Joseph Grenny

Change efforts fail when leaders narrowly look for a single cause behind their persistent problems and then try to implement quick-fix solutions.
On the other hand, influencers succeed because they understand that most problems are fed not by a single cause, but by a conspiracy of causes. They merge multiple sources of influence into a strategy that can overpower even the most persistent and resistant problems.

In a recent study published in MIT Sloan Management Review, VitalSmarts researchers found that those who combine all Six Sources of Influence are ten times more likely to succeed at producing substantial and sustainable change. These results held true across areas of:

• C-Level concerns—bureaucratic infighting, silo thinking, and lack of accountability
• Corporate change initiatives—internal restructurings, quality and productivity improvements, new product launches
• Personal challenges—overeating, smoking, overspending, binge drinking

Learn a step-by-step strategy for exponentianly increasing your power to change your greatest and most persistent challenges. 

Similar to our modern gadgets, organizations have operating systems—cultural operating systems. Both electronic and cultural operating systems (COS) provide a set of rules that guide behavior.

But while electronic intelligence is processed using written coded rules, a COS is also driven by unwritten rules. For example, executives may write cultural mandates that direct employees to take initiative, speak candidly, and act as a team. Yet when you watch what employees actually do, you realize the unwritten rules are avoid risk, defer to the boss, and stay in your silo.

So what makes a powerful COS?

This engaging presentation will use case study examples to identify the four key skills of a high performance COS. Our research shows organizations need these skills to enable world-class execution.

Each skill addresses a critical competency for personal, interpersonal, team or organizational effectiveness. The skills are found in four categories:

1. Personal: Self-directed change

2. Interpersonal: Open dialogue

3. team: Universal accountability

4. Organizational: Influential leadership

When these crucial skills are present, things run smoothly and improve routinely. When these crucial skills are absent, the system bogs down and gets mired in mediocrity—or worse.

Imagine your colleague misses deadlines despite your repeated crucial conversations with him about the negative impact of his behavior? After each conversation, he commits to change. He has good intentions. And yet, day in and day out, he fails to deliver on time. So what’s getting in the way? How do you hold him accountable in a manner that produces better results and improves your relationship?

Top performers are gifted at holding others accountable. They know how to diagnose the underlying causes behind broken promises, violated expectations, and bad behavior.

In this engaging speech, participants will learn a high-leverage skill set that lies at the heart of problem solving and execution. They’ll learn how to:

• Diagnose the Underlying Cause. Identify the underlying cause behind every problem using a six-source model of possible influences.
• Make It Motivating. Motivate others without resorting to threats or power and instead, search for and explain natural consequences of noncompliance.
• Make It Easy. Involve others in coming up with a solution to their ability barriers.
• Stay Focused and Flexible. Skillfully attend to the problem of choice rather than getting sidetracked.

Creating sustainable change is a constant struggle for organizations and individuals. We often lack the skills to influence the behaviors behind issues like:

• Failed initiatives
• Short-lived change efforts
• Unproductive corporate cultures
• Entrenched bad habits

Influencer draws on the best practices of many of the world’s leading change agents and on five decades of social-science research to create a powerful model for changing behavior.

You’ll follow the experiences of influence masters who have succeeded in solving some of the world’s most profound problems. Examples ranging from major healthcare reform to reversals of destructive social behaviors to unprecedented corporate turnarounds will illustrate how a proven set of skills makes change not only achievable but sustainable.

You will learn to:

• Successfully lead change initiatives.
• Diagnose the real causes behind problems and create real solutions.
• Transform corporate culture.
• Influence behavior across the organization with or without formal authority.

Every year, 195,000 people die in U.S. hospitals because of medical mistakes. Often, well-intentioned professionals in healthcare organizations choose not to speak up when they’re concerned with the behavior, decisions, or actions of a colleague.

The study, Silence Kills: The Seven Crucial Conversations for Healthcare, conducted by VitalSmarts, in conjunction with the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, links people’s ability to discuss emotionally and politically risky topics in a healthcare setting with key results such as:

• Patient safety
• Quality of care
• Nursing turnover

The study suggests that creating a culture where healthcare workers speak up before problems occur is a vital part of saving lives. Learn to step up to these seven crucial conversations and drastically transform your healthcare organization.

• Broken rules
• Mistakes
• Lack of support
• Incompetence
• Poor teamwork
• Disrespect
• Micromanagement