Simplifying Communication
Sharing needs, projects, or potential hurdles in a simplistic way is difficult. You need to anticipate the receiver’s focus to ensure your message is received quickly, easily and in full. There are a variety of ways to shape communication to win your auidence’s attention. Recently, I have been testing out some theories, many have been helpful.
Let’s dive in.
What - So What - How
In crafting a message to leadership, we need to take into account the scope and frequency they are receiving information.. This model is focused on pulling out the needs clearly and well used to kick off a project or highlight a potential trend that needs solved.
:”What”: This is your chance to highlight the topic. At most 1-2 sentences to create a clear view of the need for attention and action.
“So What”: This is the WHY. Why does it matter, what will a solution do for the enterprise or team. Delivery of key data is going to be persuasive for your “What”. This will be in the range of 3-4 data points highlighting the current state and potential efficiencies.
“How”: Immediate actions needed or proposed. This is where you give the powers-that-be turnkey next steps to help drive solutions.
Example:
Issue: Your team is seeing an increase in non-standard requests. Tasks that are not within your team’s current scope.
What: “There is a recent and consistent increase in requests beyond the standard scope of X team. This is a symptom of 2 potential enterprise needs”
So What:
“In the last 30 days, there is an increase of _% of the below tasks adding X hours spent to the team.”
“There is an increase in delays for X task as a result.”
“Based on the current needs of our clients this added task will continue to drive renewals and revenue growth.”
How: “An investigatory group should be set to identify the deeper source of these tasks:
Is the current path the appropriate path or is there a need for task reallocation?
Is there an opportunity for automation or system development?
What is the industry standard for this type of request”
Tell - Show - Tell
This approach to summarizing communication is very helpful. Communication in this way can be utilized for many different topics. In fact, this methodology drives the learning and development approach built for my teams.
“Tell”: First I am going to tell you what I am going to tell you.
“Show”: Now I will show you why this is important.
“Tell”: Lastly, I will tell you what I told you to recap.
Example:
Issue: You are seeing an opportunity for training your team on best practices.
Tell: “We are seeing a great opportunity to highlight best practices with the team.“
Show: “The data is showing a 25% increase in requests that are against X best practice. This can lead to x issues in 3 months.“
Tell: “In our next team meeting, I would like 15 mins to highlight best practices and reasoning why it is effective.”
Takeaways +
Often an issue or project pitch cannot be boiled down to a handful of single points and sentences. However, leaders and executives are short on time to deep dive on every issue.
Taking this approach is hugely helpful for both leaders and yourself.
It is pretty straightforward. You highlight 3-5 short Key Takeaways of the issue or project. Then point to a details section for a deeper look at supporting data or examples.
Example:
Issue: There is a struggle to create a system of checks and balances for campaign accuracy when launching or updating a campaign.
Key Takeaways:
We are seeing an increase in campaign set up errors by X%
Catching these errors within 24hrs or less is key to client satisfaction.
Short term solution potential: Dedicate a small team of 2 people to review campaign set ups and updates via queue
Long term solution potential: Work toward an AI bot to monitor campaigns against order system to server.
Details:
Data supporting the details, efficiencies and potential revenue saves.