Provocare Coaching

Do you struggle to get the attention of the senior staff?  Find it difficult to make your point during committee meetings because of conversation hoggers? Find your communication style doesn’t have the influence or impact you had hoped for?

Are your messages been drowned out by niceties, context, process and too many details?

Its might be how you are structuring your message and might be worth flipping your everyday strategy.

Try this alternative

 1st Cut the bull and get to the point!

Focus on the conclusion first off, the results and the critical message content that really matters to the audience in question.

 2nd Explain Concisely

outline the underlying arguments that brought you to a conclusion.

Communication is the number one skill that any workplace relies on to be effective, so knowing how to express your point, the right way in a significant, influential way is a crucial skill to master.

One mistake people often make to start losing people in detail.  Confusing their audience with all the little nuance arguments/ details before they even got their buy-in and then deliver the key message as a conclusion, when they have already lost people in the first 90 seconds.

Example CEO or chairperson or another decision-maker (listener) put you on the spot, in a meeting unexpectedly asking how project Y is going. However, you have got to update them and make an impression concisely and briefly and you not sure when you will get the chance again.

Everyday Style Example

An update requested

Original Objective:    Consult the Network on this year Christmas party to decided date time venue and budget

Process: Last week, we were busy, we held two meetings, and I spoke to 15 residents by phone and wrote up their feedback.  It took forever to come to any conclusion, and the views were so diverse that it was difficult to find consensus.  Then we carried out some research by calling three venues to obtain prices and availability.

 I spent about 10 hours on this, you know, and I hope you appreciate that it was not easy and as straight forward as you may think.

Evidence:

• Venue one was not available on the day requested but were the most economical
• Venue two was available and were reasonably priced, but most residents didn’t want to go there because of its location.
• Venue Three is available, preferred by most residents, however, was the most expensive.

Conclusion:  I recommend venue three even though it going to cost more because all stakeholders indicated it as their preference.

HEARD:  you lost me at how hard you’re working, and you may have ‘won’ me over by wearing me down.

This style is based on the natural tendency focusing on a logical process where all the things you did are in chronological order but not the result.  It is generally is not a suitable method in a fast pace professional setting. 

Mainly because a lot of people, regardless if they should, won’t care about the details, and they will more than likely to be of no interest to the time-poor listener, who most likely already trusts that you have worked through the details to make your judgment correctly.

Alternative Example

Objective:     consult the Network on this year Christmas party to decided date time venue and budget

Result Venue 3 should be booked for the event

Arguments:

• One venue was not available for the preferred date
• The residents did not favour one
• It cost slightly more but pros out way the cons

Heard

This style gives the result and answer first, not the details and is more likely to heard processed and accepted.

The first method follows what we are taught in English regarding introductions, context, three arguments, and then the conclusion.

The suggested alternative means you must take a moment to step back reflect and then dive straight in with the end game.  

Ego and unconscious bias can often drive our need to show the sweat and stress you put into the work and share all the details you have thought about that brought you to your conclusion.

However, most decision-makers (Listeners) don’t care; they already know what involved and what expected of you. They are interested In the Result, the Ask or the Recommendation.

The process is essential and vital; however, tend to Boer decision-makers (Listeners) to tears and especially time-poor high-level people who are often dealing with multiple ‘big picture’ items.

Explaining your hard work in detail will not drive their attention; however, the result will speak for itself.  

If your conclusion gets their buy-in, but they have doubts about the process, they will ask more and unpack your reasons if they need to.

However be warned sometimes the style can be wrongly interpreted as brash, bold, and rude, however, if you have a good relationship with the listener they more likely to respect and appreciate a more straight forward concise conversation.

Give it a try and let us know how you get on!