As leaders, we are often asking other people to act and think in different ways, but often skip or under serve explaining the why.
Unfortunately, why you need someone to do something—and why it is in their interest to do so—is vitally important. It leads to buy-in and conviction. “Because I said so” or “I believe it’s right” only goes so far. Much better is sharing the facts or insights you have that lead you to conclude this path is the right one.
Around 2005, Andrea Jung spoke to a small group of executives about her successful turnaround of Avon at the time at a leadership event I was at. In response to a question about her biggest lesson learned, she reflected and very slowly described what happens when you get to the point as a leader that you feel like you’ve communicated everything you need to communicate. You’ve said it so many times, she related in a particularly dramatic fashion, that you’re so tired of saying it. You feel like you’re literally going to get ill if you have to repeat yourself one more time. She paused and then with great intensity, said, you are about halfway there.
Leaders also often underestimate that even if they are good at telling employees what they need to know, the first time you say something people are only going to absorb a certain percentage of it. No matter how good your delivery, no matter how much planning you do to weave the right story and pull people in, the human brain simply will not process 100% of what you say. So you have to say it repeatedly, in different ways and through different channels.
Often I hear leaders struggle with driving change and feeling like they are meeting resistance. Rather than thinking of the response as resistance, think of it as a system that does not yet have enough fuel to overcome intertia. Communciation is that fuel. Explain the why, find different ways to express the key points, and be prepared for multiple passes to let the message fully sink in. No doubt change is hard, but the quality of communication is one variable that is under your control!