting people to adopt new ideas and practices - it is risky to base our activities on assumptions. We could try to guess how people will receive the proposal and whether they will support it, but at best we guess right and miss an opportunity for a conversation. At worst, we guess wrong, which means we mis-identify our champions and skeptics, develop ineffective arguments, or even offend and isolate our colleagues. 

Listen & Adjust

True engagement is not just about convincing, it’s also about listening and adjusting. As part of our theory of change, SRS recommends a constituent engagement process that starts with making a list of constituents, and then intentionally gathering their perspectives. Once project leads have concrete information about their constituents’ reactions to the new idea or practice, then they can choose how to incorporate the feedback they received. They can modify the approach, address technical concerns, or if nothing else, provide more targeted facts and arguments that directly address questions that were raised. 

Show & Tell

One of the most critical steps in constituent engagement is to show, not just say, “you were heard.” Making adjustments, providing targeted and individualized responses, and letting people know what you did with their feedback and perspectives is a critical step to close the loop. Those are all things you can do when you listen first, and not things you can do when you start with assumptions.  

Here are tips for an assumption-free engagement process:

• Identify all constituents who will be affected by the change. Look beyond those with formal authority, and consider the opinions of those who will implement the change and those who you hope will benefit from it. 

• Gather their perspectives. You can use brief surveys for larger constituent groups, but be strategic about using one-on-one conversations or synchronous group sessions when you want to elicit more nuanced and thorough feedback.

• Incorporate the feedback into your approach. You might change the substance of your approach, or simply talk about it in new ways to clarify your intent and expectations. Either way, it is critical that you do something in response to what you heard.

• Report back. Let your constituents know how they shaped the end result, as a validation of the time and effort they spent to be part of your change management process.