Leaders Should Always Consider How Their Team Members Might Answer The Question: “What’s in it for me?”

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If you don't communicate effectively with your team members during a time of significant change, you will sow confusion and doubt.  Some leaders remain silent until they have more clarity themselves and until all the loose ends are tied up.  However, a lengthy period of non-communication can be very detrimental to the organization.   As Molly Rosen and Connie Rawson write in Fast Company this week, " We see this pattern again and again: silence creates space for confusion. In the absence of clarity, people default to self-protection and assume the worst. The longer the silence lingers, the further they go down the rabbit hole."  In fact, your team members will not only be confused, but they will speculate with their peers.  They will presume certain intent on your part if you don't explain your rationale.   

Rosen and Rawson offer some advice for leaders. They suggest that leaders should always put themselves in their employees' shoes and ask the simple question: "What's in it for me?"  If you want their buy-in, you have to understand what they stand to lose, as well as gain, from this organizational change?  Leaders need to analyze why they might be inclined to resist a change, and why they might find it beneficial to embrace a new initiative.  Rosen and Rawson suggest that leaders should ask themselves four questions before communicating about a new initiative: 

1. What are they worried about losing?
2. What might they gain?
3. What does this mean for them in the next 30, 60, 90 days?
4. What will we be transparent about even if we don’t have all the answers yet?