winning strategies

You shouldn’t demand change. You should inspire it.

Remember the last time you tried to get a group of people to change their behavior? If you followed the traditional pattern and made an appeal to reason, you probably noticed that your presentation didn’t result in any behavioral change. But did you know that it most likely made things worse? Studies show that after people hear reasons why they should do something differently, they usually become more resistant to change—not less.

Psychologists call this phenomenon the “confirmation bias.” Studies show that when listeners with set views are presented with reasons to change, the thinking part of their brains typically isn’t active at all; and once they see a way to stick to their original position, the part of the brain involved in rewarding becomes highly active. In effect, listeners give themselves a psychic pat on the back for being intransigent.

Today, this is a huge problem for organizations, since most are facing transformations. Managers have to persuade people to act differently—often radically differently—in a short span of time.

Generally, managers follow a set approach to this need: They state the problem they’re up against; they analyze the options; and their conclusion follows from their analysis of available options. To put it simply: Define problem. Analyze problem. Recommend solution.

But this common method is proving both ineffective and counterproductive. So what’s the alternative?

A new way to communicate

Successful leaders use a different pattern when reaching out to others and striving for change. First they get attention, then they stimulate desire, and only then do they reinforce with reasons. When leaders speak this way, they can inspire enduring enthusiasm for a cause and spark action to start implementing it.

STEP 1: Get the audience’s attention If nobody is listening, what’s the point of trying to communicate? In most settings today, people just don’t pay attention. Studies show that we listen when we hear something that is relevant to us, unexpected, and negative in tone. Among the more effective ways to grab the audience’s attention:

• Stories about the audience’s problems
• Stories about the likely trajectory of the audience’s problems
• A surprising question or challenge in an area of interest to the audience
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Here's an example of a story that worked.
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STEP 2: Elicit desire for a different future

Even if you’ve managed to get everyone’s attention, that doesn’t necessarily stimulate a desire to act. Whereas negative content is generally more likely to gain attention, getting people to want to do something differently results from accentuating the positive. Negative stories, questions or challenges wake us up. They make us start to think, but they also generate worry, anxiety and caution, rather than stimulate enthusiastic action.

To gain enthusiastic buy-in, leaders need a positive appeal to the heart, as well as the mind. The audience has to want to change. Leaders must establish an emotional connection and stimulate desire for a different future. Without the emotional connection, nothing happens.

Because abstract reasons and analysis rarely stimulate desire for change, narrative intelligence is becoming an essential capability of the modern organizational leader. But the kinds of stories that prove effective in motivating change turn out to be very different from what we might suspect. They’re not big, flamboyant, theatrical epics—well-told stories that faithfully evoke the sights and sounds and smells of the context. Stories told with a bullhorn rarely elicit desire for change, while a quiet, simple tale can work wonders (see sidebar).

STEP 3: Reinforce with reasons

However, an emotional connection by itself isn’t enough to get the job done. The desire for change may wane unless it is supported and reinforced by compelling reasons for why the change makes sense and should be sustained.

The placement of reasons in a presentation is crucial. If reasons are given before an emotional connection is established, listeners will likely hear them as so much noise. But if the reasons come after emotion, then they can reinforce the idea of change, because now listeners are actively searching for ways to support a course of action they already trust.

As noted above, a key way to resonate with your audience is by giving people reasons in the form of stories, so the reasons themselves become memorable.

These three steps can be applied to any leadership setting. The middle step—stimulating desire for change—is the most important. Without it, your listeners will have no energy or enthusiasm. Without it, there is nothing for reason to reinforce. Desire for a better future drives the transformation process. Grab the attention of your audience, get everyone fired up and connected, and then drive the point home with logic that reinforces the passion they now feel for positive change. ______________________________________________________________

STEVE DENNING is the author of The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling and The Secret Language of Leadership: How Leaders Inspire Action Through Narrative.