8

YOU CAN BE A CONVERSATIONAL LEADER (And Probably Need to Be)

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN “VOLUNTOLD”? This means to be told to do something, under the guise of volunteering. Within many big companies, the term “voluntold” is bandied about freely.

The scenario typically plays out like this. The leadership has announced an important new project or initiative, one that needs expert input from a few people inside the organization. These should ideally be individuals who have been successful in this particular domain, who have distinctive knowledge to tap or skills that others could model, and who have earned a high level of credibility inside the organization.

Where does the project leader find these expert doers? Chances are, they are busy doing. That's what they do.

When I work with larger corporate clients on messaging projects, there is a similar dynamic. The project sponsor—a high-ranking executive responsible for business results—identifies a few key individuals to involve. We try to select a diverse mix, involving people from different business units, locations, and experiences. But it's most important to recruit people who know what they are doing, are generous in helping others, and have “street cred.” With professionals like that involved, we can be confident that the work product will be useful and practical—and that our intended users will want to use it.

There is a potential problem, however. Those internal experts aren't sitting around, waiting idly for an invitation to join another project team. They are in the field, meeting with customers, coaching team members, adding to their knowledge base, and otherwise doing the things that make them so valuable in the first place. “Should we take them out of the field, even for just a little while?” some executives worry. It is a fundamental tension that the busiest people most in demand are exactly the ones whose help we need when it comes to building and sharing the message. But it's likewise clear that securing a little time and attention from the so-called A-players will generate many times higher returns than allowing mediocre messaging to drag the organization down, day after month after year.

Besides, in every case the “voluntoldees” have jumped into their projects with good cheer. They understand the value of great messaging and are typically flattered to be asked to participate.

You might be in a different situation. Perhaps you lead a smaller organization or are in a solo business. If that's the case, you are already, by default, the message leader. Even if you are managing yourself rather than a bunch of direct reports, you have to consider all of those potential messengers on the outside—your current clients or customers, suppliers, partners, members, donors, and friends. The lessons here still apply, regardless of the organizational chart (if one even exists).

Tag, you're it.

ISN'T THIS THE CEO'S JOB?

We might naturally think that the overall organizational leader should also assume the role of messaging leader. After all, who has more contact with all the constituencies of a business—and who else is the primary keeper of the mission? The top boss might have all of the personal characteristics and experience to be a great messaging leader in theory, yet lack the visibility or perspective necessary to make the message hum in practice.

Researchers Michael Porter and Nitin Nohria had an interesting idea. They wanted to know how CEOs actually spent their time. They found 27 CEOs of large, global firms who agreed to share their schedules. The CEOs' executive assistants did the actual recording, in 15-minute increments, over periods of several weeks.

As you might suspect, these big-company CEOs work a lot and they are “always on.” The leaders in the study worked nearly ten hours per weekday, about four hours daily on the weekends, and more than two hours per day on vacations. About half of that work was done at company headquarters; the remainder included time spent at other company locations, meeting external groups, commuting, traveling, or at home.

Apart from the total, it's the composition of that work time—as well as the time for family, health, and renewal—that is the bigger deal. The way that CEOs choose to allocate their personal presence not only helps determine their effectiveness but also signals to everyone else what is most important. It can have a lot to do with the entire organization's performance.

Given the truth that CEOs are ultimately responsible for the growth of the enterprise, one detail stood out to me. On average, those CEOs spent just 3 percent of their time with customers. The authors reported that not only were the CEOs surprised by this fact but downright “dismayed.”

That is a very limited perspective on the customer's world. The CEOs in the study recognized it, too (which is why they were dismayed). I suspect that every one of those companies has something in their vision or mission statements about customer focus or putting the customer first. Everyone's intentions are good. It is nevertheless true that CEOs, particularly those in larger organizations, are pulled in so many different directions that they have trouble seeing beyond the corporate walls.

The effects can stifle growth plans. Why?

• You tend to lose the language of the customer over time. Without much direct contact with customers, it's easy to become mired in the corporate and/or industry lingo that you hear instead.
• You can focus too much on internal processes, and not enough on consumers' decision-making processes. If the CEO is getting reports only on the sales funnel and volume of activity (e.g., the number of calls being made), then there is little opportunity to even consider whether those activities match what consumers need to hear and know along their path.
• You can pay too much attention to anecdotes. If CEOs have access to only a few snapshots with customers, those interactions will have a disproportionate influence on their view of the market. That's a natural recency effect from the latest meeting that can hang on your brain. But what if those customer interactions aren't a fair representation of reality? In my experience, a customer will behave differently in a conversation involving the CEO than in more normal, everyday cases.

