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When leaders give reasons for change to people who don’t agree with them, it’s worse than ineffective. A significant body of research shows that it usually entrenches those people more deeply in opposition to what the leaders are proposing.
This is why the traditional leadership approach of trying to persuade people of something different by giving them reasons why they should change their minds isn’t a good idea if the audience is at all skeptical, that is, cynical or even hostile. If a leader presents reasons at the outset of a communication to such an audience, it will likely activate the confirmation bias and the reasons for change will be reinterpreted as reasons not to change. This occurs without the thinking part of the brain being activated: the audience becomes even more deeply entrenched in its current contrary position. Reasons don’t work, because the audience is neither listening nor thinking.
Author: Stephen Denning
Source: Leader to Leader
Subjects: Change Management, Leadership, Management
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