Student Worksheet

The Persuasive Power Of Leaders - Activity Instructions

Students will...

Identify evidence for arguments stated in the text
Identify and analyse the effect of ethos, pathos and logos in the text
Evaluate which persuasive appeals you find most effective
Apply those techniques to your own persuasive writing.

Students can...

You can understand the key arguments stated in the text and independently link them to evidence
You can find examples of ethos, pathos and logos and explain your choices
You can reflect upon the techniques that have the most impact upon you and explain your reasoning
You can apply skills learnt from a text to your own writing.

READ THE CONVERSATION ARTICLE BELOW

Three reasons why Jacinda Ardern's coronavirus response has been a masterclass in crisis leadership

Suze Wilson, Massey University

Imagine, if you can, what it’s like to make decisions on which the lives of tens of thousands of other people depend. If you get things wrong, or delay deciding, they die.

Your decisions affect the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people, resulting in huge economic disruption, mass layoffs and business closures. Imagine you must act quickly, without having complete certainty your decisions will achieve what you hope.

Now imagine that turning your decisions into effective action depends on winning the support of millions of people.

Jacinda Ardern/Facebook

This is the harsh reality political leaders around the world have faced in responding to COVID-19.Yes, you do have enforcement capacity at your disposal. But success or failure hinges on getting most people to choose to follow your leadership – even though it demands sudden, unsettling, unprecedented changes to their daily lives.

As someone who researches and teaches leadership – and has also worked in senior public sector roles under both National and Labour-led governments – I’d argue New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is giving most Western politicians a masterclass in crisis leadership.

Three communication skills every leader needs

When it comes to assessing New Zealand’s public health response, we should all be listening to epidemiologists like Professor Michael Baker. On Friday, Baker said New Zealand had the “most decisive and strongest lockdown in the world at the moment” – and that New Zealand is “a huge standout as the only Western country that’s got an elimination goal” for COVID-19.

But how can we assess Ardern’s leadership in making such difficult decisions? A good place to start is with American professors Jacqueline and Milton Mayfield’s research into effective leadership communication.

The Mayfields’ research-based model highlights “direction-giving”, “meaning-making” and “empathy” as the three key things leaders must address to motivate followers to give their best.

Being a public motivator is essential for leaders – but it’s often done poorly. The Mayfields’ research shows direction-giving is typically over-used, while the other two elements are under-used.

Ardern’s response to COVID-19 uses all three approaches. In directing New Zealanders to “stay home to save lives”, she simultaneously offers meaning and purpose to what we are being asked to do.

In freely acknowledging the challenges we face in staying home – from disrupted family and work lives, to people unable to attend loved ones’ funerals – she shows empathy about what is being asked of us.

The March 23 press conference announcement of New Zealand’s lockdown is a clear example of Ardern’s skillful approach, comprising a carefully crafted speech, followed by extensive time for media questions.

PM Jacinda Ardern on Covid-19 concerns (https://www.youtube.com/watch?timecontinue=10&v=8SC67XDsKIM&feature=emb_title)

In contrast, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pre-recorded his March 24 lockdown announcement, offering no chance for questions from the media, while framing the situation as an “instruction” from government, coupled with a strong emphasis on enforcement measures.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson gives an important update on coronavirus (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK8vjgVlc8A&feature=youtu.be)

Where Ardern blended direction, care and meaning-making, Johnson largely sought “compliance”.

Read more: As NZ goes into lockdown, authorities have new powers to make sure people obey the rules

Enabling people to cope with change

Ardern’s approach also strongly reflects what well-known Harvard leadership scholar Professor Ronald Heifetz has long argued is vital – but also rare and difficult to accomplish – when leading people through change.

Ardern has used daily televised briefings and regular Facebook live sessions to clearly frame the key questions and issues requiring attention.

Jacinda Ardern hosts coronavirus Q&A from home (https://youtu.be/xMA6Gz82iiQ)

Extracts from Jacinda Ardern’s evening Facebook Live from home on March 25, hours before New Zealand went into level 4 lockdown.

Also consistent with Heifetz’s teachings, she has regulated distress by developing a transparent framework for decision-making – the government’s alert level framework – allowing people to make sense of what is happening and why.

Importantly, that four-level alert framework was released and explained early, two days before a full lockdown was announced, in contrast with the prevarication and sometimes confusing messages from leaders in countries such as Australia and the UK.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern statement to the nation on Covid-19, March 21 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvRuYrH5rjs&feature=youtu.be)

Jacinda Ardern’s March 21 explanation of New Zealand’s four-level alert system.

