Advertisement

Leaders must battle hearts, minds in order to direct pace of change

Thursday September 30 2021
Great leaders learn how to sell the vision.

Great leaders learn how to sell the vision. They know how to create desire for the vision through storytelling and asking the right questions to trigger the right thought process. PHOTO | FILE | NMG

By WALE AKINYEMI

Overcoming anxieties and self-doubt in teams, guarantees a leader captaincy of vessel to steer visions into goals

Why is it that a lot of leaders talk about change but few ever effect the change that they speak about? What does it take to do a total turnaround for an organisation? Having been involved in a few, I discovered that the first thing that needs to be addressed is the thinking in the organisation.

It has been said that you cannot put new wine in old wine skins and this is true. You also cannot insert a new strategy into old mindsets. It just will not work. The holding power of tradition is more powerful than the pulling power of transformation. What policy and decision makers fail to realise is that no matter how much you clean a pig, it will go back to the mud because that is what it was wired to do.

People naturally resort to default settings when the going gets tough. Every transformation strategy will be uncomfortable at the beginning because it challenges established mindsets.

Some think that by inviting a speaker to speak to their teams about change, that change will automatically happen. In reality, at such sessions many people are facing internal struggles, between past and future because their minds have not been readied for change. So, how do we re-engineer these minds?

Always start with the “what if” question, paint the image of possibilities in the minds of the team. What if we could deliver these outcomes? What if we could have a high performance team that always exceeds targets? What if we became market leaders? “what if” questions trigger thinking. These questions reinforced over time become a desire from within, and the job is nearly done.

Advertisement

The strategist then presents the change as the answer to the desire.

Most people in a rut do not know they are in a rut and they will continue in it hoping things will change. This is why the ‘what if’ questions are so important. A person who does not know that they need something will never desire it.

If you don’t know what possibilities exist, you will settle for what is available. Unfortunately, at many corporate and even national levels leaders are imposed. Great leaders, however, learn how to sell the vision. They know how to create desire for the vision through storytelling and asking the right questions to trigger the right thought process.

One of the greatest lies told in this generation was the justification and alleged weapons of mass destruction for the invasion of Iraq. It was so well told everyone fell for it. A properly sold lie will fly more than that a poorly truth. Does this qualify it as the greatest lie of all?

Leaders need story tellers to drive their agendas. Story tellers are as important as the strategists. Good questions and stories prepare the hearts and the minds of the people for solutions.

Wale Akinyemi is the convenor of The Street University (www.thestreetuniversity.com) and chief transformation officer, PowerTalks; [email protected]

Advertisement