Given that February is the shortest month of the year, there is a gorgeous symmetry between this fact and the focus for my conversations this month; namely how to say less; but have more impact.
The reality of business today is simply this - all too often I hear messages, answers, contributions and pitches that go on... and on... and on. There’s confusion and complication in answers and we’ve all stopped listening a long time ago; but that doesn’t mean that others have stopped talking - unfortunately.
Avoiding what I call the ‘blah, blah, blah’ in our communication has been the focus of conversations this month with managers who are at, what I call, a ‘pivot point’ in their leadership growth. By that I mean that they are making the switch from focusing on developing their technical skills to focusing on developing their skills of influence and compelling communication.
Not a bad shift to make because interestingly LinkedIn Learning published some research in January 2019 which reinforced the top two soft skills needed for professionals to succeed at work - creativity and persuasion. That’s what sits at the heart of avoiding the ‘blah, blah, blah’ as I call it and being a crisp, concise and compelling communicator.
So the question is: where to start?
The first and most important concept to embrace is the narrative structure. This is the over arching ‘chapter headings’ of our message or story. All great authors write this first, and then get into the detail. Narrative structures are simple, logical and divided into 3 parts. Much like any story with a ‘beginning, middle and end’, this is what we need to decide and be clear on before we get into the detail of the message. Narrative structures set us free. If we get this right first, filling in the rest is then so much easier, crystal clear for our audience and encourages more precise, concise messages.
The other beautiful thing about narrative structures is the sheer number that we can create to support our story. I offer only three:
Situation, Complication, Resolution
What It Is, What It Does, Why It Matters
What We Want, What We Don’t Want, So Where To Go From Here
…and yet there are simply too many to list here. An easy, conversational language style is my approach and always remember that we should embrace narrative structures and start here first if we are to avoid the ‘blah, blah, blah’.
