Business relationship management (BRM) practices are on the rise in more and more organizations around the globe. Not so much in your organization? Because leadership “hasn’t received the memo” yet? Why wait? Even more when you are not the only one who sees the value of it. Start your own BRM grassroots movement and get it going.
What should you do to create a groundswell? And make this effort reap its anticipated benefits swiftly.
Organize!
Team up with likeminded coworkers. Meet over breaks and after workhours. And work on a few action items discussed below.
Foremost, discuss what unites you. What is it that your organization could benefit from when applying BRM practices? Think of fewer ivory towers. Increased transparency. More cross-functional collaborations. Aligned strategies, goals, and objectives. Less cultural divide. Just to name a few.
Decide on a messaging platform. If your organization has a collaboration platform, use it. If it doesn’t, create platform on social media, but respect ethical and confidential boundaries when putting it out in the open.
Whichever platform you choose, make it inclusive. Encourage anyone to join. And provide an easy opt-in capability. Everyone’s voice matters.
What Do You Want to Achieve?
Most importantly, you want to create hype. In a positive way, obviously. Why should your peers pay attention to your grassroots movement? Because you mean well. And want the best for your organization. All, with the help of what a BRM capability has to offer. How do you do this?
One way of doing this is to tap in to a hot-button issue or opportunity your organization is faced with. Be creative. And discuss how BRM practices can help. For example, establishing more trust could expedite a major initiative your organization dealing with. Or highlighting exemplar behaviors and mindsets may unite your coworkers. And raise levels of enthusiasm and work satisfaction.
Educating your coworkers on what BRM capabilities are and what they offer, is another example of what you want to achieve. Your collaboration platform should become a hub. The go-to source of information. A frequently-asked-questions option could serve as a draw for coworkers to find the answers they are looking for. Obviously, enrich it frequently. And tell your peers that more educational information is available.
Something else to consider when explaining with a BRM capability has to offer is to personalize your message whenever you can. Use examples that resonate with your coworkers. Whenever possible, use names of colleagues who were successful applying BRM capabilities. And never forget to put yourself in the position of your audience. What’s in it for them?
Success Stories
You may not have a lot of success stories when you start your grassroot BRM movement. Use generic example instead, early on. But over time, stay laser focused on sharing successes. Big or small. It does not matter. The relatability factor is important. Benefiting from BRM capabilities is not for the happy few. It does not depend on whether you have fulltime or parttime business relationship managers.
Furthermore, seek out examples. Interview leaders and managers in your organization. And have them share their personal BRM success stories. Create a feature article on your collaboration platform every month. Who knows? People may be lining up to share their proud BRM moment.
This leads me to conclude with mentioning your biggest success indicator of your BRM grassroots efforts. Success is undeniable when everyone wants to be part of the movement. There is no bigger compliment for you to pursue. Good luck with getting BRM going in your organization. And who knows, one day you do get permission to become a certified BRMP®. And become a professional member of the BRM Institute, paid for by your organization.
Inspired? But Still Would Like a Bit More Help?
No problem. Request a 30-minute free BRM coaching session with our Master of BRM (MBRM®) credentialed team member. We gladly get you going.