Are you battling for your leader’s buy-in?

“Speak to business results”, was the approach I was taught as I was learning to become a change leader and practiced this approach religiously for over a decade.

I would spend an enormous amount of time gathering data, turning it into compelling facts, zooming in on the issues, then drowning my risk-averse boss with all the content to prove his business strategy wasn't working.

Did it work? Usually... NO!

I was then quick to snap:

"he doesn't get it" or

"he is afraid of losing control" or

"he doesn't want to look incompetent".

And sometimes

"he just doesn't care"

I would whine to colleagues and then would come up with some more data, some more facts and the whole cycle would continue.

It was back in 2011, when I enrolled in a course called Influencer that I discovered that I was suffering from Cassandra syndrome.

The Cassandra Syndrome or Metaphor  relates to a person whose valid warnings or concerns are disbelieved by others.

I felt like my world shattering. Afterall, I thought that was my mojo even though it didn’t work consistently.

Here is the thing. I wasn’t alone.

Apparently we all have little understanding of how change comes about and are misled by the misconception that facts change people.

If that was the case then:

- World leaders would have taken epidemiologist Larry Brilliant seriously when he warned us about the coronavirus in his TED TALK in 2006

- We would rather not give the government another excuse to disrupt our comfortable lives and tell them what to do given the alarming data from the scientist that the world is warming at an unprecedented rate.

- High-risk heart patient would no longer eat chocolate cake because doctor warned him for years about the risk of stroke

So, what is happening here? Are these efforts or causes not sufficiently backed with hard, cold, irrefutable data?

Yes, Yes and YES. It’s in fact hard to ignore.

But doubt is not always resolved in the face of the facts, even for the most enlightened of us, believable and convincing as those facts are, because DOUBT is a perverse variation of perceived security, a paralysis in the face of the unknown.

So, what is then the antidote to overcoming a doubtful mind?

Fortunately for us, unlike epidemiologists, scientists or doctors, we have the luxury of having close interactions with leaders we seek to engage or influence and a greater opportunity to apply proven science of behavioral psychology and science of social networks.

And, here’s how it can be done!

1. Get your leader to experience the challenge first-hand, not PowerPoints!. It helps to first create the desired feeling for the cause you want to influence. This is best achieved by letting them experience the real environment, e.g. visit lost customers due to poor service levels, overloaded chaotic help desk, etc.

2. Give them a way out! When you try to get your leader to change direction, you may actually be attacking their own self-image. So invest your energy in convincing them that their previous decision was the right one given what they knew, but now that the underlying facts have changed, so should the mind.

3. Be brutally honest with yourself about where you stand on Trust-O-Meter with your leader. If you haven't built up enough currency yet, leverage someone who has until you gain their trust as an insider.

4. Like it or not, your leader is most likely driven by short-term gains, so make sure "what's in it for me" is relevant in the short term.

5. Widen their echo chamber. Host peer networking sessions from other companies that have experienced similar challenges to share their lessons.

By applying as many of these tactics as possible to your specific situation, your leader will be willing to go on the journey with you – turning the conversation from one of "resistance to interest".

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