[Webinar] How to Manage Organizational Change: People, Process, and Politics

4 minute read

Upland Admin

A year ago, I moved to Colorado from the Bay Area, which means I’ve spent the last 12 months experiencing seasons for the very first time.

As my very first winter approached, it dawned on me that I was entirely unprepared for temperatures below 50 degrees. At a minimum, I’d need to acquire a (real) coat, snow boots, and an ice scraper if I wanted to survive. Building out my collection of cold-weather supplies wasn’t cheap—nor was it how I wanted to spend the last warm days of the year—but I knew that the snow was coming whether I wanted it to or not, and adapting was a necessity. Sure, I could have saved time and money in the short term, but I would have ended up pretty miserable in the long term.

Today’s marketers are facing a similar—if vastly more complicated—conundrum.

Put Your Money Where Your Customer Is

Over the last decade or so, we marketers have woken up to find ourselves squarely in the Age of the Customer. By this point, no one disputes the fact that customer centricity is the name of the game. We know that every experience prospects and customers alike have with our brand must be nothing short of outstanding if we expect to win out over our competitors.

To do so, we must resist the urge to produce more and more content, and instead focus on creating less, yet better, content that aligns departments and connects to overarching company messaging.

But managing the transition to customer centricity isn’t simple, and all too often, organizations struggle as they work to shift their operating models to meet the demands of the today’s buyers.

That’s because becoming customer-centric isn’t just about changing the type or style of content your team creates. It’s about fundamentally restructuring the way your team—and even your organization as a whole—thinks. This poses a host of challenges, but there two major obstacles that loom before the hopeful change-maker:

  1. Breaking down established processes to disrupt the way people work
  2. Navigating internal politics

Humans are inherently resistant to change, and your team is no exception. Change not only introduces risk and makes people uncomfortable but also requires an upfront investment of work to understand and adapt to a new way of doing things. Even though the long-term effects of change will likely improve the lives of everyone involved, its easy to miss the forest for the trees, primarily considering the day-to-day difficulties of learning something new rather than the long-term improvements to productivity, happiness, and success.

And whenever there is a discussion about the merits of a new approach, things can’t help but get political. Whose side are you on? Do advocates and dissenters harbor secret, personal motives? Before you know it, a discussion about something concrete can devolve into a professional shoving match, each side looking to gain the upper hand simply for the sake of it.

Are these struggles inevitable? Is it worth attempting organizational change at all if this is what you’ll face?

A Better Way to Manage Change—According to a Kapost SVP

What’s required is a fundamental reframing of our approach. It’s not a question of whether an organizational change is worth it—it’s a question of how to manage it better.

Because customers will expect cohesive, informative experiences whether you provide them or not. As the market evolves, companies that don’t effectively navigate the chaos of siloed teams, tools, and channels to increase efficiency, accountability, and ROI of their content will start to lose, while those that do will start to win.

Is there a way to help your teams survive the journey to a better content operation?

Kapost’s Senior Vice President of Professional Services, Michelle Johnston, thinks leaders can do more than help their teams survive. When done right, she says, change enables people to thrive.

That’s why I’ve invited her into the Kapost webinar studio to speak live about how companies can elevate from content marketing to a true content operation, building alignment through influence, and leveraging effective governance to supercharge efficiency and creativity.

I hope you can join us on Thursday, August 9 at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET.

This is one of the most important topics we’ve ever covered.

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