Leaders change things. They take people from where they were to somewhere different and (we hope) better. Leaders aren’t there to make others feel good – although that might be a part of their role. They are there to lead people to change in some way and the leader has figured out the direction and the strategy
BUT, big but, they have to communicate that in order to motivate others to take action. The first part of the communication is to get people to understand and agree with the change. The second part is to get them to take action. Without that action nothing will happen.
AND this communication needs stories. Facts might lay the groundwork. Stories provide the inspiration and the motivation. To give an example: Tom’s widget company is growing and he needs to move his factory to a much bigger site across town. It means a longer commute for almost all his workers. They will not be happy about this.
Tom can stand up with a Powerpoint presentation and detail square footages, production figures, export totals. The facts. Chances are most of the workers knew the basics anyway and the details aren’t important to them. They know the machinery has been increasingly crowded together and the shipping department has been going crazy. Most of them realize this means they should move to a larger space. But the other side of town? Get up half an hour earlier? Use all that gas? Get home later?
The export figures don’t answer those questions. A good communicator understands and answers the questions in people’s minds so Tom starts off,
“Maybe you don’t remember when I started this company in my garage using $30,000 of my mother’s money for the equipment I needed. The first time I sold widgets to the next town I was so thrilled. Now we are selling to fifteen countries worldwide. When I started I had one kid helping me after school. (Stand up Jim. He started at five bucks an hour and now he’s our production manager.) Thanks to Jim and to all of you our sales have doubled since 2008. Now, together, we’re going to take an exciting next step.
“I know that for many of you it will mean a longer commute and we are looking at ways to make that less burdensome for you – par t of our success means we might have some leeway to make some adjustments. I’d welcome some of your ideas about that.”
Can you see how Tom has woven just a few relevant statistics into the story he tells to his employees. Does it matter to his employees that his mother’s loan was $30,000? Not in terms of useful knowledge, but it matters in terms of giving a human perspective to the story of the company. Is it useful to know that Jim started as a kid at five bucks an hour? Not really, but that part of the story says a lot about company/employee loyalty.
Tom’s story addressed the unspoken thought of his employees. ‘This is going to be a nuisance. Why don’t I just find a job at another company, one closer to home?’
That’s what a leadership story does.
This is the first in a series about Leadership Stories. Come back for more.)
