Why do leaders rework papers at night and weekends?
The short answer is that reviewing dense drafts takes thinking time, and such time is hard to find during regular hours.
There is a better way, here is the alternative…
Do you spend more time than you would like reworking papers and presentations?
My guess is that you do, and that this rework happens out of hours too.
Here are two ideas to help you and your team get out of the weeds … AND prepare your papers and presentations (mostly!) in work hours.
Idea #1 – listen to my latest podcast interview.
Dan Musson and I pick apart the ideas from my new book, Elevate. A typical exec, Dan freely admits that writing board reports hasn't always been his favourite task.
We unpick why and what has changed since he read the preview copy of Elevate.
The interview is on the book info page as well as YouTube and on the Cutting Through podcast.
Idea #2 – get a copy of my new book, Elevate.
Elevate, introduces a time-tested operating model for cutting the rework for you and your team.
Anyone purchasing a copy before 30 May can claim 6 months' free access to the Clarity Hub.
Kind regards,
Davina
RELATED POSTS
Why do leaders rework papers at night and weekends?
The short answer is that reviewing dense drafts takes thinking time, and such time is hard to find during regular hours.
There is a better way, here is the alternative…
A couple of situations this week reminded me of the importance of differentiating between ‘content’ and ‘context’.
On the one hand I was listening to a fascinating podcast where Lex Fridman interviewed Yann Lecun, Chief AI Scientist at Meta about the abilities and limitations of AI.
On the other, I was reviewing communication to provide suggestions to participants from one of my corporate board paper writing programs.
What fascinated me here was that much of the communication I was reviewing was ‘content' that lacked ‘context'.
This bothered me because placing content in the right context is not only central to our uniqueness as humans, but essential if we want to engage senior decision makers.
And yet, I see teams frequently skipping this foundational step in the rush to finish their paper.
I get that thinking feels slow and that ‘writing' feels like ‘doing', but it reminds me of a comment made by an old boss of mine. “activity does not guarantee impact”.
With the right inputs, AI can deliver lots of content.
So far (!) we humans are the only ones that can take ‘content' and add ‘context' to have impact.
Let’s be human.
I hope that helps.
More soon.
Dav
RELATED POSTS
Why do leaders rework papers at night and weekends?
The short answer is that reviewing dense drafts takes thinking time, and such time is hard to find during regular hours.
There is a better way, here is the alternative…
How often do papers come together in a scramble just before they must be submitted for review? Perhaps you …
… left it to the last because you assumed you only needed to tweak a few details in last month's paper, only to realise that this particular board presentation required more?
… received an ambiguous briefing and delayed your preparation because you frankly didn't know where to begin?
… waited for quite some time to receive stakeholder feedback, which turned out to be substantive and required you to burn the midnight oil to finish?
These are just three collaborative challenges that limit not only the speed of preparation, but also the quality of insights they contain.
Why?
Delivering papers that are both insightful and useful leans more heavily on collaboration than many realise.
In my experience, teams that prepare their papers with minimal midnight oil result from leaders driving the process that:
Here is how I visualise a process that consistently elevates the quality of thinking in my client's papers while slashing the time they take to prepare them.
I hope that helps, more next week.
Davina.
PS – This is the framework that underpins both of my new books, Elevate and Engage. I'll be sharing more from the book in the coming months as we finalise each one
RELATED POSTS
Why do leaders rework papers at night and weekends?
The short answer is that reviewing dense drafts takes thinking time, and such time is hard to find during regular hours.
There is a better way, here is the alternative…
I had a terrific question from a client recently that highlighted a common strategic challenge.
How do we structure our messaging for a ‘paper for noting’?
Adrian's was concerned he didn’t have a ‘big insight’, but that ‘noting' felt wrong.
He wanted to prepare his board to hear a business case in a couple of months’ time.
So, what to do?
We landed seeking endorsement for his plan to prepare a business case as the best way to give the paper purpose while raising visibility of the problem. Here’s why we made that choice:
I hope that helps. More next week.
Davina
RELATED POSTS
Why do leaders rework papers at night and weekends?
The short answer is that reviewing dense drafts takes thinking time, and such time is hard to find during regular hours.
