Leadership: The Science of Selling the Vision – Dianne Worrall

Leadership: The Science of Selling the Vision

Leaders are often called “visionaries”. A powerful vision can motivate and excite employees and serve as a catalyst for intrinsic reward, such as a sense of satisfaction gained from the creation of a quality product or working as a team to achieve a goal. Research demonstrates that intrinsic reward is more effective in driving engagement and performance than its extrinsic, “carrot and stick” type counterpart (Accountability Leadership, 2013, Di Worrall).  According to an article by Louis Efron that appeared in “Forbes” on June 24, 2013, a lack of management vision is the main reason why employees abandon jobs and their managers as often as every one and a half years. But what if the vision is there but another component is not. A powerful vision is of no use if not communicated effectively.

While having vision is critical to effective leadership, Stephen P. Robbins, author of “Organizational Behavior”, writes that three other crucial skills are necessary to persuade others to share your perspective. The first is the ability to communicate a vision through written and oral means.  Think of any great visionary and they are most likely effective communicators. Bill Clinton has a talent to break down a complex idea and explain it clearly and engagingly in a manner that a majority can understand.  Ronald Reagan was coined “The Great Communicator”; Mark Twain blended humour and the English language in a way that rendered his visions timelessly facetious. Winston Churchill’s speeches are epic; Nelson Mandela’s quiet eloquence is strengthened by a lifelong conviction to his beliefs.

The second skill is the ability to lead and communicate by example or “walk the walk”. Hypocrisy has never garnered trust and respect to which many a chagrined politician or shamed religious leader can attest. Third, is the ability to extend the vision to different contexts so that it has meaning to all concerned. For example, a new technology needs to make sense to the shareholders, the engineers, the marketers, as well as to the IT staff who must work round the clock to ensure its installation.

Additionally, visionary leaders would do well to take a cue from great marketers who have long known of the power of visual imagery in making a vision stick.  75 percent of the brain’s neurons prefer visual stimuli to other sensory stimuli. This has been borne out in studies which indicate that as much as 90 percent of information presented in images was recalled 72 hours after being presented versus only 10 percent of textual information.

The lesson for leaders: A vision is one thing, but the ability to sell it is just as important.

Post by Di Worrall

Award-winning Business Transformation & Strategy Consultant, Best Selling Author, Executive Coach

www.diworrall.com.au

Find out more in Di Worrall’s latest #1 Amazon best selling book: Accountability Leadership – How Great Leaders Build a High Performance Culture of Accountability and Responsibility (2013) at http://amzn.to/1cphIpl

Accountability Leadership Saves Tech Company

In 2005, HCL Technologies was in trouble.

The Delhi-based IT firm was losing market share, as competitors grew by 50% annually.

By 2009, HCL’s president, Vineet Nayar had turned the company around, nearly tripling annual revenues and doubling market capitalisation despite the recession.

Nayar accomplished all this through a top-down culture of accountability, beginning with the leadership qualities of himself—the CEO—and other senior managers.

The Rules Of Accountability Have Changed

Great business leaders understand that acceptance of greater personal accountability and responsibility leads organisations back on the path to success.

But with the evolving nature of 21st century business, the practical steps that go into creating a high performance culture of accountability have become more muddled than ever.

Many organisations have seen temporary improvements, implementing traditional systems of accountability in an attempt to drive high performance in the workplace—only to quickly revert back to their old ways, or worse.

Accountability Leadership Will Teach You:

• What it really takes to lead a high performance culture of accountability
• Why so many of today’s employees avoid personal accountability and responsibility like the plague, and how to reverse that trend
• How to sustain great performance through inspiring feedback, feed-forward and follow-through
• What an accountability plan is, how to create one, and why it’s considered the “secret weapon” behind successful business transformation

Filled with real world case studies and straightforward, easy to digest research, Accountability Leadership offers practical solutions that are direct, engaging, fast, cost-effective, proven, and easy to implement...

Immediate, Concrete Solutions You’ll Take Away From This Book Include:

• How to transform the “dark side” of accountability into a positive force for change
• Why carrots and sticks no longer work—and what they’ve been replaced with
• How to create compelling consequences that inspire people to perform at their best, and achieve the ultra productive workstate known as “flow”
• Crack the code of high accountability conversations, turning confrontation into a productive and positive opportunity

Accountability Leadership Also Sheds Light On Topics Like...

• How negativity bias covertly sabotages your feedback loop with your employees
• The optimal ratio for positive to negative comments in feedback
• The right amount of autonomy to give employees—without overdoing it
• What lack of recognition is really doing to your workforce (hint: it’s staggering)
• The surprising biochemical effect of praise, and why it cannot fail

Plus, You’ll Also Receive A Special Bonus

Reader’s can claim an exclusive 20-minute podcast interview with top-rated thought leader Marshall Goldsmith, sharing his powerful experiences and groundbreaking ideas on coaching for accountability leadership—absolutely free.

A Personal Message From The Author

Accountability is arguably the number-one issue that makes or breaks leadership performance today. Yet most of us were never taught this critical skill—not by our parents, teachers or business leaders.

The good news is, accountability can be coached.

The ideas in this book draw from extensive research and 25 years experience working with executives to improve performance through high accountability.

These ideas work.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre - Business, Leadership, Workplace Behaviour, Human Resources, Executive Coaching

Rating – PG

More details about the author

Connect with Di Worrall on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.diworrall.com.au/

a Rafflecopter giveaway