Meaning is the most important part of motivating change, Rennie says. And he says leaders can achieve this by understanding, and ideally talking about, four “meaning” stories.
Typically, the leader will always talk about one meaning story – what this change or goal means for the company. “And while you are talking about that, your staff are having internal conversation about what it means for them because there are four stories, and only one of them is what is good for the company,” says Rennie.
The four levels of meaning for individuals making change are:
The last one is the barbecue-stopper, says Rennie, but inspiring leaders address them all. “If you listen to the speeches of really good leaders – and I am very conscious of this with the leaders I work with – they make sure they are linking into four levels of meaning.
“The listeners are already making this connection. They are thinking, sure it is good for company, but it is going to be harder for me and I am not sure about our customers. Or they will be thinking, I really like this, I can be really proud, this is a great thing we are doing.”
Arriving at these levels of meaning involves self-awareness and considerable thought on the part of leaders, another reason for developing the “softer” reflective.
There are pragmatic outcomes for leaders who are aware of using both external and internal motivators to effect change, and McKinsey is an expert in measuring the results, says Rennie.
“You get a lot of energy, everyone moving in sync, and you get things done. You need the team, the feedback processes, the goals and planning and the alignment stuff,” he says. “We have 500,000 people in our global database, and we have a long-term view of really drives performance. It is really about the balance of the hard, and the ‘essential’ soft.”
Despite his years, post cancer, spent sitting around in group with men talking about feelings, Rennie takes a tough line on responding to people who actively undermine a shift to a high-performance culture. “I call them cultural terrorists; they are always there, and they are a problem.”
They have to go, says Rennie. “They are very damaging, because people will see what they are doing and say, ‘you can be an arsehole and it is fine’. If you really do want to create a culture you have to let them know that this matters.”
Even people who are getting good results must go if they do not fit the culture, an approach perfected by Jack Welsh during his time as the CEO of GE. Rennie says: “He fired people getting good results but who did not fit in the culture. Then people took it seriously. You have to give these people feedback, and you have to act on it.”
Kath Walters is the editor of LeadingCompany and an award-winning journalist of 15 years’ experience. Kath was previously a senior writer and editor at BRW magazine covering management, strategy, finance, entrepreneurship and venture capital across all industry sectors. In 2006, Kath won the Citibank Award for Excellence in Journalism (General Business). Follow her on Twitter.
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