“You want me to get on board with your change? What’s in it for me?”
By: Allan Owens
Tags: Business Strategy, Change Management, Project Management, Neuroscience, Psychology

One secret of success: find out what people want — then give it to them.

Source: Adapted from Freepik.com (under licence)

Your stakeholder’s WIIFM: a force for effective change

WIIFM defined

You are sitting in Head Office. Your communications: polished and ready to go. The business case for your change is clear: cost savings, and long-term organisational benefits. Colleagues and decision-makers nod. You have double-checked your mail merge. Your heart skips a beat — then you click the ‘send’ button. Your communications are on their way to your target audiences.

In a factory in another state, a production shift is about to finish. Workers check their email before clocking off. In a regional office, workers are on their mobile phones. For a brief second — you have your impacted employee’s attention. They read your email subject line, then tune out your first sentence. But your colleagues thought your message was OK? Nope. You haven’t compelled them to read your message. Even worse — if they had, your message would have little impact. You haven’t tuned into your audience’s “What’s in it for me”.

Rodger Dean Duncan cheekily suggests: “When confronted with change, most people tune into their favourite internal radio station: WIIFM — What’s in it for me?” ¹

So a subtle shift in mindset may have saved your communications. When drafting your communications, did you do your homework? Did you speak to people in your target audience? If so, you would learn what parts of your change resonate with them. You may learn about how certain audiences absorb information — and it may not be via email. So have you placed yourself in your audience’s shoes?

“…understand the person you are dealing with…not confuse your needs with theirs. Most people never succeed at this, because they are completely trapped in their own wants and desires. They start from the assumption that the people they are appealing to have a selfless interest in helping them. They talk as if their needs mattered to these people — who probably couldn’t care less. Sometimes they refer to larger issues: a great cause, or grand emotions such as love and gratitude. They go for the big picture when simple, everyday realities would have much more appeal. What they do not realise is that even the most powerful person is locked inside needs of his own, and if you make no appeal to his self-interest, he merely sees you as desperate, or, at best, a waste of time.” Robert Greene, 48 Laws of Power, page 98 ²

Where do you learn the WIIFM?

How do you learn people’s WIIFM? My experience has been positive with the below methods suggested. People involved in your research need to trust you. If you can involve them in your change, they are, for the most part, willing to help you!

Spend time in their work environment (ethnography research³). People affected by your change can walk you through how they currently work. You may call this type of research a ‘Day in the life of’ (DILO). Or a current-state walkthrough. They may share their pain points with their current way of working. Depending on what you can share about the future state, you can test specific ideas with them. Some of their pain points may reduce or vanish because of the future state. What is their take on this? They may share their anxieties about the future state with you. Or their frustration and concern about concurrent changes. The information they provide you is robust research data. You have almost a hands-on understanding of their current state. This rich understanding is brilliant for any change impact assessment!

Consulting HR business partners. If you can’t spend time out in the field, consulting trusted HR business partners can be useful. HR business partners often have an in-depth understanding of your target audience. Their understanding can reveal valuable insights into how to target your audience. They will also understand employee group’s routine behaviours. And what communication approach works for them. Shift workers will have different routines and preferences to office workers. Hospital staff have different everyday work behaviours to police officers. Or teachers, wealth advisors, journalists or salespeople.

Subject matter experts — especially ex-members of your target audience. This approach works especially well in one instance. When you can’t share your future state with people impacted by your change. Instead, your experts can leverage their previous ‘front line’ experience. They become useful architects of your change with many insights they can share. These insights include predictable, routine behaviours of your target audience:

What medium(s) they engage in

What time(s) of the day they are open to new messages, including training.

How they prefer to absorb messages

Appropriate terms and language

Other forums, like workshops, are also useful in understanding people’s WIIFM. You can also tap into your CAST of characters — Champions, Agents, Sponsors and our afore-mentioned Targets ¹. I recommend asking people about their work routines. I also ask about the communication mediums that work for them. Most people are happy to share what works for them so that you can tailor your approach.

Preparing to learn WIIFM: features vs. benefits

In the advertising profession, copywriters ‘sell with words’ ⁴. Copywriters are responsible for writing compelling sales copy for a product (or service). Their sales skills are borne from a meticulous understanding of their product’s features and benefits. Features and benefits are distinctly different. Dan Shewan defines both, using an example of the Apple iPod ⁵.

Features. Something your product has or is. This could be functionality for a software application. Features either delight the customer or address pain points. An Apple iPod feature: Storage for 1Gb of MP3s.

Benefits. The outcomes or results a customer experiences by buying your product. The iPod benefit: 1,000 songs in your pocket.

