Going from good to great

Going from good to great

by | - Board communication, - Communicating complexity, - Leadership communication, - Synthesis

Jim Collins coined the term ‘from good to great’ with his seminal book of the same title, which I am sure you are familiar with.

This is a challenge many of my mid to senior leaders wrestle with as we lift the quality of thinking in their major communication.

Here are some thoughts that emerged from this morning’s coaching session that might help you too.

Focusing on the gaps in the story particularly where the value is not well-synthesised is a quick way to shift from good to great. Here are three gaps we identified in our example:

Good is readable, but typically summarises more than synthesises. Synthesis is where the gold lies. This is where we go from saying ‘this is what the data says’ to saying ‘this is what the data means’ in this context to this audience.

This is good news, as the AI tools can (so far at least) only summarise. They can’t put the data into context. More on that another time.

Good has a small number of top-line points. This means the story isn’t an Agatha Christie hunt for the information. It’s laid out so you can find it fairly easily.

Good leaves value on the table. The story we reworked today missed several key ingredients, but most importantly it didn’t surface the reasoning. It didn’t explain why the recommendation was the right one to implement.

Keep your eyes peeled for the ‘why’ in your communication. It is often lacking in examples that cross my desk.

I hope that helps. More soon.

Davina

PS – Do you write papers for senior leaders and Boards? If so, I’d love to hear about your key challenges. Click here to share them.



RELATED POSTS

PRESENTED BY DAVINA STANLEY

I love what I do.

I help senior leaders and their teams prepare high-quality papers and presentations in a fraction of the time.

This involves 'nailing' the message that will quickly engage decision makers in the required outcome.

I leverage 25+ years' experience including

  • learning structured thinking techniques at McKinsey in Hong Kong in the mid 1990s before coaching and training their teams globally as a freelancer for a further 15 years
  • being approved to teach the Pyramid Principle by Barbara Minto in 2009
  • helping CEOs, C-suite leaders and their reports deeply understand their stakeholder needs and communicate accordingly
  • seeing leaders cut the number of times they review major papers by ~30% and teams cut the amount of time they take to prepare major papers by ~20%*
  • watching senior meetings focus on substantive discussions and better decisions rather than trying to clarify the issue

My approach helps anyone who needs to engage senior leaders and Boards.

Recent clients include 7Eleven, KPMG, Mercer, Meta, Woolworths.

Learn more at www.clarityfirstprogram.com

 

(*) Numbers are based on 2023 client benchmarking results.

Can pushback be good?

Can pushback be good?

by | - Thinking skills

Earlier this week I received some fabulous pushback on a project I am working on. I had got to a place where I thought it was pretty good – and ready go to production.

I had received some very positive feedback from a number of stakeholders so had confidence.

Then one key stakeholder landed a real punch.

He called out a number of issues that I had missed and the others would not have known to look for.

I was deflated. Frustrated too because he (of course!) called out problems not solutions.

But I got over myself and spent a day of hard thinking on it and addressed his concerns.

Guess what?

I LOVE where it is going now. A massive step up for two important areas of the work that feed into others.

It is more insightful
It is more cohesive
It is more useful

So … Do you open yourself to challenge? Do you go there by offering it to others?

Go on. Be brave. It's the right kind of hard.

I hope that helps. More next week.

Kind regards,
Davina


PS – In the spirit of bravery, I am now working on ANOTHER project!

If you write board papers, would you be happy to fill in this tiny survey? I so appreciate your help. Click here.


RELATED POSTS

PRESENTED BY DAVINA STANLEY

I love what I do.

I help senior leaders and their teams prepare high-quality papers and presentations in a fraction of the time.

This involves 'nailing' the message that will quickly engage decision makers in the required outcome.

I leverage 25+ years' experience including

  • learning structured thinking techniques at McKinsey in Hong Kong in the mid 1990s before coaching and training their teams globally as a freelancer for a further 15 years
  • being approved to teach the Pyramid Principle by Barbara Minto in 2009
  • helping CEOs, C-suite leaders and their reports deeply understand their stakeholder needs and communicate accordingly
  • seeing leaders cut the number of times they review major papers by ~30% and teams cut the amount of time they take to prepare major papers by ~20%*
  • watching senior meetings focus on substantive discussions and better decisions rather than trying to clarify the issue

My approach helps anyone who needs to engage senior leaders and Boards.

Recent clients include 7Eleven, KPMG, Mercer, Meta, Woolworths.

Learn more at www.clarityfirstprogram.com

 

(*) Numbers are based on 2023 client benchmarking results.

Want a 25+% cut in the time it takes to prepare major papers?

Want a 25+% cut in the time it takes to prepare major papers?

by | - Board communication, - Productivity, Prose

Want to cut the number of times your manager reviews your papers by 25+ percent?  

Even better, cut the amount of time it takes you to draft and then edit your papers by a similar amount? 

