Patrick in his video “Law of Thirds” talks about one of his favorite models that he uses with clients. It's called the law of thirds. According to the law, when you're dealing with a group, you have three different kinds of people.
You have your supporters. These are people that really want to do the right thing. You love to manage them. They're always on board and even if they'll disagree with you, they really want to do what's right.
Then you have the naysayers. These are the people that are never happy. They're complaining all the time. There's usually not that many of them but they seem like a lot because they're always talking to you and they're telling you that everybody agrees with them.
Finally, the third group is undecided. They are the people in the middle who aren't quite sure which side they're going to be on.
As leaders, we have a fundamental decision to make. If we focus on the Naysayers, the undecided decide that's how I'm going to get attention from the leader. However, that's a bad thing. Because when Naysayers get attention, half of your supporters often become naysayers because they want attention and your best people leave.
Leaders have to have the courage to focus on the supporters. Leaders must speak to them and when leaders do this, the undecideds come over and say that's what I need to do to succeed. And due to this, half of the naysayers will get tired of being naysayers and start supporting you.
