Okay, hands up if you're struggling with making change within your organisation?
The greatest challenge in the change management is making people care about the message that we are telling them. This isn't an easy thing to do - especially in organisations, where people are swamped with daily work activities.
Most people just want to get on with their daily routine and maintain status quo. It's not that people are lazy. They just need to be convinced that the change is worth their attention and energy.
So the question for us - the people who roll-out change in organisation - is how to grab people's attention and tell an engaging story. To me, the answer is by launching great marketing campaigns to initiate the change effort.
Posters and a website are the foundation for a good marketing campaign, because they create greater awareness and inform people on the reason behinds the change effort. To have a great marketing campaign, however, you need to produce fantastic videos.
The Power of Videos
In recent years, more people and organisations are using videos as a change management tools, because videos are the best medium to store and convey stories - especially the emotional elements of the story.
Take for example, KONY 2012. It is a successful viral campaign that calls people to take (simple) action to stop Joseph Kony. (if you don't know who he is and you don't care, then I was at the same boat with you - before I watched the video clip below).
Here is another brilliant example of the use of video as a storytelling tool: the trailer of the movie, Prometheus. By using real event brand - TED - and projecting it into the future, i.e. year 2023, we are unconsciously drawn into the story. It's akin to getting invitation to participate in the future - told by the movie.
Why the Adoption of Video Has Accelerated
The use of video has been increasingly important over the years, and will be critical in change effort in the future, for at least two reasons. First, the effort and cost to produce and to host videos have been steadily decreasing over the years. Second, the technology to support the consumption of videos, such as broadband internet, mobile platforms like iPad / iPhone, and sharing tools (i.e. social technology) is widely available.
Even within the organisation, the infrastructure for hosting videos can be easily acquired and it is now more affordable to invest in such technology. In sharepoint 2010-based intranet, you can consider Kontiki enterprise to host and distribute videos.
In short, the time is ripe to make use of video as the leading tool in change initiative. By not investing time / effort in producing videos and not investing in infrastructure, organisations are making change more difficult. And these organisations are not agile, are less innovative, and will get left behind.
Thoughts?
Further Readings
Bailyn, E. (19 March 2012). The Difference Between Slacktivism and Activism: How 'Kony 2012′ Is Narrowing The Gap. Huffington Post
Tsukayama, H. (10 March 2012). Kony 2012: The Anatomy of a Viral Campaign. Washington Post.
Suddath, C. (16 March 2012). Five Reasons the Kony Video Went Viral. Bloomberg Business Week.
Pomerantz, D. (18 April 2012). 'Prometheus': When Movie Marketing Goes Very Right. Forbes.