From A to B. Every time we seek to make change happen our goal is to shift people from point A to point B. 

One of the most common and also challenging changes inside our organizations is new company values. Helping hundreds or thousands of people behave in a new way isn’t easy. 

Why do some values remain posters on the wall while others proliferate and infiltrate employees' hearts and minds? Why do the same values at different companies stick while others stall? What sets launches that last apart from those that land with a thud? 

One key difference is how we engage employees in the change. We can either push company change or pull.

While push keeps employees in a passive role where change is done at them, pull invites others in and gives them a role so that change is done with them. 

Very few of us like to be told to change.  This is one reason why push has a shorter shelf-life. Whereas push tends to overemphasize information, pull brings ownership and commitment to the forefront of the change effort. It’s not just about quibbling with information but making people feel. Change becomes ours instead of theirs.

Here are a few ways to shift your approach to change from push to pull:

Leverage change ambassadors

Use a group of change ambassadors to absorb and scale the change. These are likely well-respected and influential employees in the organization. Instead of top-down change led by leadership only (push), pull subtly invites other employees to model the behavior you want. It signals change is safe and rewarding when change comes from people “just like you” and from a similar group and status. 

Leave space

Big company changes take time. Often longer than we think. No need to rush through introducing new values. Avoid sandwiching or squeezing change into an already packed all-hands or town hall gathering. If it only takes 10 minutes to introduce new values this can send an unintentional signal this change may not be that important. This was especially jarring and incongruent for employees who knew that new values at their company were in the works for the past 12 months. The amount of time or space we take up matters. A pull signal may be an entire town hall devoted to the change, “this is going to be different than you’re used to” piques curiosity and helps employees be more open to change. When we push change too quickly we also forget employees also need space and time to digest and process the change. It’s okay to pull people along instead of push all at once.

Focus on the outcome more than the tool 

New company values are great but this is just a tool for a specific outcome. Be able to ask and answer for your employees what these changes will lead to. You have a hammer, but what will it build? For example, employees will want to know, how do these new values support our larger organizational purpose? How do they connect to and support our strategy? What will be different because of it?

Give people a choice

Pull doesn’t mean every single employee gets a say on what the new values are. It’s not a democratic process, especially if your company is over Dunbar’s number (150). What employees do want and need is say in or choice in how the values are implemented, specifically the behaviors. Allow managers a chance to review current actions or behaviors against the values. Have them weigh in on what could get in the way of the values being successful? When it comes time to launch, instead of asking employees to adopt all values overnight have them choose one to focus on one that resonates for them specifically. 

Give employees a role

We want to be needed and valued. Change that is leadership’s alone often stays that way. Have a clear, participatory ask of your employees. Ask them to test out a specific behavior, or to help you stay accountable if they see someone in leadership not behaving in line with the new values. 

Clarify how your employees help you and help the company succeed with this change effort. “My ask of you…” is a powerful pull phrase. 

Make it real

The proof is in the pudding they say. When it comes to change we need concrete proof that makes the change real not abstract. Origin stories and examples of values in a key setting like meetings or 1-1’s help. For example, what is the story your company tells all new hires about how we work? If a value is ‘ownership’ what are stories and examples about what great “ownership” is in a meeting? 

Change becomes easier and less pushed when these stories reveal how these values have been at your company all along. Introducing change from a real-life example (not the value) helps it seem more real and less like a corporate check-the-box activity. 

Work backward from a process you already have in place to show employees what that says about your culture. The more we can show (not tell) employees how these values help them, the better. 

Top-down, leader-directed push change efforts rarely connect or motivate employees to take up change as their own. They remain words on a plaque or a website. This is one reason why so many companies seem to change their values as often as their snack food.

Instead of spending all our time on what the values will be, spend as much or more time on how you’ll bring that change to people. 

Lindsey Caplan is a screenwriter turned organizational psychologist who helps HR & business leaders create experiences that boost motivation, engagement, and performance

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