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Motivational Speech to Influence Change

humorous motivational speaker

As a humorous motivational speaker one of the most requested topics I have evolves around how to get others to change. The challenge is people have to want to change, so you have to give them good reason.
 

Part of the challenge is there is a lot of inertia working against the dynamics of change. It is easier to stay the same; change requires effort and it is not comfortable.

When trying to change, consider the instant struggle of pain over pleasure.  If you are trying to lose weight, you need to eat less sugar. This sounds logical but it's not so easy as we eat dessert because it tastes good and offers instant pleasure.

Many of the positive behaviors we are trying to foster take energy and effort while bad behaviors (eating junk food, drinking, procrastinating) feel good. How do you compensate for the fact that people don't want to do it? Not only are we giving up the pleasure but we are simultaneously adding pain ( ie- eating properly requires effort).

In a motivational speech to influence change, address both the pleasure you are giving up and the pain you are creating.

For instance: I was a motivational speaker for a group of rural credit unions. Small community credit unions are going through tremendous change as they must embrace smart phones and Ipad as banking tools for their customers.

Some tellers (usually baby boomer generation) resisted getting to know the technology and introducing it  as a tool for their customers.

Address the pleasure. It is easier to keep doing it the way we are doing it. We can be lazy and insist that the change is only a "fad" and will go away. Staying the same is easy, will not disrupt routine and maintain momentum.

Address the Pain. Learning new technology can be intimidating. It requires a whole new skill set, it will slow you down, workloads will build up and it will take a lot of time and effort to adjust.

In a motivational speech to influence change:

-address both the pleasure and the pain.

-following this give steps to initiate the change ( training, product development, time lines etc)

- outline the positive aspects of the change down the road. For instance, our customers will have some cutting edge tools they demand and require to continue to bank with us. Steps will be eliminated and ultimately productivity will improve.

In a motivational speech to compel change always use an active voice. If you want people to act with clarity don't say get healthy, say work out 3 times a week for 45 minutes at a time.
 
Turn skeptics into believers by providing a clear path to manage expectations. Most people need specific instruction and an appeal to emotion to motivate change.
 
Finally, celebrate successful efforts worth emulating, appreciate people for there contribution and tie your motivational speech to the change ahead.

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