I hear both executives and their managers complain that they spend too much time on papers. 

Here is an image demonstrating how this works.

Executives complain they don’t get great briefings, and so struggle to know what they need to communicate about. 

They then throw everything at the paper so nothing is left out before sending to their manager for review. 

Their manager takes one look and parks it for later. The paper looks heavy and they need to block some proper thinking time to review it. 

I think you know what happens then? 

The clock ticks and the paper sits in their inbox until really close to the due date. 

And then, late at night or on the weekend, your manager opens it and starts work. 

The only way they can get a handle on the material is to start with the things they can see: the minutiae. They fix typos, details and grammaticals as a way to work into the substance. 

By the time they have done this, the whole thing has been reworked. 

However, there is a way out of this. 

My clients regularly cut the amount of time they spend preparing and reviewing papers by 25 percent or more. 

Join the Clarity First Intensive this coming February to learn now. 

>> Learn more here 

Warm regards, 

Davina 

RELATED POSTS

PRESENTED BY DAVINA STANLEY

I love what I do.

I help senior leaders and their teams prepare high-quality papers and presentations in a fraction of the time.

This involves 'nailing' the message that will quickly engage decision makers in the required outcome.

I leverage 25+ years' experience including

  • learning structured thinking techniques at McKinsey in Hong Kong in the mid 1990s before coaching and training their teams globally as a freelancer for a further 15 years
  • being approved to teach the Pyramid Principle by Barbara Minto in 2009
  • helping CEOs, C-suite leaders and their reports deeply understand their stakeholder needs and communicate accordingly
  • seeing leaders cut the number of times they review major papers by ~30% and teams cut the amount of time they take to prepare major papers by ~20%*
  • watching senior meetings focus on substantive discussions and better decisions rather than trying to clarify the issue

My approach helps anyone who needs to engage senior leaders and Boards.

Recent clients include 7Eleven, KPMG, Mercer, Meta, Woolworths.

Learn more at www.clarityfirstprogram.com

 

(*) Numbers are based on 2023 client benchmarking results.

E3 – Baking Learning & Growth into BAU alongside Agile Ways of Working

E3 – Baking Learning & Growth into BAU alongside Agile Ways of Working

by | PODCASTS

Cutting Through

Helping experts
engage ‘outsiders'
in complex ideas

Damien discusses his strategy for engaging 7Eleven in a new Agile-aligned learning strategy.

He shares his experience in engaging the leadership as well as the organisation in this new approach to learning and growth. This includes

  • How Agile offers natural opportunities to ‘bake learning in' to the BAU operating rhythm (which you can do even if you are not adopting Agile ways of working)
  • How to engage up, down and sideways to be confident your idea is ‘sold' before you pitch it
  • How he demonstrates the business value of learning

Timestamps 

0:00 – Introduction 

1:10 – How the Agile model works 

3:38 – The challenge of changing how a business looks at learning and skill development 

11:26 – Selling the idea of ‘baked in’ learning rather than a ‘tick and flick' approach 

22:54 – The importance of creating a pitch that ties together business outcomes and learning  

27:43 – Laying the groundwork before taking the pitch to SLT 

33:16 – Novel ways of influencing and engaging leaders in learning 

39:06 – Damien’s final tips for pitching a new way of approaching learning within a business 

RESOURCES

  1.  Access the details of the books Damien mentioned in the episode notes below
  2. Connect with Damien on LinkedIn here

E5 – Daniel Musson – A Case Study in Digital Transformation

Cutting ThroughHelping experts engage 'outsiders' in complex ideasDan explains the difference between transformation and change, sharing deep experience in helping top brands gain maximum value from their digital transformation efforts. An outstanding communicator, he...
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E4 – Kerry Butler – Helping leaders ‘shift testing left' to derisk projects

Cutting ThroughHelping experts engage 'outsiders' in complex ideasKerry shares how he engages senior leaders in 'shifting their focus to the left' to prevent problems and smooth out project delivery. It turns out that software testing is a surprisingly creative and...
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E3 – Baking Learning & Growth into BAU alongside Agile Ways of Working

Cutting ThroughHelping experts engage 'outsiders' in complex ideasDamien discusses his strategy for engaging 7Eleven in a new Agile-aligned learning strategy. He shares his experience in engaging the leadership as well as the organisation in this new approach to...
Read More
E5 – Daniel Musson – A Case Study in Digital Transformation

E5 – Daniel Musson – A Case Study in Digital Transformation

Cutting ThroughHelping experts engage 'outsiders' in complex ideasDan explains the difference between transformation and change, sharing deep experience in helping top brands gain maximum value from their digital transformation efforts. An outstanding communicator, he...