Persuading many to act for the collective good

The work of another leadership scholar, the UK’s Professor Keith Grint, also sheds light on Ardern’s leadership approach during this crisis.

For Grint, leadership involves persuading the collective to take responsibility for collective problems. Much of the prime minister’s public commentary has been dedicated to exactly that – and it’s been overwhelmingly effective, at least so far, with a recent poll showing 80% support for the government’s response to COVID-19.

Grint also argues that when dealing with “wicked problems” – which are complex, contentious and cannot be easily resolved – leaders must ask difficult questions that disrupt established ways of thinking and acting.

It’s clear this has happened in New Zealand, as shown in the suite of initiatives the government has taken to respond to the pandemic, including its decision to move to a national lockdown relatively fast compared to many – though not all – countries.

Read more: Where are we at with developing a vaccine for coronavirus?

Of course, not everything has been perfect in New Zealand’s or Ardern’s COVID-19 response. Ongoing, independent scrutiny of the government’s response is essential.

But as my own research has argued, expecting perfection of leaders, especially in such difficult circumstances, is a fool’s errand.

It’s never possible. Nor should we allow the “perfect” to become the enemy of the “good” when speed and enormous complexity are such significant features of the decision-making context.

Whether you’re comparing Ardern’s performance against other Western leaders, or assessing her efforts using researchers’ measures of leadership excellence, as a New Zealander I think there is much to be grateful for in how she is leading us through this crisis.

Stay in touch with The Conversation’s coverage from New Zealand experts by signing up to our weekly newsletter – delivered to you each Wednesday.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Part A: Find The Answers

Step 1.

This article is about Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, a person whom the author believes is an exceptionally strong leader. What do you think makes someone a good leader? Write a list of five to six traits.

Step 2.

Read the article and complete the questions below:

The article argues that Jacinda Ardern is showing extremely good leadership. What are three reasons the author gives to support this claim?
This article is a multimodal text - it includes embedded videos. Why do you think these are included?
The article refers to three elements of effective motivational language that are outlined by a researcher - Mayfield. Why do you think each of these elements is important when motivating others? Fill out the table below.
.

Step 3.

Watch Jacinda Ardern’s address to the public until 2 minutes 30 seconds (final video) and/or her Facebook Q and A video (the third video) in full. Find an example of each of the elements of motivational speaking that the author describes:

Step 4.

Reflect - do you find Jacinda Ardern’s speaking style and content motivational? Explain why or why not. Try to refer to the three elements described by the author.

Part B: Putting It All Together

In Part A, you have considered the content of the article, however, it is also important to look at the way it has been crafted. The article is a persuasive text and uses many persuasive techniques. Three categories for persuasive techniques are logos, pathos and ethos. These can be easily remembered as ‘head, heart and cred’. Logos refers to appeals to logic or reason. Pathos refers to appeals to your emotions. Ethos refers to ways that an author appears credible (believable).

Step 1.

Find examples of pathos (appeals to your emotions) in the article and explain how they appeal to your emotions.

Step 2.

Find examples of logos in the article and explain how they appeal to your sense of reason or logic.

Step 3.

Find examples of ethos in the article and explain how they suggest that the author is a credible person.

Step 4.

Reflect - which examples did you find most persuasive? List three of them below and explain why they were so effective.

Step 5.

Consider the arguments and the persuasive techniques of the author - do you agree that Jacinda Ardern is a great leader? Why/why not? (Look back at your criteria from Part A, Step 1.)

Start A Conversation

Step 1.

Who is a leader you have been impressed by during this crisis? It could be a politician, school principal, teacher, coach, business leader or other figure. (If you don’t have one in mind, do some research!) Write down their name.

Step 2.

Write down four reasons you have found them inspirational or comforting:

1.

2.

3.

4.

Step 3.

You will be creating a text (poster, video or imagery) to encourage others to celebrate this leader. Consider the questions below:

• Who will be your audience?

• How can you appeal to their emotions? How do you want them to feel?

• How can you appeal to their sense of logic? What facts can you use?

• How can you appear credible? What do you need to include to show you have believable knowledge and are a reasonable source of information?

Step 4.

Create your text. After it is complete, ask for feedback from a teacher, peer or family member. Make any revisions you need.

Step 5.

Share your video, poster or imagery with your classmates, friends or community. Ask them for feedback - were they persuaded by your text? Why/why not?

Taking It Further

Step 1.

Look up the contact details of the leader you have chosen to celebrate.

Step 2.

Rewrite your text to address them directly, or write a short introduction to your text that addresses them.

Step 3.

Send your text to the leader! They will appreciate your encouragement in these difficult times.

The Persuasive Power Of Leaders

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