You have just put the final touches on the new strategy, and now it needs to be implemented in the organization. You call a meeting to tell your employees and colleagues about the new strategy:
“As a player in a global market, we must be agile and adaptable. We must always be ready to act under constantly changing conditions. And we must continuously take the necessary steps to keep up with developments. Today we are facing an important transition, and our new strategy is the first step in realizing this transition. It will be demanding, yes, but I also dare to say: I am looking forward to it! I believe that with the new strategy we can continue to be the market leader. But if we are to succeed, I need you to help me.”
Yet it seems that the reactions are lacking. Those who heard your presentation have apparently not seen the light in the new strategy. A possible – and most likely – explanation is that you have fallen into the classic pitfall and have presented your message based on yourself and your own ambitions and goals. This is natural, but not always appropriate. When we want to create change – big or small – it is important that we translate the change to our recipients so that it makes sense to them and they can see themselves in it. In this article, you will get an effective tool to create motivation and greater ownership among employees in relation to the changes you want to implement
The model we are going to use was originally developed as a tool for analyzing folk tales. The model (which some may know as the actant model) puts into words the different roles and relationships that exist in a typical fairy tale: There is a hero. This hero has a goal; something he wants to achieve – usually something involving a princess and half a kingdom. In order for there to be a fairy tale to be told at all, there must also be an opponent who initially prevents the hero from achieving his goal. If he could go straight into the castle and get the princess’s “yes”, there would not be much excitement in that story. Conversely, in order for the hero to eventually achieve his goal and overcome what often seems like an almost invincible opponent, he must have someone to help him. So he has a helper.
“What does all this fairy tale talk have to do with me and my communication?” you might be thinking. Quite a lot, actually. The model not only tells us something about the distribution of roles in fairy tales. It also tells us something fundamental about how we as humans perceive the world around us: namely, starting from ourselves. We all have a number of goals that we strive to achieve; an exciting career, a good family life, success at work, etc. This also applies to your recipients. They have a number of different goals that they would like to achieve. And it is in the light of these goals that they assess what you say to them: How does this affect my goals? Does it help me, or does it make it harder for me to achieve my goals? In other words, your recipients listen to your message with an eye to how it affects them and their goals. If you put yourself at the center and ask your recipients to help you with
something or other so that you can achieve your goal, then you are pressuring your recipients to either take on the role of helper or the role of adversary – you have taken the role of hero yourself. If you are on good terms with your recipients, it is possible that they will take on the role of helper. However, if you do not have a close relationship, or your credibility is not at its highest, you risk that the recipients will take on the role of adversary. And then it will be difficult for you to create motivation and influence the recipients’ behavior (in a positive direction).
The model gives you three roles to work with: the hero, the helper and the adversary. And as you have probably already figured out, it is smart to put the recipient in the hero role and yourself in the helper role if you want to ensure the goodwill of the recipients. Putting the recipients in the hero role does not mean that you should flatter them, smooth their hair or make them superstars in your presentation. It means that they should experience that you are talking to them and that you have understood how what you are saying concerns them. You must therefore translate your message into their world. In the example of the new strategy, this means that you tell them what the strategy means to them. How will it affect their work or the part of the organization they are in? What will be different for them? And how will they feel an improvement when the strategy is implemented?
The more attractive a goal you can talk about, the more motivated your employees (the heroes) will be to try to achieve it. So take your time when choosing which goal you want to talk about. Start by getting to know what they dream about: What is important to them in terms of their work? Is it developing and coming up with smart solutions, providing good customer service, helping users, keeping track of budgets, or something completely different?
Once you have done your recipient analysis, the task is to find a goal that everyone – or at least the majority of recipients – can conceivably share. It works best if you can find a goal that is relatively close to the recipients, such as achieving success with a specific project they are passionate about, or having more time/better conditions to solve core work tasks. Goals that are more distant from the recipients’ self-interest, such as greater growth for the entire organization, will have a weaker effect because it has less direct influence on the recipients’ everyday lives. At the same time, it is important that you choose a goal that you are credible in helping them achieve.
