A team of social scientists gave advice on how to counter rumors, portray rivals effectively and get out the vote.
Have you read Moneyball, the Michael Lewis book about the Oakland Athletics application of statistics and decision science to baseball? If you have then you will appreciate this addition of behavior science to to the art of aligning and engaging people to commit - in this case, in an election. However, it could be for your next business initative.
I am working on an article to be posted soon on lessons to be learned form this election. This NY Times article is an excellent bit of insight into the science of engagement and alignment witha cause in this election. If you are in an organization pay close attention and fine tune your engagement initiatives...or ignore them at your own version of GOP peril.
Here are my take-aways for you to act on...
1. Be Competent. Be Warm
We call it High Task-High Relationship. People in the general population have something in common with high performance organizations - they do not sacrifice performance for warm empathetic leadership - or vice versa. Both are essential. You must win the business , and Hearts & Minds.
2. Don't deny negative comments - state what you are for.
Beyond saying "its not true" (which does not score points but makes you feel better)... use the challenge as an opportunity to to state emphatically what you are for, why you are for it, and what will be in it for anyone who goes along with you. Most leaders buckle at the first challenge and are brought down to the level of the challenge. Folks who operate on fear to rally others to their "nay-saying" views can't stand to have a leader painting a clear picture of success and commitment for the betterment of all.
3. Prepare people for "Micro Engagement".
Advertising didn't win the election for the Democrats in the US election, people did - one door, one conversation at a time. They were prepared to deliver a positive message, not to engage in mud-wrestling. They were prepared to win one voter at a time. For an organization implementing major change it is no different. You need allies. Your allies cannot be managers alone. You need to enlist regular front line employees to become believers in your cause and case for change. Then they need to be armed with the skills to help others around them to make the changes necessary to make change successful.
4. Ask for committment at any level.
Leaders often fail when they ask for big committments first - then give up when they don't get them. When you are trying to get change you will be more likely to make significant moves, when you get many people to commit to any level of move they can make...just commit. But how can they commit if you do not ask them to commit?
5. Share the success stories of peers.
Storytelling is a great alignment tool. However, it is more effective when the stories include the peers of your people. When they see or hear about people "like them" making an effort to change - and succeeding - it makes a significant difference in the success of the whole organization. Why do you think marketers are so enamoured with social media? Because people like feeling like they are not alone when taking a risk or making a commitment.
Billy Bennett
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