Whether you're managing a large group, a smaller group, or mostly just yourself, recognize that the daily grind is working against your hopes for a vibrant, widely shared message that drives growth. We need to recognize the roadblocks so that you and your organization can get around them—faster and more smoothly than the competition does.

YOU CAN GET EVERYONE AROUND THE ROADBLOCKS

If we consider organizational growth to be a journey, we also should plan for the predictable fact that our road will never be completely smooth.

When it comes to managing your message, the goal is to create and reinforce an environment that fuels growth over the long haul. Therefore, we take as given that there will be sporadic and one-time occurrences to deal with (such as the deer running across your road at dusk or the flash flood during a summer rainstorm) but strategically choose to focus more on the chronic, systemic problems that require proactive navigation. Think of infrastructure bottlenecks that are part of a system (such as the point where a four-lane road becomes a two-lane bridge). This is a scenario that a group of commuters might have to deal with every workday. For a few of them, it will be a regular opportunity to get frustrated. Why not plan an alternative route?

In our case, the roadblocks are a product not of concrete and steel but of psychological and organizational forces. They will be lurking along the road for as long as humans are involved in the business. The most common ones I see (let's call them “The Five Cs”) will likely feel familiar to you. Let's call them out and identify some ideas for getting around them nimbly.

The Messaging Roadblock of Consistency

We value consistency in other people, because it signals that we can depend on them. We know what to expect. As customers, we likewise value consistency in organizations. It's comforting to get a consistent message whether we are dealing online, over the phone, or in person. I enjoy hearing Chick-fil-A employees respond to my “thank you” with a “my pleasure” every time.

Contrast that with the scene I witnessed not long ago while boarding a commercial flight. We passengers were going through the usual motions. A man was placing his bag into the overhead bin.

A flight attendant came up and said, “Sir, you can't put your bag there.”

The passenger replied, “It's okay. It fits just fine.”

The flight attendant said, “No, you can't put it there. It is an FAA regulation and could mean a $25,000 fine.”

The passenger was not being combative. He seemed genuinely confused. “The gate agent said just 30 seconds ago that I could bring this aboard.”

The flight attendant was getting louder. “I'm telling you that you need to go back up there and check the bag.” As the flight attendant walked away, she said to no one in particular (but loud enough for dozens of passengers to hear), “There's always one idiot on every flight.”

By the way, this exchange happened in first class. It was much more profound and costly than if a fast-food employee forgot to say the right thing.

The most common frustration I hear from organizational leaders relates to inconsistency in how employees talk about the business and interact with customers. (This is the “Cowboys” symptom of a messaging problem, introduced in Chapter 1.) Leaders recoil at inconsistency because it is the mortal enemy of growth. You need consistency in order to scale.

The consistency roadblock has a number of sources. One is the natural desire of employees and others to exert free will and say things their way. Another is turnover in the organization; when new people enter or are constantly moving into new roles, they lack the knowledge of what to do or how to coach others.

The way to get around the consistency roadblock is to have one central messaging resource. And that resource should not be some overprogrammed, dense set of guidelines that employees will ignore with delight. The type of resource that will actually get used—and thus create more consistency across the organization—will be in a playbook format. Keep it clear, simple, accessible, updated, and tailored to specific roles and conversations. That should winnow the idiotic messages.

The Messaging Roadblock of Comfort

La-Z-Boy sells a lot of recliners. I don't believe they win a lot of design awards, but then again their customers likely put a low priority on being fashion-forward in the family room. The recliner buyer wants to be comfortable, and those big cushy chairs can indeed deliver comfort. My dad needed a darn good reason to get out of his recliner.

As much as we talk about the need for constant change, most of us naturally gravitate to the familiar and comfortable. In business conversations, people tend to talk about what they know best with the people who make them feel comfortable. That means most people in your organization are probably talking about themselves, the company, and the products or services with which they are most familiar. That also means they're likely talking to the same people—at networking events, at industry conferences, at the companies they call on, and away from work. Even worse, most people tend to use the jargon of their field, even if it is incomprehensible or uninteresting to those outside the tribe.

Is it any wonder that, when asked “What's new?” many people reflexively say, “Not much”?

There are several ways to avoid the comfort roadblock. One is to socialize the change that you are making to the organization's message. Let it be known that this is something everyone is doing. Talk about it at regular meetings, during corporate events, and across internal communication channels. Show examples. Take pictures. Another effective tactic is to create and share stories. As you saw in Chapter 4, our brains are wired to pay extra attention to stories and even to share them. That helps, because chances are there actually is something that's new around your business.