Depending on who you are speaking to, it will often be an advantage to talk about slightly different goals, even if it is basically the same message that you are trying to convey. This is not an indication that you are trying to deceive the recipients, but rather that you have targeted your communication to the specific recipients.
Even though you are supposed to be the helper, you are welcome to talk about yourself. In fact, you should always be visible and clear in your communication so that your employees know where you stand. It is rarely enough to let the message speak for itself; your employees want to hear you state the direction and your expectations as clearly as possible. The important thing is that you do not primarily talk about goals that are important to you (or management), but also include the recipients’ perspective. If relevant, you are welcome to make it visible how you will help the recipients achieve their goals, but you should not be the main character.
Sometimes you have to announce something that is very difficult to find a positive angle on from the perspective of the recipients. It could be a change in the workflow for the entire organization, which is decided by the top management, and which provides value in many other places in the organization, just not for those you are going to speak to. So what can you do to put the recipients in the hero role?
If your message is primarily a hassle for the recipients, you can advantageously put the new workflows in the role of adversary and say, for example: “I know that the new registration system is a hassle, and that you would rather spend your time getting on with your other work tasks. But I will do everything I can to ensure that we do not have to register more than necessary, so that we spend as little time as possible on it.” Instead of trying to sell the change as something positive, you acknowledge that the change entails extra hassle. But by putting yourself in the role of helper, you can try to focus on what you can actually do something about, namely how you handle the extra hassle.
Other times, the role of opponent can be filled by the concerns or objections your recipients have: Are they worried that lack of time might stand in the way of you reaching your goals? Or are they perhaps thinking back to the last change initiative that never really yielded the desired results? In such cases, as a helper, you need to point out the resistance and tell how you imagine you can overcome it.
It’s not just the recipients who benefit from you putting yourself in the helper role and them in the hero role. Using the hero model in your management communication also has clear advantages for your leadership:
First, you help your employees to better find motivation and take ownership of the development you want. If you put your recipients in the hero role and speak into their goals, you create a strong “why”. You make it clear to the recipients how what you say affects them, and thus why they should do what you suggest. And this “why” is crucial for the employees’ motivation and willingness to take responsibility for making something happen.
Secondly, it positively affects your credibility if you put your employees at the center. In this way, you show them that you want them to do well and that you are interested in them. Even when you are in town with a negative message. Conversely, it quickly negatively affects your credibility if you put yourself or management in the hero role, because employees can become angry and frustrated that you have no focus on anything other than your own goals.
Did you feel a little bit affected by the example from the introduction? If you did, it is a sign that you – like many other leaders – will put yourself in the hero role and speak based on the goals and ambitions you have. As this article should have shown, this is not appropriate. Regardless of whether your message affects the recipients positively or negatively, you have a significantly better chance of a good reception if you make sure to put your recipients in the hero role. Let’s look at the example from the introduction – what would it look like if the roles were reversed?
“Over the past year, we have all felt that we have had to run faster to keep up. And that there are constantly new rules and requirements that we have to live up to. Of course, it is always demanding to make changes, but as you have probably also experienced, we are not working fully in the smartest way. We have tried to take this into account in the new strategy. Therefore, it is my hope and my firm belief that you will experience that everyday life will become a little easier and a little more fun when we implement the new plans. That way, you will have more time to concentrate on what you do best, namely making first-class products for our customers.”
The next time you need to create motivation and ownership, keep the recipients’ need to be able to achieve their goals in mind when choosing how to present your message. Tailor your presentation so that the recipients feel that you are speaking to them and have understood how your message affects their world. That way, you will get closer to achieving your own goal.
Do you or your organization need to be better at storytelling? We’d be happy to offer suggestions on how we can help you.
