Denise Brosseau - Building Well-Connected Leaders
The Art of Escalating Commitment
Tomorrow I am speaking at the Invent Your Future Conference at the Santa Clara Convention Center. The topic is Building Value-Based Relationships. One aspect of my talk will be understanding the Art of Escalating Commitment. Below is my blog on the topic. Your thoughts welcome.
A few years ago, I worked on a political campaign. It was the first time I was in the thick of a race – in this case for Governor of California – and I learned a lot, including things I didn’t know I didn’t know.
One of those started with a campaign button.
You’ve all seen them, and I’m guessing many of you have worn one at one time or another. Maybe not for a political campaign but for another cause you believe in – save the whales or peace on earth.
When you first get someone engaged in a cause, the first thing you can usually get them to do is wear a button – or put a button in their cubicle at work or hang it from their car mirror. It is a simple sign that says “I believe” or “I stand with” this cause.
If you were to ask someone for a campaign contribution at that time, when they are just getting to know you, you could likely get $5+ without any trouble. Most people don’t need to know a lot about a cause to be willing to give $5.
The next level is the bumper sticker.
Not everyone will put a bumper sticker on their car, but if they do, I would posit that they are ready to give you at least a $15+ contribution.
Now let’s move on to the lawn (or window) sign. There are few people who are willing to put a sign in their window or on their lawn unless they have some affiliation with the cause – because unlike a bumper sticker, which is fairly anonymous (who knows who that was who just drove by in the Green Prius with the Imagine bumper sticker anyway), there is no doubt whose lawn (or window) that belongs to. You have now definitely taken a stand. And in the political world, you might be seen as about a $50-$100+ potential donor.
If you’re wondering about now what this has to do with business, hang in there, I’m coming to my point - soon.
Next step up is the handheld sign (isn’t he cute?).
No one I have met will stand outside or convince their kids to stand outside holding a sign for a candidate or a cause unless they know something about it and have ‘bought in’ to the candidate, the message or the cause (unless they’re paid – but let’s leave that outside the conversation for now). By the time you will stand outside holding a sign, you are very likely, if you have any means whatsoever, to be a $100+ donor. You are fully on board.
At the top of the scale is the person who is willing to attend a rally for you on a sunny weekend day when they’d rather be at the beach.
These folks may be even more precious than money because they are giving up their time and energy and adding their voice to your cause – loudly, publicly and at risk to their own reputation. Depending on the cause and the candidate, they may be targeted for harassment and vitriol. Others, who don’t agree, will challenge their viewpoint and impugn their motives. They are willing to stand up and be counted.
The value of these folks? Priceless.
What does this have to do with you and your career?
Understanding the concept of escalating commitment will help you land the sponsors you need to move your career forward. Sponsors are in that last category – they are willing to stand up for you and be counted. They speak up on your behalf – hopefully loudly – and are willing to put their own reputations at risk in service to yours. Perhaps that’s why they call it political capital.
People will doubt them and may speak against you; if your sponsor is committed, they can stand up to that challenge and move your career forward against the odds.
So how do you build that level of commitment? How do you get the sponsor willing to join your March?
The key is to start with the pin or bumper sticker.
Two years ago, I spoke at a conference at Stanford. At lunch, I sat next to a lovely young woman, a sophomore, and we chatted for about 20 minutes before the lunchtime speaker. At the end of the day, I had another 20 minute interaction with another attendee who was also a sophomore at Stanford.
The following morning, I had two emails in my mailbox. The first was from my lunch companion and it went something like this:
Dear Denise,
I really enjoyed meeting you yesterday at the conference. I was very impressed by what you
have achieved and would like you to be my mentor. Can we meet every week?
Sincerely,
Janet (not her real name)
As soon as I read this email, I have to admit, I immediately reached for the delete key. Meet EVERY WEEK? What? How could anyone think that was possible? And, didn’t we meet for only 20 minutes? Why would I make a commitment like that to someone I had no relationship with beyond a chance lunchtime conversation?
Fortunately, the second email read something like this:
Dear Ms. Brosseau,
I really enjoyed meeting you yesterday at the Conference at Stanford. As you
may recall, we spoke at the end of the day in the student center lobby and
we discussed my women’s studies major and my summer plans. I was the
African American woman from LA dressed in red and black. I really enjoyed
your talk - particularly when you spoke about the importance of networking.
