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Want individuals to take action?

You’ve got to make a clear, concise and compelling call to action.

You can’t wait for individuals to read your mind. Nor can you expect them to follow a long involved process. It’s just not human nature.

Instead, you need to set people up to succeed, which will help them and you reach your target. More specifically, you need to give people very simple, crisply-defined baby steps to follow.

Over time, I’ve honed my “call to action” especially as the third step of my three-part simple communication planning tool: 1) What? 2) So what? 3) Now what?

After recently participating in BJ Fogg’s Persuasion Boot Camp, I realized the value of making calls to action simpler and easier to do. Even if people have the will (motivation) and the skill (ability), it’s too hard for them to get over the hill and do it.

So how tiny, simple and crisp do these steps need to be?

You basically need seven steps, as shown in this example. It’s a straightforward yet important request: collecting emergency contact information from employees. For this example, we want the simpler compliance rather than commitment.

1.    Articulate the outcome you want. We want to collect up-to-date cell phone numbers of 100% of employees with cell phones. This allows us to notify them via texting in case of a crisis or other emergency.

2.    Define the crisp, concrete behavior that you believe will achieve that outcome. Employees with cell phones will voluntarily type their cell phone number on the online “form” on the Intranet.

3.    Identify the sequence of baby steps (or actions) that someone needs to take for this behavior. This request is a one-time behavior—except for those who frequently lose their cell phones and change their numbers. And it should be a familiar behavior…those of us with cell phones often give out our number.

(Getting somebody to do a familiar behavior once is generally easier than getting them to commit to doing something new or familiar for a period of time or forever.)  So if you want your teams to use agendas at their meetings, ask them to try it for a month and revisit rather than asking them to do it for the rest of their career. Be content to start with baby steps and then you can start building on the new behavior.

4.    Make each step as simple as possible. For this cell phone example and in most other cases, we want to collect the minimum information. This is probably their name, employee ID number and cell phone number.

Even though we might like them to update their emergency contact information, their beneficiary for their life insurance and a few other HR records, we are going to resist the temptation. This would make the request too complicated and we’d run the risk of non-compliance or partial compliance.

Also note that at this stage, we’ll ignore the employees without cell phones. After we collect all the cell phone numbers, we’ll see which employees we’re missing and make a personalized plea to them. We’ll then ask them to let us know whether they have a cell phone. And if yes, to provide the number or if they have a privacy issue, to decline. Or if no, to confirm that they have no cell phone and therefore they cannot receive a text message in the case of an emergency.

5.    Craft the call to action. In making this request, we also need to consider the skill (ability) and will (motivation) involved. This is a low-skill request—providing 10 digits people know. It’s also low motivation. Individuals have other things on their minds—unless we time the plea appropriately and appeal to the personal safety of them and their families.

So for this example, you may want to make the request right after a disaster in another part of the world—a flood, earthquake or  tsunami. Or time the request for September’s National Preparedness Month.  (This event is held each September to encourage people in the United States to make sure they are prepared for disasters or emergencies in their homes, businesses and communities.)

By linking your request to a news event, you ride its coattails and hope it will catch people’s attention more.

6.    Choose the most appropriate channel for this call to action. In this example, we want to make the request electronically because that allows individuals to click on a link and go directly to the site. Easy to comply!

Some digital options: Send everyone an email message. Post the request on the home page of the Intranet. Set up a meeting invite to take the action. Text the employees for whom we think we have up-to-date numbers.

You also may want to reinforce the digital communication with posters, tent cards in the cafeteria and break rooms and announcements at staff meetings.

7.    Test, refine and release. Before you release your call to action, run your request by a few people and ask them what they think. Even better, ask them to follow through. Then follow up to see how they did. That lets you refine and improve your request so you’ll get better compliance. You’ll then be ready to make your request of the masses.

If these seven steps feel laborious, they are. You’ve got to put some time and thought into an effective call to action. You’re making a trade-off between doing the heavy lifting versus asking employees to take time to figure out what the request is, whether they should respond, and if so, when or where they should act, what they should do, how they should respond, and acting.

Yes, the path between making the call to action and getting the action is a long, windy road with lots of detours and dead ends. That’s why a well-designed call to action requires the caller to do a lot of upfront work to make it easier for individuals to respond.

So if you want people to comply—or even harder, get them to commit—ask people to take crispy, simple baby steps. In other words, help them get over the hill, even if they have the will and skill.

Now my “ask” of you: Email me if you need help creating a compelling call to action.

Can you do that?

Provocative… Polarizing…. Persuasive…

That’s Bob Johansen’s newly revised and expanded book, Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World.

The book jumped to the top of my reading list after I heard Dr. Johansen, a distinguished fellow of the Institute for the Future, speak on “External Future Forces That Will Disrupt the Practice of Change Management” at the ACMP conference in April.

The book was well worth the time and investment. (I also have to admit I enjoyed the dead-tree version because of the inside book jacket. It features a visual forecast map of the most likely external future forces that Dr. Johansen believes will shape how leaders must lead in the future.)

