One of the key lessons I teach leaders is that – People Support What They Help Create.
Our world has changed, and rapidly. Fifteen years ago, if you wanted your voice to be heard, you pretty much only believed it was heard if you held a position of leadership. Social media has changed all that and I don’t mean just because people have Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn where they can go and voice their opinion. It has changed the psyche of our world. It has caused everyone to feel like his or her voice should be heard. Regardless of where people are in your organization, they mentally believe that their voice and their opinion matters. As a result, our top-down directives don’t work the same way they used to. We can’t just throw things at people and expect them to jump on it, to run with it, and go for it. We need to understand that now more than ever. People support what they help create.
One of the important tenets of leadership and in influence is co-creation. When people create it – they support it.
So how do we become better at involving our people?