Imagine an audience of 1,500 medical device salespeople in Las Vegas at their national sales conference. The speaker is introduced as a leading authority on cardiovascular disease. She begins with a request, “I want you to look around. Look at the people around you.  In particular, look at the person to your left, your right, the person in front of you and the person in the row behind you. Based on the most recent statistics from the American College of Cardiology, one of those four people will die from a heart attack.”

Wow. The audience is now listening!

Leaders earn their salt by guiding teams through change. Unfortunately, this is where many leaders fail because they can’t create the right message for the team. If the leader can’t give the right message, the team is less likely to succeed. It’s the leader’s responsibility to make sure the team gets through the change successfully.

There are three critical mental phases the audience will move through before they step into action. Leaders should help their teams understand these phases, it becomes easier to create the right message for the team.

1.  Apathy Phase

Leaders are privy to information others may not know. At the beginning of a change, there may be apathy or ignorance (through no fault of their own!) of the situation. They didn’t even know there was an issue! The audience needs to be shown the gravity of the situation. Until then, they’ll continue to feel the strong pull of inertia. “Let’s just stay here. We like it here!” It’s called the comfort zone for a reason.

What to do:  Wake them up!

• This can be done by showing them how high the stakes are for the group
• Show them how each person will be personally affected (good or bad)
• Share a story of either success or failure tied to moving or not moving, respectively

2.  Confusion Phase

Once they’re listening and they see the need to change, now they need to understand how to do that. Borrowing from the Boy Scouts who use a great method for teaching (E.D.G.E.) others, leaders need to educate the team on both the current and targeted future states. When a team sees a path to the future and a vision of the end game, the team is more likely to agree with the plan or engage in future thinking conversations to develop a plan. Teams won’t engage in future talk if they don’t think there’s a need to build a bridge to the future.

What to do:  Explain today and tomorrow to them!

• Explain the proposed plan (the bridge)
• Demonstrate how the bridge will be built
• Guide them through the planning process
• Enable them with the tools they need

3. Encouragement Phase

Without encouragement (motivation, inspiration, influence) movement will be unlikely. While the team sees the need for the change and a proposed plan to get there, the first step can sometimes be the toughest. Change is tough and even a little bit scary. Movement gets easier once momentum begins to build, but without that first step, the team won’t go anywhere. Depending on the situation, choices can be made to leverage the avoidance of the negative or the addition of the positive.

What to do: Inspire them to start! or Make them uncomfortable!

• Share a prediction of the positive future state
• Inspire with the positive (increase of happiness – reward, excitement, joy, love)
• Influence with the negative (avoid the future pain – fear, anxiety, misfortune)

These three phases of building message provide the Attention, Comprehension, and Motivation to move an audience.  One other goal for informing and inspiring an audience should be Retention. Without the audience retaining what was shared, the message has a short life.

Next week, how to increase the retention of our message.

Working on building that next bridge,
Russ

p.s. If you like these messages, please invite your friends to join us! They can sign up and receive these weekly posts via email.

My books on communication:

Corporate Ovations: Your Roadmap to More Effective Presentations, by Russ Peterson Jr. and Kevin Karschnik

Cut the C.R.A.P. and Make the Sale, by Russ Peterson Jr.

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Russ Peterson Jr. is the co-founder and Managing Director of iSpeak, Inc. – An award-winning professional development training company. Russ is a published author on Professional Sales Communication and Business Communication. He delivers workshops, keynotes, and personal communication coaching services to business professionals in the US and around the world. You can connect with Russ directly through Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.