There is a better way, here is the alternative…
While this is a good place to start and most likely true in the general sense, it’s not sufficient.
A general statement like this does not set you up to truly understand your audience’s issues and concerns.
This in turn does not set you up to tell a story that resonates.
Instead, I encourage you to be more specific so you flush out the issues that you must address to get your strategy across the line. Here are the questions I ask:
Answering these questions will help you define a much more nuanced ‘purpose’ that will in turn set you up to prepare a communication that gets you the outcome you need.
I hope that helps and look forward to having more ideas for you after the Christmas break.
Kind regards,
Davina
PS – For deeper insight into what sits inside each of these questions as well as how and when to use them, register for the Clarity Hub.
PPS – In case you missed them, you might enjoy some of our past episodes
RELATED POSTS
When we talk about deeply understanding our audience, what do we really mean?
Is defining our audience as ‘the board’ or ‘the senior leadership team’ sufficient?
If your issue is uncontentious, then likely yes.
However, more often than not, leadership groups not only bring different experiences but different perspectives that we must understand if we are to engage them.
This week I helped a senior group untangle their own engagement strategy for a board paper and an issue emerged that will help you too.
The team had missed an important nuance when thinking about their individual board member's attitudes toward their paper.
They had not thought deeply enough about each person as an individual rather than part of the group.
To learn more specific ideas about how to avoid this problem, register for the Clarity Hub and visit the Stakeholder Management area.
I hope that helps.
Dav
PS – Here are some recent podcast episodes you can find either using the links below or by visiting your favourite podcasting player.
Recent episodes of Cutting Through
Impact Multiplier CEO Podcast episodes with Richard Medcalf
Please do tell your friends and colleagues about them too.
RELATED POSTS
Why do leaders rework papers at night and weekends?
The short answer is that reviewing dense drafts takes thinking time, and such time is hard to find during regular hours.
There is a better way, here is the alternative…
Do you wonder what to write those boxes in the admin section of your senior paper or presentation?
There will be the basics like date, author, paper type, attachments etc.
Buried in the middle of this list will be one that says ‘Recommendation'.
I'd like to help you deliver valuable insight right from the get go rather than following administrative protocol for its own sake. Here is what not to do and a better alternative.
Don't say nothing …
Don't repeat what's in the ‘paper type' box that asks whether it is a paper to offer a recommendation, stimulate a discussion or for noting.
An example would be to say:
RELATED POSTS
I write this to you having just wrapped up a coaching session where a perennial question arose.
My client suggested that the paper we were discussing needed to inform her peers.
But, did it really?
Why did she need to inform her peers about this particular set of facts?
It turned out the real objective was to build trust that the current efforts to increase the time employees spend in the office were working.
Once it was clear that trust rather than knowledge was the goal, we could make the messaging much more focused and engaging.
So, when you next think that you need your audience to know something, ask why they need to know it. Here are two steps to take
First, check why you need to inform your audience. Could it be to gain the following from your audience?
If none of those fit, consider whether one of these ‘knowing' definitions fits.
Sometimes it is true that your audience does ‘just' need to know something. I find however that nine times out of ten, there is another real reason. When we clarify that reason, the communication becomes more useful and the audience more engaged.
I hope that helps. More next week.
Kind regards,
Davina
PS – In my upcoming Board Paper Bootcamp we will cover strategies for discerning your real outcome so you can then be more effective at engaging senior leaders and Boards. Learn more here.
RELATED POSTS
Why do leaders rework papers at night and weekends?
The short answer is that reviewing dense drafts takes thinking time, and such time is hard to find during regular hours.
There is a better way, here is the alternative…
When people learn to prepare papers and presentations for senior audiences they often focus on improving ‘writing' and ‘slide making' skills.
These are useful and often taught as though the paper or presentation is prepared by one individual.
However, in my experience this is often not the case.
Engaging senior audiences to make a recommendation or to update is a collaborative effort.
So, how to collaborate?
The first step is to decide who you should involve in the process, particularly at the initial scoping session.
I recommend inviting everyone who will have a role in preparing the paper, including more junior team members who may only focus on discrete sections.
You may also think a bit expansively to include people with these three Es:
In briefing the whole team, you will increase the chances of clarifying a message that hits the right notes with less effort from you all.