The Messaging Roadblock of Complexity

Years ago, people joked that the world had become so complicated we were destined to live with our VCRs blinking “12:00.” Now, some might long for the simplicity of that VCR. Am I the only one who relies on his teenagers to troubleshoot technical issues in the home?

Today's products and solutions are so complicated that they put tremendous pressure on both buyers and sellers. No buyer wants to be stuck with something that won't work or that won't integrate with what they already have and understand.

The way to get around the complexity roadblock is to focus on the message itself. Simple language (free of acronyms and jargon) works best. So do pictures. I find that consumers, when presented with complex messages and several options, typically will not ask a clarifying question. They don't want to appear inadequate. That is why many organizations aren't even aware that their messages cause consumers to tune out.

The Messaging Roadblock of Coaching

There is an old management maxim that the easiest way to ruin good workers is to make them managers. This maxim rings true because we see many otherwise capable people struggle with the transition to managing other people. Their performance and motivation decline while their stress levels rise. What happened?

Some workers are promoted because they performed well in functional roles. Others might have been promoted because of tenure in the job or organizational seniority. Sometimes, workers are promoted simply because they are liked (and no other great alternatives were available).

Whatever the source, I see a severe lack of coaching skills and experience in many organizations. In those cases, employees might not feel that anyone is taking a personal interest in their success. Importantly, no one is offering them specific and empathetic guidance in the “how” of their jobs.

In order to avoid this roadblock, organizations need to “coach the coaches.” Managers are unsure of what to do because they received little or no training in customer conversations themselves. Many companies are breaking this unfortunate cycle by introducing some form of certification—a process for coaching and evaluation that establishes a minimum level of competency in customer conversations. Certification requires investment, but it tends to pay off both for new managers and those who have been around a while.

The Messaging Roadblock of Culture

Your organization either supports great messaging or undercuts it. The truth is somewhere in that seemingly mysterious thing known as “our culture.”

I believe culture is itself something to be defined and managed. The legendary consultant Alan Weiss (a mentor of mine) offers a pithy definition: culture is the behavioral manifestation of values.

To put it another way, I see values as the shared sense of what is important and what is right. Your culture is the set of processes, habits, and interactions that make values play out (or not) in the work environment. For example, if “putting the customer first,” “listening to the customer,” and “customer centricity” have been publicly declared as organizational values, does the culture reflect that? A healthy culture for supporting customer engagement will emphasize learning, drive the sharing of best practices, encourage innovative approaches, tolerate occasional stumbles on the path toward progress, and celebrate successes.

THE INFLECTION POINTS THAT NEED YOUR ATTENTION

There is never a bad time to get serious about managing your message. As you have seen, every organization has multiple opportunities every day to be a part of growth conversations.

Human nature being what it is, however, most of us need the occasional kick in the rear to make a big change (look—it's that pesky “Comfort” roadblock again!). Something makes us look at the status quo in a new way. Some external force prompts a greater sense of urgency.

What is most likely to get you off cruise control? For some leaders, it might be the disappointment of poor performance. For others, it might be something new in the organization (such as an acquisition, new products, or new distribution capabilities). Sometimes there is big news to share. For example, in the US beverage industry, carbonated soft drinks have been the leader for decades. Their market share has been declining, however, as bottled water has been ascending. During 2017, the sales lines crossed—making bottled water the number one beverage category in the country. As you might imagine, the leadership of the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) got pretty excited. The chairwoman, Shayron Barnes-Selby, wanted to make sure that all member companies were sharing this news with their customers. In the ensuing September/October 2017 issue of the IBWA's magazine Bottled Water Reporter, she exhorted members to “shout it from the rooftops and share the good news” (p. 2). When I was invited to speak at the IBWA's annual conference, I reminded the members that they should not stop with a message from the rooftops; because so many of them are involved in home and office delivery, they can share the news under millions of rooftops as well. But they would need to equip their route drivers, call center employees, and account managers to do so.

Let's take note of some common inflection points that, for you and/or your business, should prompt a fresh look at your message:

FOR YOU

• Just getting started professionally (e.g., graduating)
• Returning to the workforce after a substantial period of time
• Making a big change (e.g., starting a new role, entering a different industry, upgrading your professional identity)

FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION

• A startup that needs to establish awareness and identity
• A rebranding effort
• Experiencing fast growth, bringing in new people
• Announcing a new leadership team
• Dealing with high turnover in key positions
• Adding to the portfolio of products or solutions available
• Serving new or additional markets (e.g., new type of customer, expanded locations)
• Introducing new ways of serving customers (e.g., online offerings, new distribution or sales partners)

HOW TO GET CHANGE RIGHT

There is a proverbial elephant in the room when leaders are considering major change initiatives. They know how difficult change can be and that it typically doesn't work as hoped.

