It’s been said so often, it’s almost a cliché, but we do live in very uncertain times. The reasons are down to a wide range of world events such as: the US/China trade war, Brexit, Amazon forest fires, the Hong Kong crisis, the increasing pace of global warming and the resurgence of diseases such
as Measles. As individual business leaders it might be easy to take the view that, as you can’t control these events, there’s not much you can do about the uncertainty that they trigger.
If that is your conclusion, you could be missing out on a wonderful opportunity to build brand loyalty and demonstrate leadership.
In its blog, Onva recognises that although you cannot control the events themselves, you can control your response to provide your key stakeholders, such as customers, employees and shareholders, an explanation on how the organisation will chart its way through turbulent waters.
Although it may seem obvious, there is an innate need behind the expectation of certainty. Neuroscientists have identified that one of five needs our brains have, is the need for ‘certainty’ i.e. to know what will happen next. This need is captured in an excellent framework called SCARF created by David Rock that Onva covered in a previous blog entitled: Increasing Employee Engagement and Productivity with the SCARF Framework.
Make confidence building one of your core communications programmes
Uncertainty about the future triggers a ‘threat’ response in your limbic system
and reduces your ability to focus on other issues drastically. This obviously will have an impact on the productivity and performance of your employees but also their mental state. It could trigger other actions such as the decision by customers to switch to another supplier who provides more clarity about what the future may hold.
The great thing about satisfying the need for certainty is that it will trigger a ‘reward’ response in the brain which is closely linked to positive emotions, such as: interest, happiness, joy and desire. It will also build confidence in your leadership and your organisation.
One the key recommendation of the Worldcom Confidence Index 2019 global report is to behave like a confident organisation by making it clear to all audiences that the organisation has a very clear Purpose and a plan to achieve it. Consequently, Onva recommend that every organisation has a systematic communications programme to build confidence – with certainty at its heart.
Inspiring confidence is something that needs investment and careful planning so that the communications programme stimulates the right reaction and sustained action from your stakeholders.
Get more in-depth tips for increasing certainty read Onva’s full post – Build confidence in your brand by providing certainty to your stakeholders.
