“If you’re proactive, you don’t have to wait for circumstances or other people to create perspective expanding experiences. You can consciously create your own.”
… Stephen R. Covey (1932 – ) consultant and author
The Gruen Transfer is a long-standing Australian TV show that takes a light-hearted yet interesting look at the world of advertising. Watching this show one day got me thinking about the relationship between advertising and leadership.
At first glance it may not appear these two subjects have a lot in common, yet when seen in the light of my ideas about spatial leadership, a connection becomes clearer. Advertising is not about a one-off message rather it is designed, at least in part, to create a context through ongoing exposure. We are not expected to go out and buy a particular brand of car simply because we see an advertisement once. With repeated exposure to a certain line of advertising we start to associate certain purchases with important aspects of our life. Advertising agencies are seeking to generate certain stories about their clients and trigger certain responses in those people they think will buy their products. They are looking to create certain meaning for the person watching. Clearly this works as billions of dollars are spent each year in advertising in this country and around the world.
In many ways, the principals of spatial leadership presents leaders with a similar challenge. Leaders are seeking to create meaning for people in a way that compels them to action. Not a purchase as in the case of most advertising rather cooperative action towards certain goals. Yet how often do you get the sense that the leaders of your organisation are presenting a clear and consistent message to build such a context and create meaning. My guess would be that not many people would see their leaders doing this. Rather, most tend to have occasional events aimed at creating a sense of leadership. Although these efforts have some value they do not really serve the purpose of generating a clear and consistent meaning within which people can work.
Good leaders are clear about the meaning they are trying to create and use most situations to build that meaning. Say a leader believes their team is being too reactive and they want to create a more proactive attitude. They can seek to achieve this by adding explicit messages about proactivity by using certain key messages during as many conversations as possible. They can also listen for reactive responses and pepper their language with words such as “proactive”, “create” and “initiate” to generate a sense of creating rather than responding. Over time a new context can be created for people within that group regarding how they operate. The key is simplicity and repetition.
Related Concepts
Spatial Leadership
Effective Listening and Speaking
Communication, Listening and Speaking
The Phenomenon of Listening