Military Review English Edition September-October 2014 | Page 63

Simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotiondemonstrations of the PME. The idea of an object
al stories; Heath and Heath recommend them for
lesson in a sermon is incredibly popular for this same
everything from organizational change, to advertising, made-to-stick reason. A Google search for the phrase
to going viral on the internet. Our purpose here is a
“object lesson” or “concrete example” will yield hunnarrow slice of organizational change aimed at transdreds of results.25
forming our soldiers by shifting
them to the right on the values
spectrum. In order to communicate all of these concepts more
expediently, we will use the name
transformational stories. These
transformational stories designed
to specifically engage our soldiers
and shift their values will educate
the formation in what it means to
live the Army values as well as cover the need to make junior soldiers
think about personal responsibility
in their off-duty environment.
Brig. Gen. Bud R. Jameson, the commanding general of the 316th Expeditionary Sus“Simple” stories work with hutainment Command, addresses soldiers of the unit during a mass formation at North
man memory because our soldiers
Fort Hood, Texas, 23 May 2012. Jameson praised the soldiers for their hard work and
are more likely to pay attention
perseverance over the past few months of mobilization training prior to the unit taking a
to the things they understand.
four-day Memorial Day pass.
Focus groups organized to develop
children’s programming have discovered that, despite
The topic of PME does not automatically make a
common assumptions, children stop listening when
weekend safety brief credible. Bear in mind that definthey stop understanding. Kids tune in, even to boring
ing exactly what PME means is an ongoing discussion
portions of educational television, when they underacross the Army. Credibility in the realms of ethics
stand the message.23 This is not to say that our soldiers
and morality may be one of our greater challengare children but rather that keeping our messages
es in the current environment of ethical diversity.26
understandable, even as we delve into the PME, is
Additionally, the speaker’s credibility in both personal
critical to ensuring that soldiers remain engaged in the
and professional life affects the message. The Army
discussion.
values, because of their pervasive acceptance, make the
The next principle from Heath and Heath is “unbest platform for a credible discussion of PME, while
expected” because a degree of surprise captures the
the credibility of the speaker is a much larger topic best
attention of the audience. The Heath brothers further
left for another leadership article.
illustrate that an identified gap in knowledge causes the
Continuing with the SUCCESs mnemonic, “emohuman brain to retain interest long after the discussion
tions” are a key link to memory and lasting behavioral
ends.24 This is why the teaser keeps some people from
change.27 (If emotional displays in front of a formation
flipping the channel during television commercials. This do not sound like your strong point, bear in mind that
does not mean that every transformational story has to
stoicism and the warrior ethos are also displays of
contain a twist or a shocker, but when it is possible to
emotion.)28 A main point the Heath brothers convey
add an element of surprise, leaders will do a better job of in both of their books is that there is a strong conengaging subordinates.
nection between emotions and willingness to act.29
“Concreteness” has long been a proven methAdditionally, the chemical and physiological connecod for clarifying ideas to the audience. In this retion between emotion and memory is fairly well estabgard, we should seek out visual aids and hands-on
lished.30 Accessing the endorphin-memory link may be
MILITARY REVIEW  September-October 2014

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Army Sgt. Peter J. Berardi, 316th Sustainment Command

TRANSFORMATIONAL STORIES