Duperval Consulting inc.
Thought of the Week
Greetings! 

  

A few years ago, the mayor of our town had a big project in mind: He wanted to build a multipurpose park complete with soccer fields, volleyball fields, tennis courts, water games, etc. All the plans had been drawn, and work was ready to start as soon as the project was approved at a council meeting. However, the population had not been informed of his plans. Some people heard about it and became upset. They circulated a petition, explaining to the people they approached that taxes would be increased by the project, even though the population had not agreed to it. For many people, it was the first they heard about the project. They signed the petition, not to stop the project, but to get more information: What would be the tax increase? Who would be responsible for the maintenance? Where would people park? And so on. In response to the petition, the mayor simply decided to cancel the project, without ever presenting it to the population.

 

The above example illustrates what I call the 55-38-7 rule. The rule goes like this: 55% of your communication comes through body language; 38% comes through your voice; and only 7% from the actual words you use. I have written and spoken about this rule in the past, but I've always related it to public speaking. It's a way to remind speakers that their entire demeanour must be coherent with the words they say, or people will not believe them. However, it's not a rule that only applies to public speaking.

 

As someone trying to persuade people to follow your lead, how you do things is just as important, if not more, than what you do. This is especially true when you are trying to convince people to adopt your point of view. If they sense that what you are doing serves you well but that is not in their best interest, they will not follow, unless forced to do so. However, you will never get the same effort under duress as you would if people were acting of their own will. Of course, there are people who agree with you no matter what you say or do (say 10%); others will disagree with you no matter what (another 10%). Those people aren't the ones to be concerned about. It's the other 80% you must worry about. They are the ones who can be influenced by the way you act. What are some of the elements these people look for?

  • How open and transparent are you? If they sense that you are hiding things from them, they will start to doubt everything you say or do. Once your motivations are questioned, it's difficult to convince people.

  • How much, or how little do you listen? Do you listen to understand or do you simply act as if you do?

  • How well do you react to feedback? Do you handle it gracefully or do you immediately get angry or become defensive?

  • How consistent are you? Are you always approachable or only when you want something from someone? We all know that one person who never speaks to us, unless he or she wants something. A leader can't be that person.

  • How often do you consider the human element before making or imposing a decision? Just because a decision is the "correct" decision doesn't mean that people will accept it blindly. The more that decision asks of them, the more important it is to consider how it affects individuals.

Score yourself on a scale of one to five for each of the above points. If you score 20 or above, you probably have great success in getting people to follow your lead. If you score ten or less, leadership may not be the right path for you. Between ten and twenty, address the areas where you experience the most difficulty. Improvements in a single area can be all that is needed to greatly improve how you are perceived as a leader. As they say, perception is reality. Make that reality work for, not against you.

 

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