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One of my mentors said that the best measure of learning is a behavioral outcome (or action). I think about this every time I teach something.
If nobody does anything after you present, then it was a waste of energy and time for everyone. You don’t want just to flap your lips and be done; you want people to take action, move, shake, build, and create after hearing you speak.
So how to do you motivate others to take action then?
There are two steps to get people to act
- Decide what action you want them to take
- Motivate them to take the action
Decide on the action you want them to take:
As an influencer you don’t want people to take random action; you want them to take a particular action. It can be to read a document, to create a new procedure, to say yes to a decision, to evangelize an idea, or to buy something.
Whatever the action is, you must choose it, because you can’t leave it to chance. Most people don’t like to pick an action goal for their audience because they are afraid to fail by not achieving it. I say the moment you don’t set up the action goal you failed already (sorry to be brutal here, but that’s reality).
In the beginning, your brain is going to resist you on picking an action goal, but eventually, it will cooperate. Your brain is going to try to rationalize itself out of deciding on the action goal: it will tell that you that you don’t need the audience to take any action, you are just informing in this presentation.
Even if you present to inform, you want people to do something with the information they just received. That’s why action is the measure of success.
So buckle up and ask yourself over and over:
Here are some examples of actions to help you out:
- Give me their business card
- Sign up for training
- Sign a petition
- Discuss sustainability at their next corporate retreat
- Talk with their doctor about their health condition
- Set up another appointment
- Approve direction of project in writing
- The possibilities are endless
Once you have the action you want your audience to take, it’s time to motivate them to act.
How to Motivate Your Audience to Take Action
There are only two motivators in life.
1 – Pain
2 – Pleasure
Here is an example:
1 – State what action you want them to take:
The first step in our process of working with the manufacturing group is to build an agreement on goals and criteria for success.
2 – Answer the following question: What If you/we do? (this takes care of the pleasure)
If we do, then we make sure that we are all starting on the right foot and the same page. It will lead to smooth sailing in the future.
3 – Answer the following question: What If you/we don’t? (this takes care of the pain)
If we don’t, then we will spend a lot of time reworking projects and alignment.
Here it is put together:
The first step in our process of working with the manufacturing group is to build an agreement on goals and criteria for success.
If we do, then we make sure that we are all starting on the right foot and the same page. It will lead to smooth sailing in the future.
If we don’t, then we will spend a lot of time reworking projects and alignment.
It is how you can motivate people to take action.
Experiment with using pleasure alone, and with using pain alone. I like to use both at the same time.
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Always think of your outcome for a presentation and always think of a physical action you want your audience to take. That’s the best way to measure your success as a presenter, as an influencer, and as a leader.
