by Andie Wafzig, Consultant at Change Guides
What do Dolly Parton and the Dalai Lama have in common? Aside from being famous with similar sounding names, they have both received a COVID-19 vaccination and promoted it to their social media followers, thus helping to curb general hesitance toward the vaccine, while positively influencing their millions of followers.
And they’re not alone. From celebrities to CEOs, Supreme Court Justices to the British Monarchy, former astronauts to former US Presidents - many are putting their influence and following to good use with the intention of helping to end the Global Pandemic through promoting acceptance of the vaccines.
As practitioners of change management, leveraging influence to transform an organization and its culture is nothing new. In fact, identifying influential voices within an organization early in a change initiative and incorporating them into a communication campaign is a critical component to a successful outcome.