I was at a horse clinic over the weekend where two clinicians spent the entire day talking about the same thing. Interestingly, one was annoying as hell and the other—a pleasure to listen to—captivating even. Their message was the same, but their delivery was worlds apart.
This disconnect between the message (the “what”) and the delivery (the “how”) is where the gap is between a respected leader and a CEO only by title. This is the gap between an influential change agent and an annoying by-the-book manager. The emotional intelligence to read your audience, to present your authentic self, to connect with people is a skill that comes naturally for some folks. Others have to work at it, but it’s possible.
Many business professionals focus exclusively on the message—the “what”—whatever is in the latest and greatest leadership articles. When I look around at the content on leadership and change management for example, I rarely see something new and innovative—no doubt there are exceptions—and the messages are often the same, just packaged a bit differently. For example,
Lead with values and purpose, have a lean and mean structure—do more with less, reduce hierarchy, simplify decision making, create clear and efficient processes, reward and recognize people, and so on, and so on.
Where I see the difference is in the delivery—the “how”. These are those folks, those bright spots if you will, that connect with people. They are saying the same thing as the next person, but they say it in a way that inspires, that gets people to tune in and listen. A CEO only by title can talk about values and purpose and vision and so forth, but can they get anyone to care? That’s the difference—getting people to care.
If you’ve every met someone who is skilled at drawing people in, not through gimmicks or obnoxious behavior, but through sincerity, clarity, and quiet confidence, you understand the power in getting people to listen and to care. You understand that that skill can have on transforming any situation. I had someone say to me recently,
We hire for passion. We can teach the rest.
Yowsa! That’s a bold statement. That’s a company that understands the difference between the what and the how.
There will always be plenty of literature to reframe and repackage the leadership and change management practices we already know and have been written about again and again and again. What’s new are the stories of the people that deliver the message in a way that gets people to care. Look around you. There are bright spots of leadership everywhere. How they deliver their message is what sets them apart. The challenge for employers is to hire passionate people and then give them the room and support to lead change—because they can.
How about you? Share some examples of leaders that understand how to get people to care.
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Melissa, The work that I have done with leaders shows a distinct bias to action (How) and analysis paralysis (What). In the model I use, the Who and Why are just as important, yet are often overlooked, especially in times of stress. If you look at any initiative, project or task that failed, the chances are it was in one of those areas.