Owning The Narrative

RESOURCE

Observations

The Leadership Narrative sets the context which everybody responds to. It shapes how they think about the business, their understanding of what great looks like, their emotional engagement and what is practically required of them.

It is a combination of the:

Leadership Agenda: the critical things that you must shape and decide upon.

Leadership Story: the way the agenda is woven together.

Leadership Conversation: the way the key questions are framed, the people engaged and the actions shaped.

The Narrative both influences and is influenced by the Agenda, the Story and the Conversation. It is not just an output, though many leaders mistakenly treat it as such. It is a creative, dynamic, iterative and demanding part of leadership, which requires the leader to own the totality of the Narrative.

Owning The Narrative and Setting The Leadership Rhythm are particularly interdependent. Owning The Narrative is like the leader being an architect – ‘shaping the vision, drawing up the plans and selling the story.’ Setting The Leadership Rhythm requires the leader to be like a conductor – ‘giving the focus and setting the tempo’.

The Narrative needs to be compelling (ie: engage people emotionally) as well as have substance (eg: a strategy which can succeed).

Framework

These are the areas I encourage my clients to think about.

For the Agenda, the Story and the Conversation the leader needs to:

Create – in my experience most leaders definitely understand their role in creating the Leadership Agenda; including the strategy, the priorities etc. What seems less obvious, is the criticality of their role in weaving that into a compelling Leadership Story and then shaping the Leadership Conversation which will make it a reality. The Agenda, Story and Conversation all require different types of creativity and smart leaders will engage others, to complement their own capabilities and build collective ownership.

Tell – the greatest agenda in the world, will have little impact unless others understand, believe and act on it. For this to happen the leader needs to be continually telling the story. This is not about a one-way dictat, it is about finding multiple ways to engage, to help people understand, to listen to feedback and learn collectively. The critical role of the leader is in taking the initiative and continually helping the organisation understand, contribute to and act on; the Agenda, the Story and the Conversation.

Be – almost always the leader is, and should be, the most visible person in the organisation. What they do, will be copied. Leaders as role models, may sound obvious but I am continually surprised how leaders underestimate their impact (my most extreme but real example – a European Finance Team that flew to an ultra-expensive Scandinavian hotel to discuss expense control and then promptly imposed a travel ban). Not only is it important that leaders act as they want others to, but in my experience, they also need to proactively seek opportunities to reinforce the core messages. For clients who are in new roles, I often find myself having a conversation about the benefit of demonstrating ‘sharp elbows’ early!

Leadership Agenda

The Agenda influences everything from the essence of the business through to the practical day to day focus.

It will vary depending on the context of the business and needs to continually evolve.

There are many, many ways of thinking about the Agenda, both it’s overall shape and the constituent parts. Here is the framework I typically use to provoke the thinking of clients.

Enduring	Direction of Travel	Focus
Purpose Why do we exist?	Mission Where do we want to be in 3-5 years?	Priorities What do we need to deliver in the short term?
Vision What does great look like?	Strategy Why will we win?	Capabilities What do we need to be building now?
Values How do we do things?	KPI’s How will we know what progress we are making?	​Behaviours What do we need to role model now?

Leadership Story

The whole Leadership Story is much greater than the sum of the parts of the Leadership Agenda.

The famous NASA story about cleaners (one describes their role as ‘wiping pee off the floor’, the other ‘helping put somebody on the moon’) may well be overused and apocryphal, but it is still a great illustration of the power of storytelling.

Great story telling seems to entail:

Giving Direction – being clear on what great looks like, what you expect and what the follow up process will be.

Making Meaning – helping people find purpose and belief in what they are doing.

Demonstrating Empathy – showing you understand and care about the individual and their context.

Framing the questions and key issues – shaping the challenges and opportunities so that you help people have better quality conversations which generate action that makes a difference.

Helping people take collective responsibility for collective problems – acknowledging that the answers don’t just lie with the leadership but that individuals need to take responsibility as well.

Leadership Conversation

The story is then acted out through hundreds of different Leadership Conversations across the organisation. The conversations create the rhythm of the organisation, which in turn drive the actions that ultimately lead (or not) to performance and the creation of value. See Setting The Leadership Rhythm.

10 Top Tips

Owning The Leadership Narrative

1. Personally own the Leadership Narrative – it is probably your No.1 priority.

2. Create capacity to focus on the Leadership Agenda – smart people plus time.

3. Constantly improve the Leadership Story – as the context and audience changes and better insights develop.

4. Obsess about the quality of meetings (the Leadership Conversation) – they are the life blood of the organisation.

5. Lead by example – what you do, not what you say, will be copied.

6. Repeat, repeat, repeat – nobody hears and absorbs the first time. Their understanding can always improve.

7. Engage at an emotional level – it is much more powerful.

8. Be holistic and build on the previous – it builds credibility, understanding and belief.

9. Use metaphors and tell stories – they make the complex, simple.

10. Aim to be great at communication (not just good) – organisationally and individually it will make a considerable difference.