The Three Levels of Leadership - Scouller Leadership Blog » The Language of Change (part 1)
The Language of Change (part 1)
Post 3 of 4 in a series of articles on the subject of leading large-scale change in organisations (part 1).
The first post looked at the power and dangers of metaphors in leading change and suggested replacing the “burning platform” with the idea of a “High Noon moment”. The second post discussed the dangers of underestimating how long it takes people to change and what you can do about it. This post – which I’ll spread over four days – will suggest how leaders can frame their change language to best effect.
Change Leaders’ First Problem: Confirmation Bias
When addressing sceptical, cynical or hostile audiences, notably those who doubt the need for change, leaders must avoid the confirmation bias. Why? Because it supports the status quo, blocking change.
The confirmation bias is our sub-conscious habit of searching for information – or interpreting it in a way – that confirms our existing worldview. It means we tend to interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting our existing position. It’s so strong it can lead us to ignore or disparage any data – or its source – that opposes our current outlook and hold fast to our present view.
Why The Confirmation Bias?
Why do we have a confirmation bias? Academics believe it arises from a combination of a desire to cling to a certain belief (motivation) plus faulty thinking (cognitive processing).
- The motivational angle: (1) we want to believe whatever feels most desirable or pleasant; (2) we want to believe whatever fits with what we already believed or expected.
- The cognitive angle: (1) we can’t focus on more than one thought at a time so it’s hard to test alternative hypotheses in parallel; (2) we use shortcuts, called heuristics, that oversimplify or include errors; (3) our sources of information are too narrow; (4) laziness in reasoning or searching for data.
- One academic summed it up like this: “motivation creates the bias, but cognitive factors determine the size of the effect.”
But I think the motivation issue goes deeper. I believe it’s the False Self’s need for control and security in its self-image and worldview – the False Self being your superstructure of limiting beliefs that boxes you in. It wants to feel comfortable in being “right” because that gives it security, even if its conclusions are bleak.
Failings of the Usual Approach To Communication
Whatever its source or mechanism, the confirmation bias is why the usual way of approaching change – (1) define the problem (2) analyse the problem (3) propose a solution – usually runs into trouble.
Research shows this approach doesn’t work. Why? Because without thinking most people look for the data that reinforces their existing view and ignore or criticise the data – sometimes along with its source – that challenges their view. Psychologists learned this through experiments and gave it the label of “confirmation bias”.
So what? The answer is that giving people reasons to change isn’t a good idea if the audience is sceptical, cynical or hostile. If leaders try, all they’ll do is to trigger the confirmation bias and encounter reasons not to change… and therefore resistance… and perhaps even sabotage if the leader presses ahead. You see, reasons don’t work at this stage because the audience isn’t really thinking or listening.
What makes things worse is that we know scepticism and cynicism are contagious and can become epidemics, which is why such resistance can become organisation-wide.
A Better Approach
Based on interesting thinking from Stephen Denning in his book, The Secret Language of Leadership, here’s a better approach:
- Get your audience’s urgent attention
- Stimulate desire for a new future
- Then and only then… appeal to the intellect
Why is it better? Because in communicating in this sequence – and the sequence is key – you can get around the confirmation bias, inspire enduring enthusiasm for a vision or cause and spark action towards it.
You see, it avoids their old confirmation bias. You evoke emotions through connecting with their values, dreams or concerns so they don’t just think they have a problem, they feel it. Staying with their emotions, you depict an attractive future that meets the context (issues) and taps into their motivators (values). Now the confirmation bias can work for you because they’ve decided to explore change and seek reasons to prove it’s “right”. So you appeal to the intellect to reinforce the desire to act, preventing second thoughts weakening the wish to change.
However, this process mustn’t be a one-time thing; you’ve got to stay in a dialogue with colleagues as events unfold … and continue doing so as the story evolves.
Approached this way, the process feels to people as though they are engaged in a big conversation that opens up new possibilities and horizons. It’s not as though the “great leader” is talking down to them with an “I’m in charge, I know best and I have all the answers” mentality. Instead the leader is with them, conversing; she’s one of them, not apart.
Which Step Is The Most Important?
Of the three, the middle step – stimulating desire – is the most important one. Without that there’s no point in getting their attention in the first place (step 1) and you won’t get to step 3 because there’s no motivating aim to reinforce with reasoning about the how, why and when.
We’ll examine the three steps in more detail (and I’ll give action tips on each) in the next three posts, which will appear in the next three days. The next post is on step #1: how to get your audience’s urgent attention.
The author is James Scouller, an executive coach. His book, The Three Levels of Leadership: How to Develop Your Leadership Presence, Knowhow and Skill, was published in May 2011. You can learn more about it at www.three-levels-of-leadership.com. If you want to see its reviews, click here: leadership book reviews. If you want to know where to buy it, click HERE. You can read more about his executive coaching services at The Scouller Partnership’s website.
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