Meeting Stakeholders Where They Are: A Change Management Lesson for Compliance from an Unlikely Source

Bobby Pulido is running for a congressional seat in South Texas and realized he wasn’t breaking through to voters. Busy families weren’t watching political debates or scrolling campaign websites. They were at quinceañeras, celebrating their daughters’ fifteenth birthdays, dancing and eating. As a well-known musician, he had an idea. He made an offer to perform at these celebrations, and within the first 24 hours, he received more than 1,000 requests.

This is exactly what I did to get people’s attention in my last role. I sought invitations to join staff meetings and business unit townhalls instead of demanding separate meetings. I made my appearances short and punchy, usually with a little humor thrown in. I aimed to build relationships and trust with leaders and employees by showing up in places where they were already going, physically and virtually.

Ethics and compliance professionals face the same fundamental challenge Pulido did. The employees we most need to reach are not seeking out compliance messaging. They are busy, distracted, and operating in a world where our messages compete with everything else demanding their attention. To get across, we need to meet employees where they are rather than where we wish they would be.

What Pulido did intuitively is something change management practitioners have understood for years. To change behavior, you have to understand your stakeholders, build trust, and reduce resistance. Showing up at quinceañeras signaled that he understood what voters actually cared about and made it easy for them to hear his message. Showing up in staff meetings and townhalls sent the same signal to employees: I will come to you. That single shift builds more goodwill than any standalone compliance event ever will.

For E&C programs that struggle to connect with middle management and employees, this is where I would start. Where are your people already gathered? Go there first.