E2 – Making Time for Strategy

E2 – Making Time for Strategy

Cutting ThroughHelping experts engage 'outsiders' in complex ideasDo you struggle to find time to think at work? In this episode, Richard shares ideas to help 'cut through' with our diaries so we have time to think. Although he primarily focuses on strategy, the...

E1 – Risk Management = Change Management

E1 – Risk Management = Change Management

Anthony Wilson shares 30+ years' experience in engaging others in risk management. His biggest challenge is to encourage leaders and others involved in managing risk to move away from a ‘once and done' approach. He is convinced there is enormous business value in seeing risk management as change management.

INTERVIEW – Busting 3 Business Negotiation Myths

INTERVIEW – Busting 3 Business Negotiation Myths

I came to Friday's interview with Matt Lohmeyer a bit selfishly. Negotiating has often made me nervous and yet he seems to thrive while discussing and doing it. So, I wanted to learn how he gets great outcomes while actually enjoying the process. If I am to interpret...

INTERVIEW – Building A Winning Career

INTERVIEW – Building A Winning Career

Well, Bill certainly did not disappoint in this morning's interview!Bill shared career insights that are hugely relevant to all of us, no matter where we are in our careers.He gave me a new idea for addressing current challenge and judging by the chat messaging others...

Know when each episode drops

Ready to Grow?

Learn more about Clarity First

Get in Touch

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E2 – Making Time for Strategy

E2 – Making Time for Strategy

by | PODCASTS

Cutting Through

Helping experts
engage ‘outsiders'
in complex ideas

Do you struggle to find time to think at work?

In this episode, Richard shares ideas to help ‘cut through' with our diaries so we have time to think.

Although he primarily focuses on strategy, the overlap for communication is clear.

He offers ideas to help you ‘cut through' with your diary so you have time to think.

 

Timestamps

0:00 – Introduction  

1:43 – Why we need to make time for Strategy  

3:56  – How the ‘Infinity trap‘ is holding you back  

7:05 – Viewing strategic time as the indicator of future success  

13:19 – Focusing on reinventing how you work, not just increasing productivity  

16:39 – Taking the first steps towards increasing your strategic time 

 

RESOURCES

  1.  Listen to Richard's podcast Impact Multiplier CEO here
  2. Connect with Richard on LinkedIn here

E5 – Daniel Musson – A Case Study in Digital Transformation

Cutting ThroughHelping experts engage 'outsiders' in complex ideasDan explains the difference between transformation and change, sharing deep experience in helping top brands gain maximum value from their digital transformation efforts. An outstanding communicator, he...
Read More

E4 – Kerry Butler – Helping leaders ‘shift testing left' to derisk projects

Cutting ThroughHelping experts engage 'outsiders' in complex ideasKerry shares how he engages senior leaders in 'shifting their focus to the left' to prevent problems and smooth out project delivery. It turns out that software testing is a surprisingly creative and...
Read More

E3 – Baking Learning & Growth into BAU alongside Agile Ways of Working

Cutting ThroughHelping experts engage 'outsiders' in complex ideasDamien discusses his strategy for engaging 7Eleven in a new Agile-aligned learning strategy. He shares his experience in engaging the leadership as well as the organisation in this new approach to...
Read More
E5 – Daniel Musson – A Case Study in Digital Transformation

E5 – Daniel Musson – A Case Study in Digital Transformation

Cutting ThroughHelping experts engage 'outsiders' in complex ideasDan explains the difference between transformation and change, sharing deep experience in helping top brands gain maximum value from their digital transformation efforts. An outstanding communicator, he...

E2 – Making Time for Strategy

E2 – Making Time for Strategy

Cutting ThroughHelping experts engage 'outsiders' in complex ideasDo you struggle to find time to think at work? In this episode, Richard shares ideas to help 'cut through' with our diaries so we have time to think. Although he primarily focuses on strategy, the...

E1 – Risk Management = Change Management

E1 – Risk Management = Change Management

Anthony Wilson shares 30+ years' experience in engaging others in risk management. His biggest challenge is to encourage leaders and others involved in managing risk to move away from a ‘once and done' approach. He is convinced there is enormous business value in seeing risk management as change management.

INTERVIEW – Busting 3 Business Negotiation Myths

INTERVIEW – Busting 3 Business Negotiation Myths

I came to Friday's interview with Matt Lohmeyer a bit selfishly. Negotiating has often made me nervous and yet he seems to thrive while discussing and doing it. So, I wanted to learn how he gets great outcomes while actually enjoying the process. If I am to interpret...

INTERVIEW – Building A Winning Career

INTERVIEW – Building A Winning Career

Well, Bill certainly did not disappoint in this morning's interview!Bill shared career insights that are hugely relevant to all of us, no matter where we are in our careers.He gave me a new idea for addressing current challenge and judging by the chat messaging others...

Know when each episode drops

Ready to Grow?

Learn more about Clarity First

Get in Touch

6 + 7 =