Typical for these thorny times, the 10 new leadership skills are add-ons to current leadership competency models. So, yes, we’re expected to stretch to do and be more.

All 10 skills are in “forecaster’s haiku.” Dr. Johansen defines this as terms that “provoke people constructively without turning them off.” He goes on to write, “If you get a forecast headline right, it draws people toward the future. If you get it wrong, it repels people or doesn’t stretch them enough to be provocative.”

Even with this care, Dr. Johansen’s work rubs some people the wrong way. For example, the reviews on Amazon.com of the first edition of this book are mixed. I too experienced a reverse “halo effect” when a handful of my newsletter subscribers cancelled after receiving my issue about his forecasts for our VUCA world.  (VUCA stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity.)

One Amazon.com reviewer noted, “The author does an effective job in explaining the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ but not the ‘how’.”

Well, Dr. Johansen practices what he preaches. He believes leaders of the future will need the skill of clarity even more than they do today. They will need to express this clarity in intent statements—clear intent about where to go with great flexibility about how to get there. So, it’s the idea of practicing “tight-loose-tight”—a well-defined goal, choices on how to achieve it, and specific measures to determine if you hit the goal.

Throughout the book, Dr. Johansen is a provocateur. His clear goal is to trigger insights that will propel leaders forward. One of his themes is that leaders “must immerse themselves in the future and practice their skills in a low-risk environment.”

Why is this so critical? The VUCA world is changing so rapidly, and bringing leaders more dilemmas than problems. Dilemmas, as defined, have no solutions. Yet, leaders will have to make decisions anyway. So they’ll need to flip dilemmas around (one of the skills he’s identified) and figure out how to find the opportunities.

And how do you immerse yourself in the future? Dr. Johansen suggests taking personal learning adventures and participating in formal structured leadership development programs. By partnering with the Center for Creative Leadership for this second edition, he has included more tools and resources to help with this journey.

The last chapter features a self-evaluation to assess where you are today and tips for learning the new skills. The book’s publisher, Berrett-Koehler, also will be offering an online Future Leadership Skills Indicator scheduled for later in May.

As for my own self-immersion, I’m starting with the easiest of the skills for me—“bio-empathy—the ability to see things from nature’s point of view: to understand, respect and learn from its patterns.” This involves understanding ecosystems, especially as FEW (food, energy and water) issues are likely to dominate our VUCA world. According to Dr. Johansen, it’s easiest to grasp the importance of bio-empathy if you have a biology degree or live with a dog. (Yes!!!)

Next, I need to find a digital native who can mentor me in gaming, get a subscription to MAKE: Technology on your time magazine and start rapid prototyping. Hmm. Guess I can’t just hang out at the dog park….

What about you? Are you ready to immerse yourself in the future?

Forget about looking for the “adults in the room” to supply all the leadership lessons.

Instead seek out the students who are leading in exemplary ways.

It’s time to stop counting on grown-ups to stand and deliver.

Just think about all the recent surprising scandals…. Multiple Secret Service agents involved with prostitutes…. General Services Administration employees “on retreat” in Vegas… The trial of a former Senator and Presidential candidate allegedly using $900,000 in campaign money to hide his pregnant mistress.

Don’t blame government for all the bad behavior. I’m experiencing a group of people who seem to prefer to bicker rather than figure out how to work together. They need to bring positive change to their organization, yet they spend more energy fighting past battles than looking ahead.

By contrast, many younger people are offering brilliant leadership lessons.

Take the kindergarten classes at the Blue School in Manhattan where kids are learning about the “amygdala hijack.” By understanding what happens to their brains when people or situations hit their hot buttons, they learn how to move from a “fight” or “flee” state to a “toward state.” In the latter, they’re open to others and new ideas, as described in the New York Times article Making Education Brain Science. 

At this school, “meta-cognition”—the ability to think about thinking—is on the agenda. (It’s helpful that the school started as a play group by the members of the Blue Man Group, a creative theater troupe, and their wives. Now David Rock, the founder of the NeuroLeadership Institute which is dedicated to understanding the brain science of leadership, serves on the school’s board.)

Yet these kindergartners could teach us adults a number of important things about harnessing our emotional intelligence. For example, the better we regulate our emotions and focus on the positive, the better we can retain information, think better and be more creative.

As another example, public health students at the University of California—Berkeley just held their second annual DE-Stress Festival during spring finals for fellow students. Yes, you can power through finals, meetings, or work projects. But isn’t it healthier and more productive to take breaks and relax?

The organizers invited Therapy Pets to come to campus to help interested students reduce their stress. My dog Gustav along with several of his pals including Jeffrey, Franklin and Dashiell made themselves available to students for petting, ball chasing and belly rubs.

(The students and dogs did share one notable difference. On this sunny afternoon, the students preferred lounging on the grass in the sun, while the dogs intuitively moved to the shade between de-stressing activities.)

