We have all been there before. Where the odds were against us and our team.
Teams need leaders. This is true with any team. Just ask the Philadelphia Eagles. Once their star QB got injured they were not supposed to make it to the Super Bowl. Then, once they got there, they were not supposed to beat the Patriots. Yet, the Eagles won.
They won because they were led by the right people the right way.
Jason Kelce, the starting center for the Eagles, is a true leader. In his recent Super Bowl Victory Parade speech, he talked about being an underdog and used his story and the story of most of the players on his team to incite emotion. He discussed how his GM was cast aside but came back a different person. He talked about his backup QB not being given any credit. He told the story of his coach being discredited by the media as not worthy of holding his position yet he made one of the gutsiest 4th down calls ever made in a Super Bowl. He told stories of his teammates within his story to highlight the message that he and his team were, in fact, the underdogs.
Also, he referenced a sign in the offensive line meeting room that said: "Hungry dogs run faster!" That is pure emotion. They were the hungry dogs--they were the underdogs and they were going to run faster and work harder. His story moved him, his team, and the fans.
To become a true leader, it helps if you understand how the brain works.
Neuroscientist, USC Professor, Author, and Ted Speaker Antonio Damasio made a pioneering discovery. He researched people who had brain damage to the point where they could no longer feel emotions. In most cases, they were entirely normal besides the emotional aspect. Not a single one could make decisions effectively. They could easily describe the logical thought processes, variables, and consequences but they could not even make the most basic decisions. Without emotions, decisions are almost impossible to make.
Emotionally driven responses drive greater action than logically formulated decisions. Having a motto to live by, even one that is purely emotional, allowed Kelce and his team to overcome all the odds-makers and expert opinions to win a Super Bowl title.
Leaders know how to help drive proper emotion.
This is where great leadership really is evident. The best leaders have a powerful way to transfer emotion. Leadership is about cooperation and connection, not authority. Leadership is not top-down.
The intensity of the bond you personally have with a community or team is what allows you to build consensus. The best leaders build the most consensus. A group consensus is emotional first, and then logical.
As a leader, here are the 2 fastest ways to build emotional consensus.
1. Tell better stories.
Kelce told a powerful story. You could tell the story he told was the story his team lived by. Humans were built to connect with stories. Stories sell. In order to build consensus on an emotional level, the first thing to do is to make sure everyone knows and feels the same story. Good leaders tell their stories so that the vision, purpose, and experience are all tied into one. The stories make the team become the hero as the obstacles are conquered because the team worked together. Make the stories you tell become the roots of your team's culture.
2. Let the team tell their own stories as well.
Kelce wasn't the coach. Kelce wasn't in charge. Yet, he leads. He was a team member who was allowed to tell his story. Instead of just having the MVP, the coach, or the owner tell the story, the Eagles allowed the everyday players to contribute to the story as well.
We believe the stories we tell ourselves. Let your team tell the stories that have personal meaning to them. Guide them through the process so they can see where they have succeeded. Ask them to talk about the experiences they went through and what they felt. As you tell real stories, future scenarios also become more real. As a team tells their own stories, the needed unity and trust will automatically develop.
Once the stories have been told, and told again, and then repeated, they become the fabric of the team's culture. They become the foundation of the work to be done. Once the stories have taken root, then the numbers and the facts and mental reasoning can be added in to help everyone justify their decision.
Leading others takes emotion. The more you think about others and the emotions they have, the better leader you will be and the more your teams will produce.