I hope that helps.
Kind regards,
Davina
PS – We will go into this and much more in my upcoming Board Paper Bootcamp. Learn more here.
PPS – In case you missed them, you might enjoy some of our past episodes
RELATED POSTS
Why do leaders rework papers at night and weekends?
The short answer is that reviewing dense drafts takes thinking time, and such time is hard to find during regular hours.
There is a better way, here is the alternative…
In last week’s MasterClass I shared ideas to help you make your updates more interesting.
One idea I shared is the possibility of having greater influence by NOT updating at all.
It shocked some participant to silence!
We are so accustomed to updating our leaders and Steering Committees that we often don’t think WHY we are updating them.
If, in some situations, you sent an email update rather than taking up everyone’s time in a meeting?
I share this and more ideas about how to get the most out of your routine updates in the recording.
Access inside the Past Events area within my Clarity Hub – Register here >>
Members can attend these sessions live, or access the recordings, as well as make use of the growing library of case studies, tools and templates and the ever-useful Pattern Picker. Learn more here >>
I hope that helps.
Davina
RELATED POSTS
Why do leaders rework papers at night and weekends?
The short answer is that reviewing dense drafts takes thinking time, and such time is hard to find during regular hours.
There is a better way, here is the alternative…
Do you typically go onto auto pilot when preparing updates?
You might take the last one and tweak it a bit, or fill in the template?
If so, you may be missing an opportunity.
Updates present an under-appreciated opportunity to engage senior and captive audiences.
In this morning’s MasterClass I shared two case studies as well as ideas to help you make the most of your next update. I shared ideas on how to
I also answer a series of communication questions submitted by those who registered for the session.
The recording is available inside the Past Events area within my new Clarity Hub along with a wealth of tools and templates for you to use. The first month is free and then us$25 per month or US$250 per year for ongoing access.
I hope that’s useful. More soon.
Davina
RELATED POSTS
Why do leaders rework papers at night and weekends?
The short answer is that reviewing dense drafts takes thinking time, and such time is hard to find during regular hours.
There is a better way, here is the alternative…
How often have you presented a new capability or idea knowing that some stakeholders are not in your corner?
It is rare to have all your stakeholders championing your success so a common challenge to address.
During a coaching session this week, a client shared his clever hack which I thought would be useful to you also.
When showcasing a new product or strategy Fred leverages his winners to persuade his losers so he doesn’t have to. Let me explain the situation and then the solution.
The situation …
Imagine you are ready to showcase a new platform that your team has prioritised developing over the past six months. This platform underpins features for a host of other use cases.
In prioritising this platform, other projects have been necessarily delayed. This was the right decision given the risk of rework on other projects if they were built without leveraging this new foundational platform.
So, in the room you have winners and losers: Those who are excited about the prospect of the new features they can now access and those who have been delayed.
The solution …
Fred said that he deliberately invites both winners and losers to the showcase so long as the losers are not overwhelming in number or volume. This has a number of benefits. It
I thought that was a clever hack and that it might help you also.
More next week.
Cheers,
Davina
RELATED POSTS
Why do leaders rework papers at night and weekends?
The short answer is that reviewing dense drafts takes thinking time, and such time is hard to find during regular hours.
There is a better way, here is the alternative…
I was sharing war stories with one of my collaborators this week. An interesting story emerged where ‘poor communication' cost a chief financial officer (CFO) his job.
Why?
Because he focused on the data.
Let me explain.
The CFO assumed his role was to provide regular and accurate numbers that the CEO and Board would not just read, but also interpret.
However, the CEO and the Board wanted insights about the company's performance.
This material disconnect cost him his job as the leadership did not see that the company was in major difficulty until late in the piece.
So, what went wrong here?
While I agree that a CFO has a responsibility to explain what the performance data means, I also see a systemic issue that goes beyond the CFO himself. This could have been avoided if
I offer this as a cautionary tale.
Quality governance and decision making requires insightful communication both inside and around key papers.
Assuming that the data is enough, or that poor quality papers is ‘par for the course' is not just a risk for you but also for the organisation.
I hope that helps. More next week.
Kind regards,
Davina
Cutting Through Podcast Now Live
Last week I launched my new podcast, Cutting Through.
