by Ren La Porte
What creates change? For the most part, people will not change unless it is the most comfortable thing to do. The ‘why should we change?’ is an important question that your audience needs to address before they contemplate taking action. That’s where stories are powerful. Narratives provide a memorable and persuasive way to communicate the ‘why’, when change is on the agenda.
A SIX STEP PROCESS FOR CHAMPIONING CHANGE
We, as humans, are creatures of habit. We will nearly always opt for the path with least resistance; that is, one we know and are familiar with. Moving outside our comfort zone takes effort. It takes awareness and potentially time spent learning new things. Generally this is how we grow. Change can represent an area we are unfamiliar with and it can sometimes bring an element of fear. Fear is simply not knowing how to address the ‘unknown’.
The following six step framework is a method of persuasion for change. It serves to influence stakeholders, or the intended audience, as well as to educate. This framework can be used in a wide variety of scenarios.
STEP 1
A good pitch will start with a description of ‘this is how the situation is now’. This is something the audience can identify with and it gains trust with the audience. The aim of step one is to get the audience on board.
STEP 2
The next step is to highlight ‘the potential problem’. This will then move the pendulum of homeostasis off balance. The audience are likely to become alert and defensive. Humans have a natural tendency to want to shift the pendulum back to homeostasis or go into denial. They might say, ‘This is not happening!’ This is where you are ready to introduce your research or evidence.
STEP 3
Show both sides of the story. What will happen if change does not occur? What will happen if change does occur? Evidence in the form of visuals and data are powerful here to engage, explain and enlighten (Dykes 2020).
STEP 4
Illustrate the change to the preferred direction. Focus on this future state with enough time to allow the audience to try and come up with solutions. This builds importance to the solution you are about to offer.
STEP 5
Provide a hint at ‘the solution’. This includes how your skills or services can benefit but also keeps the audience engaged to want to know more. This is the phase where you are getting ready to provide the audience with all the reasons why they should get on board with you.
STEP 6
This is where it is important to highlight how what you offer makes it ‘easy’ and comfortable again; how you can restore balance. This is your unique selling point. In this step you demonstrate how ‘another person who has used your skills and services’ benefited. Again, a good narrative is powerful for your audience to remember you by. This success story demonstrates evidence of change being adopted. Have a few examples if there is time. This shows that you are trusted and that change can be trusted.
The above 6 steps coupled with storytelling, visuals and data is a powerful framework to promote change. It shows the before state, the conflict and the resolution (the after state). It highlights your services or skills as integral to a more comfortable state for the audience.
Why not give this framework a go the next time you find yourself needing to sell yourself for a job or promotion, or your services to a client. There are many aspects in life we find ourselves needing to persuade the audience. This is a learned behaviour which everyone can master. Toastmasters gives you that platform to practice your pitch. Contact us to see how you can be the next champion of change.
REFERENCES
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- Berinato, S. (2016) Visualisations that really work. Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2016/06/visualizations-that-really-work
- Dykes, B. (2020) Effective Data Storytelling: How to Drive Change with Data, Narrative and Visuals. https://www.effectivedatastorytelling.com/
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