I have parked myself in a corner seat closer to the exit. It is the very first time I am attending a company’s annual employee meet. I don’t have any clue about what will happen and what am I supposed to do there. I am just present there in the best of dress and tie I could afford. My senior colleagues have suggested that I better go and sit in the front rows to have a look at and possibly interact with senior leadership team that has come from Delhi. I am very clear that I am not going to have any interactions with them and I am there just to experience the ambience of the luxurious hotel where the event is happening and the sumptuous lunch I may get.
The program starts at 9 am and continues till 12.30. There are many presentations and announcements about new initiatives, new branches, region wise performance data, future plans, change in roles of key officials, tinkering of organizational structure, employee benefits, etc. There are also enough entertainment features to keep the audience engaged. I am just a stranger. A newbie in the system. Not attached to whatever is happening there. I am there because I am expected to be there and with the two hidden agendas stated earlier.
Now, the last item of the event is unfolding. Our company’s Managing Director is on the dais and delivering his speech. I am in my usual mode of not listening, just looking around and waiting for the proceedings to get over. After a few minutes, I see a complete change in the atmosphere of the room. I sense complete calmness, seriousness and focus from all those present in the ballroom. I am listening to some powerful statements being used by my MD and these have a telling effect on the whole crowd. Statements like ‘Together we can’, ‘Let’s make our brand the most powerful in the Industry’, ‘Let’s help 10,000 people get jobs this year’ trigger something in all of us…including me, a total outsider. I feel some shift in my own mindset about my company, the business we are in and my role in the overall scheme of things.
These rallying statements trigger collective emotions, create solidarity, pep up morale, give clear directions and put people in the action mode. The rallying statements have been effectively used by spiritual, political, social and business leaders for centuries.
Many of us would have heard such statements from our leaders and got influenced by them. Please share those statements in the comments box.
If you are a leader, are you making use of these statements to influence your people? If not, it’s time to sit and draft at least one.