I also really appreciated the advice that you offered me about my own career
and I was wondering if it would be okay if I sent you an email this summer
when I am back in LA doing my internship, if I have any further career questions.
Thank you for your time and attention. I know how busy you are.
Sincerely,
Jordan
Now that’s more like it, I thought. Here is a simple request that I can easily accommodate. She thought about the fact that I had met a lot of people the day before and described herself so I'd remember her. She used a little flattery (which never hurts) and she made the request very small. I immediately replied that I would be happy to answer her questions later in the summer. I had just been buttoned.
In July, I received another email from Jordan that went something like this:
Dear Ms. Brosseau,
As you may recall, we met at the Stanford Women’s Conference in May (see our
correspondence below). i would like to thank you again for agreeing to answer a
few career related questions for me.
I am thinking about a number of career directions and…(the remainder of the email
had 3 or 4 easy to reply to questions).
Thank you for your time and attention. I know how busy you are.
Sincerely,
Jordan
Once again, the email was well thought out and easy to digest. I replied. (I just bought the bumper sticker.)
At the end of August, I received another email.
Dear Ms. Brosseau,
Thank you so much for your great career advice you offered me this summer
(referred back to our correspondence below).
I will be returning to the Bay Area in September and I’d like to take you to lunch
to thank you and share what happened as a result. May I contact your assistant to
find a time when we dan get together?
Thank you for your time and attention. I know how busy you are.
Sincerely,
Jordan
How smart was that? She offers to take me to lunch to say thank you. Most people you give advice to never say thank you and drop off the planet entirely so you never know how it turned out.
I replied that I would be delighted to have lunch with her in September. That was when I purchased the lawn sign, don’t you think? After all, there was no way I was going to let a sophomore at Stanford buy me lunch, so I chose the restaurant and paid for lunch – about a $50 commitment – the equivalent of a lawn sign in the escalating commitment framework.
While we were having lunch, I asked Jordan about her plans for the future and we talked at length about media and new media. Her dream was to work in a television station that summer. Well, I know several folks who work at television stations, including my friend Sydnie Kohara at CBS in San Francisco. I offered to make some introductions for her.
I was willing to put my network to work for her and put my reputation on the line (a bit) to at least get her an interview at a place she wanted to work. I was willing to wave my handheld sign out in front of me and say “pick my candidate – she rocks.” She got the job.
Since that time, I have continued to wave the “Jordan is amazing” sign around and I helped her land an interview at LinkedIn and with a PR firm she was interested in working for. Each time, she does a great job at thanking me, keeping me in the loop and taking my ideas and suggestions into account.
Now, when I attend local events, I take her with me and introduce her to people she needs to meet. When her resume needed work, I paid one of my staff to update it for her.
How can you build your own sponsor engagement strategy?
First, start small. You don’t want to ask for the moon and stars on the first date. No one wants to meet with you every week when they just met you (or if they do, there might be something else going on – but we’ll leave that to another blog post).
Think through what a series of incremental steps might look like that equal the button-bumper sticker-lawn sign steps outlined above.
Take it slowly. The equivalent of the button could be an email, a coffee or a quick phone call.
Think about what you are doing on your end to live up to your initial commitments before you ask for the next favor. Are you saying thank you? Are you demonstrating that you actually took the advice that was offered? Are you sharing what happened as a result of the efforts that your new mentor just took on your behalf? Are you moving your career forward as a result of their efforts?
Being a sponsor – standing up on someone’s behalf and expending political capital to support them – takes time. But it’s worth the effort.
What I learned in the Governor’s race is that the end of the rainbow was a big dollar political contribution – in our case $44,000 - over the course of the campaign. If I took the potential supporter up the engagement path smoothly, (and they had the means), I could land those checks without difficulty. If I skipped a step or rushed the process, I rarely got there.
If you knew that following the rules of the escalating commitment could lead you to $44,000 more in your bank account over the next few years would you be doing anything differently?
Let me know.
Posted by Denise Brosseau on 20th March, 2012 | Comments | Permalink
Tags: political campaigns, escalating commitment, sponsors, mentors
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