Last but not least is Design for America, a network of student-led studios that solves social issues through human-centered interdisciplinary design. The organization’s mission is to “enable a generation to confront and tackle the most ill-structured challenges of our time.”

Founded by three international students with faculty support at Northwestern University in 2008, the organization has now spread to eight other university campuses. All are tackling “wicked problems” such as childhood obesity and disease, climate change, literacy, etc.

Already they’ve created novel yet workable solutions to hand hygiene, diabetes education and dishwashing practices.

The students practice “innovation self-efficacy” in which they combine the motivation powers of persuasion, learning and mastery with technical knowledge and critical thinking. Their holistic design process encourages them to empathize with the user groups they’re serving. As a result, they’re better able to create innovative products and services that work for real people in communities throughout the country.

In their early 20s and late teens, these students are already making a major impact on society as they also demonstrate the value of creativity, collaboration and drive.

Co-founder Mert Iseri, who graduated in 2011, explained Design for America to more than 200 Northwestern alumni gathered in San Francisco this week. The ease and confidence with which he spoke was just as impressive as the content he delivered.

So stop asking “What were you thinking?” of the adults exhibiting bad behavior. Instead, ask them to start following in the footsteps of these young leaders.

And let’s encourage these young leaders to bring these healthy and productive practices to our organizations.

What do you think?

Got sponsorship?

Senior leader sponsorship is the most important ingredient for successful change, especially transformational change. Sponsors set and control the pace for change. Some say 30 – 50% of the success depends on executive sponsorship.

Conversely, ineffective sponsorship from senior leaders is the biggest obstacle to successful change, according to Prosci’s 2012 edition of Best Practices in Change Management.

The topic of sponsorship has been a popular one this month, first at the Association of Change Management Professionals Global Conference I participated in at Las Vegas earlier this month.

Then last week during BJ Fogg’s Persuasion Boot Camp held in the heart of Sonoma County, CA, the topic surfaced again during our breaks. Any time we’re undertaking a new venture that involves triggering employees, consumers or other stakeholders to take action, we want the support of senior leaders.

What are some of the make or break actions of senior leadership sponsorship? In my experience, effective senior leaders always do these seven actions:

1. Articulate a strong business case for why they’re introducing a new initiative or leading some other change. Leaders need to be very clear about what they expect employees to do and the implications of those actions. This also means continuing to make their case with a strong “call to action” in a fresh, convincing manner even if they’re sick of stating it. (As one leader once said, “Just when I feel like I’m going to throw up if I have to repeat myself, I realize that a group of employees is just now grasping what we’re doing.”)

2. Role model the change they want adopted. As Mahatma Gandhi said: “Be the change you want to see in the world.”  And like Gandhi, leaders will be more credible and influential if they show us they’re out in front taking the first step, which may be painful. And in a world where bad role models tend to run rampant (See “Be a good, not bad, example”), people should notice the good behavior.

3. Engage others in conversation. This includes listening to customers, employees and other stakeholders to gain greater clarity and build stronger relationships. These conversations also will help employees gain a greater understanding of what they’re expected to do. This understanding, combined with clear calls to action, will then improve the chances of strong alignment between what leaders are saying and doing and what employees are doing. And with all the tools we have these days, such as easy-to-use surveys and social media, it’s a lot easier to track what’s being said and done.

4.  Empower employees to lead from where they are. Leadership is all about leverage. Because leaders can’t do it all alone, they need to encourage employees at all levels to lean forward and act. For example, several months into a major transformational change, one of my clients told his top 100 leaders that he now needed them to take a stronger leadership role. Symbolically and practically just a couple of weeks later, more than 35 of these leaders assumed a substantive role in conducting the next in-person leadership meeting.

5. Clear the path of real or perceived obstacles that can get in the way. This includes breaking down silos, unraveling bureaucratic snags, resolving any problems in roles and responsibilities, and allocating resources (or at least reallocating) to make it easier for employees to act. As Chip Heath, co-author of Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard,  emphasized at the ACMP conference, organizations tend to want to change people more than changing the environment. Yet, changing the environment—the path—is easier, more effective and longer lasting.

6. Practice the 3 R’s: recognize, reward and reinforce. Timely “thank-you’s” are the hallmark of great sponsors. Recognizing and rewarding people are critical for keeping people energized, engaged and effective. Reinforcement is especially key for building commitment, not just compliance. Reinforcement helps employees shape their new behavior, repeat it and bake it into their daily routine and the organization’s culture.

7.  Be flexible. Blessed are the flexible as they will never get bent out of shape— or be caught flat-footed when the road takes an unanticipated turn or when traffic gets backed up with all their other responsibilities. With the work terrain so unstable these days, leaders need both peripheral vision as well as others looking out for them, to track what’s happening. And they must be willing to open themselves to take counsel from others, especially when they’ve missed a blind spot.

This list of action items shows that leaders can’t delegate their sponsorship duties. Leaders must be active, not passive, sponsors even as they empower others to take on more responsibility.

How else should leaders talk and walk their sponsorship role?