In an arresting Harvard Business Review article back in 2000 (“Cracking the Code of Change”), Nitin Nohria and Michael Beer reported that 70 percent of corporate change initiatives fail. I have seen no research recently that would suggest things are much different today.

How can you improve your odds? One way is to consider the input from those who would bear the burden of implementing said changes. I can offer some insights from frontline employees in a company that was both changing its solutions (one of the major categories listed earlier) and the message strategy around them.

Here was the situation. This particular company is large and dispersed, selling high-tech products and services to other businesses. Their marketing change was twofold: move from selling a wide range of offerings to a smaller set of more integrated solutions, and learn how to engage potential buyers at a higher, more executive level. We had established a core working group of employees, from across business units, who together were helping to craft both the offerings and the new messages.

As we prepared to get the new stuff ready for teams across the globe, we asked the group this open-ended question: “What do you see as the keys to making changes stick over the long term?” We told the group that we would report their opinions, without individual attribution, back to executive leadership.

Their responses fell into four categories:

• Management focus and reinforcement. The team recommended well-defined performance goals (including compensation and incentives that would reward change behavior), help for middle managers as they prepare to coach their direct reports, and recognition by management of early adopters.
• A clear roadmap for success. Team members said they wanted a playbook that would be easily accessible, a clear solution/product roadmap so that everyone would know what would be available, and when; training specific to the change initiative; and assurance that technical resources would be available as needed.
• A customer-engagement strategy aligned across units. We heard that management should minimize silos, place emphasis on higher-level customer and growth goals, help account managers understand how to prioritize opportunities, and involve other parts of the business, including distributors and delivery partners.
• Support for the long haul. Team members said that managers should keep proof points, case studies, and stories current; include the change initiative in onboarding activities for new employees; provide regular reporting of results compared to goals; share progress regularly; and provide clearly defined accountabilities for “who does what.”

It's my experience that, if you make sure change is planned with the changees in mind, then your probability of success will rise above the 30 percent average.

THE AMAZING (AND FREE!) AMPLIFIER OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Interested in a simple way to personally provide effective message leadership—one that is proven to work but won't cost you a dime? You can thank me later.

There is now mounting evidence that gratitude on the job has very tangible benefits for those expressing thanks as well as those receiving it.

According to a survey of 2,000 adults (reported in the Greater Good magazine from the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California-Berkeley), Americans are pretty good about expressing thanks and doing so for altruistic reasons. About six in ten adults say they show gratitude daily to their spouse, whereas nearly half express gratitude daily to other members of their immediate families. The vast majority (92 percent) say they have been feeling the same or higher levels of gratitude over the last few years.

Do most people express gratitude in the hopes of getting something in return? When asked in the survey why they gave thanks, people were more than twice as likely to choose options related to the greater good (e.g., “it makes the world a better place”) than to choose options related to reciprocity (e.g., “other people will be nicer to me”).

That's encouraging news. Still, the workplace is a venue where expressions of gratitude are far less likely to happen. Only one in seven Americans gives thanks on a daily basis to friends or work colleagues. More than one-third of those surveyed said they never have thanked a boss.

Clearly, there is room for a “gratitude adjustment” on the job. If you can lead such a change in behavior within your business, be prepared for an uptick in effort and productivity as well.

I recently saw an example of the power of gratitude in marketing and sales, in the form of field research led by Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School. Dr. Gino tested these effects with forty-one fundraisers at a university (all of whom were working on fixed salaries). For half of the group, the development director visited them in person to say, “I am very grateful for your hard work. We sincerely appreciate your contributions to the university.” The other half of the group received no extra expression of thanks. During the next week, the experimental group (who received direct thanks) increased the number of calls they made by 50 percent, whereas the control group made the same number of calls as they had the previous week.

If you have a sales or development operation, wouldn't you be interested in driving 50 percent higher activity levels just from the power of your words?

There are substantial benefits to the thanks-giver as well. According to a research program from Sonja Lyubomirsky, people motivated to express thanks on a regular basis also feel more optimistic, are more satisfied with their lives, show fewer physical symptoms (such as headaches, acne, or nausea), and even exercise more often.

What is the best way to start? In a series of studies, Lyubomirsky had participants literally count their blessings. She directed people to keep a journal, writing down and thinking about five things for which they were grateful. Those who were intentional about counting their blessings (compared to a control group directed to simply “think about five daily hassles or five life events that had happened to them”) experienced those wonderful health and psychological benefits.