So what does this mean for project and change professionals? We are in the advertising/marketing profession too! Our ‘customer’ is internal — the employees affected by our change.

“Change and getting people to change is all about selling them on your perspective and getting them to buy in and commit… what the person selling the concept thinks is important may not align with what the person buying the concept may think is important.” Melina Palmer, The Brainy Business Podcast ⁶

When we draft communications, we are serving the same function as the copywriter. We sell with words. So why not learn from professionals like copywriters? Borrow from other professions to become better change and project professionals.

The next time you draft your communication, can you include and articulate your change’s features and benefits?

Listing and ranking features and benefits

The idea of features and benefits shines a new light on what you learn from stakeholders. Can you list your change’s features? What are the corresponding benefits? Wait, stop. Have you articulated the features and benefits from your audience’s perspective? Will your factory worker, office manager, researcher, police officer or accountant use your words chosen for either features or benefits?

What does the change mean for them?

You may be confident that you already know. But until you have worked through your list of features and benefits with your target audience, you are assuming. And how would your audience rank each feature and benefit by importance to them? Can your audience ‘play’ with a tangible part of your future state? Or can you describe it to them? I have always learned from any meetings with affected employees. This learning is incredible when I find out their views on features and benefits.

“It is important for designers to develop an understanding of their users’ expectations through task analyses and other research.” Michael Leavitt, Research-based web design & usability guidelines, Section 1.3 ⁷

Your communications deserve the same care and attention as your future state. Especially in understanding your audience’s needs and expectations. You may discover that you also need to address dis-benefits ⁸ in your communications.

Learn the “warts and all” perceptions of your change — straight from your target audience. Manage the “warts” about your change in at least two ways:

Crafted responses may feature as answers in a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document.

Tell your project team of the negative perceptions you uncover. Depending on the “wart”, they can flag these as project risks or issues.

Are you are familiar with the SCARF model? If so, you can understand your audience’s reaction to each feature and benefit from a different lens.

The time and effort you invest in learning from your target audience can pay off. It’s worth going and finding out.

This one-minute video covers both features, benefits and using SCARF to elicit your audience’s WIIFM.

Source: Allan Owens

Recap

Invest time with your target audience. Can they share their perceptions of your change’s benefits, dis-benefits and features? Can they rank these benefits and features? What communication medium(s) and terminology resonate with your audience?

Know these answers from first-hand research, and your effort will pay off. Well-informed, your change work is more likely to hit the mark. Craft messages, select the right medium(s) and pinpoint the optimal timing for the most significant impact. Your initial communications may compel your audience to ‘spread the word’ — a form of ‘earned media’ ⁹.

Your call to action

When is your next communication on your project due? What can you do differently now to adapt your communication to target audience behaviours and expectations? How useful is the ‘features and benefits’ lens for your next message draft? What is in your change for each of your target audiences?

Reference List

1. Duncan RD. In Times Of Change, “What’s In It For Me?” Is The Question You Need To Answer. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/3001250/times-change-whats-it-me-question-you-need-answer. Published 2012. Accessed December 10, 2020.

2. Greene R. The 48 Laws of Power. (Joost Elffers, ed.). Hodder Headline Australia Pty Ltd; 1998.

3. Young N. What is Ethnography Research? . Experience UX. https://www.experienceux.co.uk/faqs/what-is-ethnography-research/. Published 2019. Accessed December 10, 2020.

4. Alan Sharpe’s 20-Hour Copywriting Masterclass | Udemy. https://www.udemy.com/course/alan-sharpe-copywriting-masterclass/. Accessed October 31, 2020.

5. Shewan D. Features vs. Benefits: Here’s the Difference & Why It Matters. Wordstream. https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/02/21/features-vs-benefits. Published 2020. Accessed December 10, 2020.

6. Palmer M. 7. Change Management (It’s Still Not About The Cookie) — The Brainy Business. The Brainy Business Podcast. https://thebrainybusiness.com/podcast/7-change-management-its-still-not-about-the-cookie/. Published 2018. Accessed October 31, 2020.

7. Leavitt MO. Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines. Vol 2009.; 2006. http://www.usability.gov/pdfs/guidelines.html.

8. Change Management Terminology Glossary. Change Activation. https://changeactivation.com/change-management-terminology-glossary/#Dis-benefit. Accessed December 10, 2020.

9. Smith K. How to Define and Measure Paid, Owned and Earned Media | Brandwatch. Brandwatch. https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/define-measure-paid-owned-earned-media/. Published 2016. Accessed December 10, 2020.