C: Ready? I’m ready. Welcome to Slingshot 25 Shot Cast, a series of bite-sized podcasts that’ll feel like an espresso shot to your brain. I could use one of those. I’m Courtney.
J: I’m Jackie.
C: Something we’ve been thinking about is getting it right. So we did an episode earlier, check it out if you haven’t, on being right. Mm-hmm. Uh, it’s more important to get it right than be right, and so today we wanna talk about what it really takes to get it right.
C: When we’re introducing change, we make decisions. Some decisions are good and some decisions are bad.
J: That’s right.
C: Fundamentally, like we just, just ’cause it’s a decision doesn’t mean it’s a good one, right? We hope it’s a good decision.
J: Yeah, but we can’t read the future.
C: And when we’re making decisions and implementing them, getting it right takes working with people, being empathetic, getting alignment and agreement, sort of thinking proactively about the impact of your decision and anticipating how people are going to take that. All those things go into getting it right. Yeah. You can just have an answer, but if you don’t bring people with you- it’s probably not gonna turn out very well.
J: Right. Yeah. It is… You know, we’re not… No one is self-made. Um, there’s no such thing as, you know, achieving something, um, all by yourself. And, and that, nothing… That has never been more true than in the world that we’re living in today. Um, everything is, is collabor- is, you know, takes collaboration. So the word that, of course, is on my mind, and I’m guessing everyone who’s listening to this is thinking about this idea called influencing. Um, it’s the idea of, you know, you can sometimes, i- if you have what we call legitimate authority, which is you have authority given, granted to you by an org chart, you can use that sometimes to make people do things.
C: Mm-hmm. I mean, even there, you know, kind of free country, you know, you can, you know, no one has to be here. They could leave. Um, but essentially, you can use that as to kind of make people do things. Um, we call that legitimate authority. But then there’s this other form of authority which is kind of an influencing authority, or sometimes a fancy word we use is referent authority, which is using, um, I guess what, in politics they might call that soft power.
J: Using those kinds of skills. And we wanted to just say a little bit about what those skills are because they are inherent in the getting it right formula, rather than just authority, I’m right, you’re wrong, do what I say.
C: Yeah. And so many times where we’ve made a business decision, and there’s a tension, like this might not work, and you have to stand in front of people and say, “We’re gonna go do this thing.” And we can stand there and say, “We’re gonna do this thing, and it’s gonna be perfect, and it’s gonna be great, and we just, you know, trust me, trust me, trust me.” Or you can stand in front of people, and I think good influencers have a really- true, honest, integrity way of saying, “We’re gonna do this thing. Here’s all the reason and background and context for why we’re doing it. We know it might not work, ’cause there’s no guarantees in life.” Mm-hmm. “But we’re inviting you to come with us.”
J: Yeah.
C: Right? And, and somehow, um, knowing that a lot of people are gonna be skeptical, a lot of people are gonna be scared, anticipating that not everyone is gonna be bought in right away. Um, we’re gonna ask a lot of people, right? They’re gonna have to give up their comfort and whatever, whatever they have to give up to get what it is they’re asking for. And so I think that part of influence is just being really honest and vulnerable about what, what change you’re trying to create and what’s possible from it.
J: Yeah.
C: It’s one thing.
J: Yeah. The word that was coming up for me as you were describing that, Courtney, is empathy. Mm. Empathy is just wondering how someone else is experiencing a situation, and that’s exactly what is needed when you’re going to influence. Um, there’s sort of a, a common saying that people don’t follow you for your reasons, they follow you for their reasons. So empathy is about understanding what those reasons are, and it also is understanding what the reasons might be to resist and to fear and to worry about what they’re going to have to give up. And instead of just telling yourself a story that, “I’m right, uh, they’re stupid,” and- … “they don’t understand.” That is
C: the best story.
J: Well, it happens a lot. Nobody will say that out loud, but that’s kind of what we think. Um, it’s, it’s learning how to understand, uh, their side of the story. Um, and y- but one of the things, there’s kind of a nuance in this too, though. I see some organizations when they’re rolling out changes, they do tons and tons of surveys of what’s everyone thinking, what do they want, and, and then they end up just sort of trying to engineer some sort of Frankenstein kind of response to that, some sort of custom catch-all, um, will answer, uh, uh, speak to every single one of those things. I, I’m not w- we’re not suggesting that. No. It’s more about just being present and, and listening to people and speaking to the fears that they have. Um, but it’s also, you know, standing on the decision, as, as you mentioned. It’s not about being a doormat. Um, influencing is, um, is, i- is finding the truth to stand on of where you’re going and to have a healthy relationship with this might not work. Mm-hmm. You know, so it could fail. Things do fail. They do all the time. Um, no one intends them to. We work hard for, so that they don’t.
Do the work, we say. You know, do the work, make it as successful as you can. But, um, if things are failing, i- a healthy relationship with that, um, is absolutely needed so that you can, you know, take in other perspectives and maybe even, um, make some changes in, in where you’re headed.
C: Yeah, and the other thing I’m thinking about is there’s another kind of decision. We make a good decision, we think it’s gonna work out, we leave space where it might not work. Sometimes, a lot of times, we just have to make really hard decisions. The decision is hard. People aren’t gonna like it. Um, it’s gonna cost them a lot. It’s not what they would have done. It destroys their history. Who knows what, but you just know it’s a hard decision. Mm. You don’t… You know that people are not gonna clap, applaud- … jump on board. Like, it’s, it’s not one of those. And so I think in those times, as a leader, I guess if I were to give some advice about being a leader in those moments, about getting it right, is all the things, Jackie, just, that you just said about empathy and trying to anticipate how people are gonna react, very, very important.
I think proximity becomes really, really important. Like, stay in the game with them. Stay around. I think sometimes when we have to do hard things, leaders wanna, you know, get a parachute and jump out of the boat and hope it, you know, passes. Um, I’ve, I’ve shared, like, I’ve worked in a company where we had to make some hard business decisions, and I swear half the leaders took the day off the next day because they didn’t wanna be around for all the, what they’d say- Fallout bitching, complaining, whatever. Like, no. If you make a decision, even if it’s hard, show up.
J: Yeah.
C: Show up, stand on it, be there, listen. It’s, it’s part of it. If you want people to follow, if you want them to get through the ugly part, stay in it. Yeah. Stay in it, even when it’s hard.
J: I love it.
C: Oh, man, I’m preachy.
J: I think we should put away your soapbox and- It’s
C: Okay. All right. That’s what I did …
J: Call it an episode. What do you think? Okay.
C: I’m fine with that. Let me just tap off the sweat that I worked up and we’ll wrap this up. Okay. So I guess that’s all for this episode of our Shotcast, but we always have much more to say. If you want more, drop us a line at slingshot25.com. Until next time.
