Your team already knows the why
Sep 10
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Four o'clock on a Thursday afternoon. Seven people around the table and a new priority on the screen. You got the slides the same morning. The new plan replaces the one you presented in June. Somebody closes a laptop. Nobody asks a single question.
A large review in the Journal of Affective Disorders brought together 278 studies with more than 250,000 people. It looked at meaning in life and depression. People with clear goals had less depression. So did people who felt their life mattered. The strongest link was the feeling that your life and the world around you make sense. I think that feeling matters at work too.
The storyteller who fills the gap
The brain is good at spotting gaps. June said one thing and Thursday says another. Nobody explained how the two fit together. So in each of those seven heads, one part of the brain starts working on it. I usually call him Dreamy.
The brain is good at spotting gaps. June said one thing and Thursday says another. Nobody explained how the two fit together. So in each of those seven heads, one part of the brain starts working on it. I usually call him Dreamy.
Dreamy is the storyteller. He takes old memories and new events and turns them into a story that makes sense. He does this even when facts are missing. He doesn't write during the meeting, though. He writes later, in the car on the way home or in the shower.
What he writes depends on Amy, the part of the brain that watches for threats. When Amy is calm, Dreamy's story is calm too. Maybe the client changed their mind. But this team has been under pressure since spring. Amy is already on alert. So Dreamy writes a darker version. The June work was for nothing. Management has given up on us. Someone will lose their job. Amy hears that story and gets even more nervous.
By Monday, seven people have seven different stories about Thursday. None of them came from you.
The slide you want to add
When a change goes badly, most leaders show the vision slide again. The vision matters. It's what all the pieces fit into. But your team heard it in June too. What they need on Thursday is how the new plan fits with June and with the vision.
When a change goes badly, most leaders show the vision slide again. The vision matters. It's what all the pieces fit into. But your team heard it in June too. What they need on Thursday is how the new plan fits with June and with the vision.
In my book I write that meaning helps the brain see how things fit together. It tells you what to focus on and what to let go. A new priority that says the opposite of the last one takes that away. Even when the new goal is a good one.
You probably didn't choose this change. You don't have to agree with it to explain how it connects to June. You're the one person on your team who can find out why the plan changed.
The World Economic Forum cited a study of workers in thirty countries this year. It looked at who was thriving at work, not just performing. Adaptability was one of the two things that mattered most. That's how well someone copes when the plan changes. I see it grow every time a leader explains a change. And I see it shrink every time a deadline moves and nobody says why.
Write the link before you present it
Take ten minutes before the meeting. Write two sentences. One about what changed. One about what it means for the work already done. If you can't write them, you've found the gap your team will fill. Ask your own manager before you walk in.
Then say those two sentences first, before the new plan. Add what you don't know yet. "I don't know what happens to the June budget. I'll know by Friday." The brain copes better with a clear "I don't know yet" than with silence. It gives Dreamy less to make up. Then wait for the questions. If people ask about next steps and not about June, your link worked.
A team can live with a plan it doesn't like. A plan that doesn't fit with the last one is much harder. Somebody on your team will explain Thursday to themselves tonight, in the car or in the shower. Do you want them to use your two sentences, or the story Dreamy wrote on his own?
A team can live with a plan it doesn't like. A plan that doesn't fit with the last one is much harder. Somebody on your team will explain Thursday to themselves tonight, in the car or in the shower. Do you want them to use your two sentences, or the story Dreamy wrote on his own?
/ Maria