Allgemein Archive - Page 3 of 158 - The Art of Communicating

Your definition of success

As the CEO, if you and one or more board members disagree on the definition of success, you need to have the hard conversations to reach alignment.

If you don’t, you’re going to have to constantly battle it out.

It will slow everything down and consume energy that’s better spent elsewhere.

It will confuse the team and have a toll on their confidence.

It may cause frustration as projects are shut down over disagreement but with unsatisfactory justification.

In other words, if you and (parts of) the board are not on the same path, figuring the path out becomes your prime concern.

If you shy away from that conversation, it will become your only concern.

Until it becomes the exit.

Have you had difficult conversation with the board?
How did you approach it?

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PS: If you need support, reach out!

Us, together

So many businesses miss out on an opportunity to create a deeper connection with their customers on their “about us” page.

They take “us” to mean “themselves”. The business.

While this isn’t exactly wrong, it excludes the customers.

A much deeper connection is possible when “us” includes the customer.

What about “us, the business” is it that clicks with the customer? What is it that makes the customer identify with the business to think that they are “like us”.

What’s the common ground? The point of identification? What makes this combination of business and customer the perfect match?

Ultimately, this expands “us” to mean “us, together”.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t speak about yourself. But what you do say you say purposefully to resonate with your customer.

It’s your story that they read, but it’s also a profound feeling of “like us” that they sense.

A great example is Patagonia. On their “Business, unusual” page they speak about themselves, their values and their journey. But in every single word their customers see themselves; you can easily see them thinking “just like us”.

That’s a profound connection that has the potential to create an incredible amount of loyalty.

PS: Reach out if you want that, too.

The leap to our vision

Here’s why some leaders struggle to align their team behind their vision: They haven’t made the leap from “my vision” to “our vision”.

When it’s “my vision”, why should the team care? They will do their job because they’re paid to do so. But anything more than that? You will need some decent persuasion skills and perhaps have to drop in an incentive or two.

But when it’s “our vision”, that’s a different journey. It’s as much their drive as it is yours. Even if they might not burn for it just as much as you do, the team is intrinsically motivated to get there.

So, what about “your vision” makes it “our vision”? How does it align with what matters to the team? Where’s the common drive?

A great way to find out is through conversations. Great visions aren’t usually crafted at night, sitting at a desk in a dark office. Much more often, they are the results of curiosity and exploration, asking questions and listening closely to what others have to say.

The better you understand what matters to the people on your team, the better you’ll be positioned to transition from “your vision” to “our vision”, a vision that not only motivates you but the whole team.

PS: Reach out if you need support.

Less

We often default to adding more details to clarify our points. But did you ever notice how more details sometimes lead to even more confusion?

When more won’t help, less might. Yet, seldom do we consider subtracting an aspect or two to stop the confusion.

Have you experienced that?

On to something new

Heading there means leaving here.

Change becomes easier once we acknowledge that.

What will we gain?
But also, what will we miss?

What’s pulling us ahead?
But also, what’s holding us back?

Some change initiatives fail because they are framed as “here it’s bad” vs “there it’s glorious”.

But it’s hardly ever black and white.
In fact, it’s often not an easy choice.
For some team members, it’ll be a tough journey.

Instead of dismissing the “here”, it would make it easier for them if we embraced the fact that some things have actually been pretty good over here.

In moving forward, we do not have to forget the past.

We can carry forward our experiences, our lessons,
the very essence of who we are.

This is what transforms the journey into our journey.

Irrational audiences

If you are a rational person, chances are you’re sometimes deeply frustrated when people just don’t get it.

I’ve certainly been in the past.

I mean, sometimes it’s so obvious … 
the logic is flawless …
the data clear …
but this guy almost refuses to get it.

That can be so frustrating.

Yet, there’s no point in complaining.

As much as we would like our audiences to be fully rational in their decision making, sooner or later we will encounter one that just isn’t.

That’s when logic won’t do the job.

I mean, of course you’re free to dismiss that audience.

But if that’s not an option, the only other option is to figure out a way to somehow resonate on an emotional level. Not to dismiss the logic (after all, it’s still valid), but to open a side door that allows the conversation to take place even if you can’t agree on the logic.

This is something I’ve seen brilliant people shy away from who devalue “emotional arguments” as, well, “irrational”. But I think that’s a mistake.

An emotional side door to the argument doesn’t devalue the rational main entrance. It doesn’t make the argument any less true.

But it allows people access to your insights that would otherwise have to stay outside.

The misunderstanding here is to consider rational the opposite of emotional. It’s not.

If you craft the emotional appeal in a way that is true to the logic, then it’s actually another facet of the same thing.

Give it a try!

How do you deal with a situation where people just don’t seem to get the logic?

Relevance beats elegance

If I can’t relate to a speaker’s words, it doesn’t matter how beautiful their slides are, how elaborate their body language is, or how creative their storytelling is.

It might be nice but it’s also pointless.

If, on the other hand, they manage to make it highly relevant, I will tolerate an ugly slide or two and a little nervousness.

In other words, work on your story’s relevance before you begin to work on the show.

The good news is that when it’s relevant, a great show will only amplify the impact.

How exciting is your pitch deck?

If you’re not excited by your pitch deck, chances are your audience won’t be, either.

It’s something that has always baffled me: how far some people will go to defend a mediocre presentation with rational arguments when there’s a very simple metric to decide whether you’ve nailed it:

Does it make you feel excited?

If it doesn’t, there’s no use in arguing that it contains all the facts. Or that it’s logically structured.

If all of that is true and it still doesn’t make you feel excited, it means that your story isn’t working.

Sometimes, it’s indeed because the facts aren’t right, but in my experience it’s much more often the words people use to speak about the facts that aren’t right.

How about your pitch? Are you excited by it?

Feels right

Some narratives just 
won’t go away.
Why?

The data is clear.
Yet people believe the lie.
But why?

Because it feels right.
That’s why.

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People aren’t good at feeling data.

That’s why it’s hard to compete on facts with a story that resonates on an emotional level.

If something feels right, we’re pretty good at coming up with good reasons for why it is right. If something just is right but feels wrong, that’s much harder.

Have you had that experience?
How did you deal with it?

Should you give that talk?

A single “yes” to one of these questions might be enough of a reason to go for it:

Will the ideas you share make a profound difference in your audience’s life?

Is your story inconvenient but your audience needs to hear it?

Can you grow personally by preparing for, showing up, or speaking up at this event?

Does the thought of standing on that stage make you feel excited?

Is there a reasonable chance your insights could spark meaningful conversations within the audience?

Are you providing a voice for those who cannot speak up in this context?

Will sharing your experiences or knowledge help others navigate their challenges more effectively?

What would you add?

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