Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Okay, so I have a framework, love frameworks because they reduce the cognitive burden of remembering. And this is to tailor any communication and make it optimal in minimal amount of time. And it is the A, B, C, D, E framework that's easy to remember. You remember the Alphabet, don't you? Okay, so first A. It starts with the audience. The audience. The audience. Audience, you are listening to me. What do you need to make your life easier? Everyone is taking your information and putting it into not only a belief system but also a value chain. Where does this help me move faster? Unstick a decision? So you've got to really consider your audience. And if there are many people in the audience, you can chunk them into parts of the audience. You can do it on hierarchy, you can do it on seniority or who has the decision making power. But ultimately you need to think about what your audience needs to hear and what value you can provide to them. And if you can get that down to one sentence, now you have a tool that will get you out of a jam in any predicament. Number two, B stands for business case. Why this, why now? And versus what? We have to understand that any time you're presenting to someone who is cross functional or in a leadership position, they are going to take this information and use it to help their next three conversations. There is always a room beyond the room you are in. It's not just about convincing the people in front of you. It's about giving them the tools that they can articulate your point of view in the next three rooms. And if you can do that in a way that is concise and compelling and memorable. Now you're articulating a clear vision business case. Now, business cases come down to two fundamental questions. What should we prioritize with what resources? And that is a formula that you can use to think about ultimately what I'm recommending, do they know how to prioritize this and do they know what resources we need to move forward on this? Okay, so that is B, business case. C stands for content. What is the story and how do we keep it to the minimal effective data dose? What that means is how do you say the least amount for the maximum amount of decision making power.
[00:02:28] So sometimes if you have a high trust environment, you can lead with a recommendation. This is known as the pyramid principle. Minto. Right? You start with the recommendation, you give the rationale why and then you give supporting evidence. However, if you have a low trust or a medium trust environment, or you need more context, you can use situation complication and Resolution to give the audience a bit more context, to understand what we're talking about. And then what is the reason we're talking about it now? With what recommendations? I go into this a lot more. If you want these frameworks, you can DM me or email me whatever the kids are doing. I don't know anymore. Okay, so content is really about being disciplined, is what is in and what is not in. And clarifying that with your audience. Okay, D Now we get to delivery. How are you delivering this in a way that is clear, concise and compelling? If you're a mumbler, you've got to articulate this. If you speak very quietly, you have to rise to the level of the room. Look, I work with many brilliant people who are introverts and they're more comfortable being quiet and that's fine. However, in a different environment, you have to require to lean in with different skills. I always think of it this way. If someone you love is in harm's way, but you're a quiet introvert, you're not, not going to say in a quiet way, please move out of the way. You're going to project your voice to help them. And so you've got to think about each room as a different unique environment where you have to rise to the level of that room to ensure you are delivering the right message. And now finally E what evidence and with what effect? What do you have to support your argument with data? What evidence do you have? What studies? Now, when we're thinking about this last, it doesn't mean it comes last in the sequence. It just means that we have to consider what do I need here to support what my audience needs? The business case, the content, the delivery and ultimately the evidence. And then with what effect is what would we expect the outcome to be? If we choose path A, we expect this outcome, path B, this outcome and path C this outcome. I believe it's always in your best interest to have multiple recommendations, but not more than three. And you have to think about what are the risks and benefit. There are trade offs with everything and that is fine. We want to move away from pros and cons and more to what is the potential benefit, with what risks and when there are risks, it's in your best interest to show how you would mitigate those. Be clear and logical how you mitigate risk. So that's it. A, B, C D E A audience B business case, C content D delivery and E evidence and effect. I hope this helps you in your next 1,000 communications. And remember, communication, intelligence, is the layer between strategy and execution. And when we are clear, we can move mountains, oceans and rivers together.
