Course Objective & Scope
Seasoned executives never walk into a 15-person steering committee meeting hoping to persuade the room from scratch; high-stakes meetings are where pre-aligned decisions are ratified, not where minds are changed for the first time. This course teaches the art and science of organizational coalition building: pre-wiring (Nemawashi) key decision-makers one-on-one, cultivating active executive sponsors, co-creating ownership, and sequencing early wins to build unstoppable momentum.
Participants design a step-by-step coalition campaign for a major strategic proposal or transformation initiative.
Who Should Attend?
- Department heads, directors, transformation leads and senior product/programme managers
- Leaders seeking steering committee or C-suite approval for major investments and policy shifts
- Change agents driving cross-enterprise process, cultural or digital adoption
- No technical prerequisites
Key Takeaways
- Run disciplined pre-wiring (Nemawashi) conversations so there are zero surprises in formal decision meetings
- Convert passive 'approving' sponsors into active champions willing to spend political capital
- Use strategic co-creation (the IKEA Effect) so influential peers defend the proposal as their own
- Sequence outreach strategically—winning credible early adopters to tip the undecided majority
- Detect and disarm blocking coalitions early by addressing core turf and risk concerns
Curriculum
The Mathematics of Coalitions: Critical Mass & Sequencing
- Why trying to convince everyone at once fails: selecting your foundational allies
- Structuring concentric coalition rings: Core Co-Founders, Executive Sponsors and Peer Evangelists
Pre-Wiring (Nemawashi): Winning the Meeting Before the Meeting
- Conducting one-on-one socialization tours to surface hidden red lines in private
- Leveraging the 'Advice Effect': asking for input on a draft rather than pitching a finished monument
Co-Creation & The Organizational IKEA Effect
- People support what they help create: leaving intentional design space for key stakeholders' fingerprints
- Visibly crediting stakeholder revisions during steering committee readouts
Recruiting & Activating Executive Sponsors
- Distinguishing polite endorsers from active sponsors who open doors and clear roadblocks
- Equipping your sponsor with whisper briefs, ROI proof points and low-friction talking points
Building Momentum & Disarming Counter-Coalitions
- Engineering early, visible proof-of-concept wins that make adoption feel inevitable
- Neutralizing defensive turf alliances by addressing underlying security and governance concerns
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