Lessons Learned from Daniel Pink

Published by Jim Turko

Over 900 Change Management professionals gathered in Las Vegas for the annual ACMP Conference last week.  This year’s theme was Driving Business Results Through Effective Change Management.

The conference keynote speaker, Daniel Pink, kicked off the session by discussing the rapid change of pace in the world, particularly when it comes to selling.  Information parity has shifted the balance from “buyer beware” to “seller beware.”  Based on this insight, he challenged the audience to make use of three basic principles: Attunement (understanding the perspective of others), Buoyancy (staying afloat in a sea of rejection), and Clarity (making sense of the additional information available to everyone).

Mr. Pink closed the keynote session by providing five tactics to increase our ability to function in the new environment:

  • Counter to intuition, you can increase your effectiveness by decreasing your position of power.
  • Using the mannerisms (posture, language, gestures) of those you interact with can positively influence their interactions with you.
  • While extroverts are generally thought to be more persuasive than introverts, ambiverts (which share the traits of both) are shown to be more effective than either of them.
  • When trying to get people to change, you need to focus more on the why than the how.
  • When trying to get people to change, you need to give them an off-ramp and make it easy for them to adopt the change.

The remainder of the conference provided insights into effective communications, developing leadership capability, using graphical depictions to assist change, understanding how neuroscience can provide insight into dealing with change, and developing a better understanding of how culture can impact change initiatives.

Highlands Consulting looks forward to presenting at the next ACMP Conference in May 2016!