There’s nothing quite like an election for leadership lessons that we can apply in business. This one didn’t fail to deliver.
As a bit of a political nerd, I love to watch how politicians communicate throughout an election campaign. And this one was a doozy!
But the question, is why does this matter in business?
Because just like politicians, to be successful, business leaders need to influence others to take action and for this you need to communicate effectively.
1. Don’t assume people are listening.
About seven million words are written throughout an election campaign. Thankfully, we won’t read all of them, but we will see a lot of pictures that stick in our minds.
As Albo knows, props and visual aids can be powerful tools. We’ve been Instagrammed to the point where our attention span is shorter than a goldfish, so even if it makes you feel like a total dork, remember: A picture is worth a thousand words.
2. Don’t ignore the influence of your team.
As a leader, it’s a fact that some people will like you and some won’t. Your executive team and managers are your best friends when it comes to influencing and distributing messages across your stakeholder base. Ignore this at your peril.
3. Don’t make massive leaps without showing the first next step.
Not everyone will buy into your vision, at least not right away. By all means, be visionary, but show people the journey and bring them with you by outlining the steps you will take to get there, why it matters and what it means for them.
And remember, echo chambers are dangerous. If you haven’t tested your thinking across diverse groups of people, hold off launching.
Blind Freddy could have told you axing work from home was going to be a disaster
In fact, I wrote about it a couple of months back – When the Return to Office Mandate Makes Your People Go Full Braveheart
People have come to see WFH as a liberty and a right, and they’re going to fight to keep it.
As for Nuclear power, would a first next step be simply cancelling the moratorium…?
4. Message fatigue is your worst enemy.
When you’re in the thick of a campaign, you’re guaranteed to get message fatigue, and it can be debilitating. It takes a huge amount of discipline to stick to a script and it’s essential for impact.
Both leaders struggled with this, but Albo less so overall and that’s where it mattered.
John Howard and Paul Keating were masters at this. Their secret was visualising their audience and reminding themselves these people had never heard these messages before. They did this for every single speaking engagement.
5. Don’t disregard your strengths.
Albo obviously likes dogs (and knows they enhance public image). My observation is that he lit up when he patted a dog. That can be hard to fake. Peter Dutton seemed to like tractors, which is fine but it’s hard to convey warmth from the inside of a cabin.
Babies are a whole other matter! It’s so cliché it’s not funny, yet we get it every election…
Think about the things in your campaign that you’re proud of and that make you smile; this energy is magnetic and will draw people to you.
6. Don’t try to be popular in place of being passionate.
Trying to be popular makes you boring or worse, seem a bit weird. In this election it resulted in me too policies – from both sides.
People want visionary and passionate leaders who have their backs, are willing to take a stand and break new ground. They don’t want leaders who can’t land a message and who try too hard to be funny or likeable.
Passion and authenticity go a long way in a campaign and naturally counteract the lessons above.
7. Don’t be hard to do business with.
Leaders need to find ways to be more accessible. In my government relations experience, it’s always been easier to book meetings with Labor MPs than it has with the Coalition. They just have a better process with less convoluted points of contact and less wait time. It feels like they actually want to meet people and this is a powerful impression to make.
No one expects leaders to have time to meet and greet everyone, but they do expect a bit of access if you’re promoting something. This is where your team can really help you. Get the right process in place to qualify meeting requests and make them happen in a reasonable time.
It’s far simpler than it seems and doesn’t have to be limited to one-on-ones.
If all else fails, a bit of pre-campaign PT, a new suit, specs and a few tweakments go a long way. The way you look matters. Superficial it may be, but it worked wonders for Albo in the last election, along with Dan Andrews and Joe Biden.
What else would you add? I’d love to hear your observations. You can contact me here.
Nina