To fine-tune the analysis, Lyubomirsky and her team next wanted to learn how often the blessing count should occur. One group of participants updated their gratitude journals on a weekly basis (Sunday nights only), and a second group made entries three times per week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday). Interestingly enough, those who counted their blessings once per week gained far greater benefits—likely because doing so more frequently became a ritual or chore rather than an opportunity for deeper reflection.

YOUR MESSENGERS WILL APPRECIATE THE GUIDANCE

Back in my own professor days, students would ask me a lot of questions. The three most common were “Will this be on the test?”, “Do I have to come to all of the classes?”, and “Will you be a reference for me?” The first two were, I must admit, annoying and at times discouraging. The third was different. It was a legitimate request for help from someone who was motivated to succeed.

When asked to produce a message for someone else's benefit, I wanted to do it right. I would ask the student a few questions about his or her goals, the audience, and any particular characteristics or talking points to include. Often I would ask the student to draft a letter that I could edit and sign.

Come to think of it, when I asked my own professors for similar help long ago, they did the same things!

We see similar patterns today within online platforms such as LinkedIn. Things there are in ready-to-serve formats—either on the light side (endorsements of someone's specific skills or competencies, where all one needs to do is check a box) or in a more tailored way (recommendations that may be written in draft form for the benefit of the would-be recommender). LinkedIn makes it easy to say nice things about someone else, jumping past the uncomfortable “what would you like me to say” part.

The people you ask to talk on behalf of your business will, very likely, be happy to help. At the same time, they will appreciate some guidance. A blank slate is stressful and time-consuming.

The unfortunate fact is that millions of smart and accomplished people struggle to talk about their own work, much less someone else's. How bad is it out there? I once saw, in an online discussion group for marketing research professionals, where the group moderator posed this question: “How do you introduce yourself at a cocktail party?” Many dozens of these professionals responded in a public forum for their peers to see.

Understand that these professionals know their stuff. In order to do their jobs well, they need to be good with research design, analysis, and interpretation. Many of them are freelancers or are part of small firms, so they need to be able to talk about their work in order to land projects. That's why their collective responses to the “how you introduce yourself” question were so enlightening.

Here are three of the responses, with names omitted (you will understand why):

• I introduce myself by saying, “In a nutshell, we provide market intelligence that supports key business decisions, providing the company with data-driven analysis and recommendations to know in our market, identify gaps, and maximize revenues.”
• I tell them, “You know those annoying people who call you at dinner time and want to ask you 100 questions about your cereal? Yep, that's me.”
• If anyone asks, I'm a butcher.

Ouch. Here we have professionals proudly sharing how they sound like a brochure, introduce themselves as an annoying person, or hide from their profession altogether. Can you see how lots of people need a messaging leader who will encourage them and model good practice?

GETTING READY TO RUN

In your organization, you might be surrounded by valuable people with good intentions who similarly lack confidence and skill in talking about themselves and the business. They will appreciate some guidance or structure—not a script, but something that takes the anxiety and guesswork out of everyday business conversations.

Similarly, there are likely many people outside of the organization who are willing to serve as messengers. Social psychologist Heidi Grant has a program of research that reminds us of several truths (which might have become lost in our selfie age). Most people buy into the idea of helpfulness, and they don't like to say no when there is a request for help. We tend to underestimate by roughly half how likely it is that other people will help us. You just need to make your request clear, specific, and easy. In most cases, not only will people follow through on such a request, but you will also make the relationship a little stronger in the process.

You can play an important leadership role even if you aren't the messaging expert yourself. As you will see in the next chapter, it just takes some structure, a good example, and supportive coaching.

I once had the good intention to run a marathon. I had never done anything like that before, but it seemed like a laudable goal. Then the reality of the time and training required began to sink in. Oh, and I wanted to survive the process.

Fortunately, I found a great group of experienced runners who agreed to let a newbie train with them. Their mantra was “plan your run, and run your plan.” The plan was a detailed schedule for training. There was an important social and bonding component, too. The group would join together for “long runs” early on weekend mornings, and occasionally get together to share stories and encourage one another.

There were low points, to be sure. Once I remember treating my aches and pains after making it through a nine mile-long run, the longest distance I had ever gone. I realized that run represented only about one-third the distance of a marathon.

Eventually I did complete the New York Marathon with the group—and about 28,000 other runners—and even made my time goal. Obviously, I survived (although my back, knees, and feet discouraged the rest of me from ever running a marathon again).

Let's cover how to plan your run and run your plan—not as a one-time effort but in a sustainable way. Everyone can make it to the finish line.