Persuading Stakeholders, with Some Help from Your Peers
Jinfo Blog

By Robin Neidorf

Abstract

Robin Neidorf explains the four-step persuasion process she recommends for engaging with stakeholders and organisational leaders, and outlines the benefits of Community of Practice sessions.

Item

You have no doubt that your organisation is under-investing in information skills development, but no one seems to pay attention to your concerns.

What do you do about it?

Participants in today's FreePint Communities of Practice (CoP) teleconference, "Getting Information Skills on the Strategic Agenda", learned and applied a four-step persuasion process for engaging with stakeholders and organisational leaders around this issue. We talked through examples, ideas and real-world results of applying elements of this process to their environments.

Practical Checklist

The process is one I apply to nearly every challenge involving persuading stakeholders to adopt a different world-view... and do something about it.

It comprises a practical checklist for:

1. Framing the problem
2. Gaining buy-in
3. Developing workable solutions
4. Achieving results.

Our group in this session was diverse, with representatives from consulting, energy, manufacturing, legal and policy research. And although every example didn't apply to every participant, the underlying principles do "translate" across industries and situations. One person's example about the impact of bringing in 3D printers to coalesce a community of innovation offered everyone a platform for discussing how corporate libraries can become "innovation hubs", similar to how many public libraries are reinventing themselves.

Peer-Learning and Idea Exchange

Facilitating CoPs is one of the most satisfying elements of my work: unlike reading an article, which presents ideas from a single expert or handful of experts on a topic, participants in CoPs join a process of peer-learning and idea exchange. They challenge the model, work out how to adapt it to their world and support each other.

We are offering this CoP again on June 25th. Join us with your questions and concerns about raising the visibility of skills development in your organisation's strategic agenda. Read more and register now.

CoPs are an included service of the FreePint Subscription at the Community level and higher.

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