My first two posts, a short intro and an interview discussing how to get around one of the biggest challenges when communicating about risk management.
My guest, Anthony Wilson from ABM Risk Management shares deep wisdom stemming from decades in risk and assurance.
He also offers his comprehensive risk management framework.
Listen on your favourite podcasting app or here on my website.
PS – Apologies to those of you who may tried to find it on Spotify, Apple and Google Play last weekend. The episode took longer to publish than we expected.
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
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.
I was reminded this week of why thinking and writing don't mix if you want to deliver impact at work.
It's great if you want to keep a journal, write a novel or perhaps some poetry.
But, bear with me.
I do believe writing helps us clarify our thinking.
But I also think writing to think inside a doc or a deck makes for poor business communication.
Communication quality is further reduced by socializing your document with others.
Let me offer three reasons why I believe ‘thinking' into a document leads to cluttered communication that takes far too long to deliver value.
Clarity of messaging is compromised as we seek useful input from others. In today's busy world, messaging must jump off the page the minute someone opens an email, paper or PowerPoint.
Asking stakeholders to review lengthy docs or decks leads to a mess of track changes that focus on the minutiae rather than the substance.
Quality of insight is hard to coalesce into a cohesive argument. If you draft your ideas inside an email, a doc or a deck you will naturally wander all over the place. Your thinking will evolve some here, some there as ideas form. The structure of your story and the quality of your messaging will wander likewise.
Velocity is nearly impossible. By velocity I mean the speed with which you can create your communication, with which your audience can digest it and then make a decision. When my clients skip using a one-page storyline they frequently see at least three problems. They see extensive rework, delayed decisions and lots of last minute scrambling to ‘fix' their docs and decks.
As one CEO said to me recently:
I hope that helps.
Warmly,
Davina
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
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.
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 Matt correctly, the ‘insight' is to explore ‘possibility’ and seek out ‘opportunity’ rather than be driven by the fear of being cornered by a win/lose proposition.
Here are three fear busters that I took away that I hope help you also.
Let me now give you some more detail about these before offering the video recording and two powerful and free tools from Matt.
1 – Deal with the hairy beasts first. By that, Matt suggests dealing with the most difficult issues of a negotiation first. He recommends agreeing the negotiation strategy at the beginning as a way to build rapport, rather than dealing with small items. An example might help.
At the beginning you might ask the other person (note, I am deliberate in not saying ‘the other side') to identify their biggest concern. You might even suggest that you think item X is going to be the most difficult thing to resolve.
This gives them an opportunity to agree or to indicate that item Y or Z is a bigger deal for them. Taking this approach offers many advantages. You
2 – See popular techniques as tools rather than the primary strategy. Matt suggests that emphasising win-win solutions or splitting the difference results in mediocre outcomes. Why?
Because they leave you thinking small. They lead you to
3 – Avoid saying no, and frame your response as a possible alternative. This doesn't mean NEVER saying no as Matt was quick to point out, but rather avoid saying it.
To give an example. Instead of saying ‘No, I can't have coffee with you tomorrow afternoon', say ‘I could have coffee with you at 9am tomorrow at a location near me'.
This then puts the onus back on the other person to decide whether they will make the extra effort to make that time and location work.
This is a simple example, but a powerful principle that empowers me by offering a constructive way out.
These are just some of the gems that Matt shared. You can visit the recording below as well as download two powerful resources he has for us all.
1. A diagnostic to help you calibrate your personal blend of preferred negotiation strategies with the norm group of over 2,500 other executives. How do you actually negotiate? To unlock this tool, you will need to use the password Mythbusters.
2. A generously detailed PDF full of negotiation strategies for you to employ – register below to receive access to Matt's eBook:
Kind Regards,
Davina
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
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.
In a one-on-one with one of my Foundation Members this week she highlighted the difference between using a topic-driven structure and a message-driven structure when preparing her program briefing.
I share this because I hear leaders setting their teams up to prepare communication this way only to complain that the resulting communication didn't hit the mark.
Let me demonstrate by using the topic-driven strategy here for this email so you can see why it doesn’t deliver a high quality communication.
Here is her original structural outline for her program briefing (which she gave permission for me to share … and which she quickly decided not to proceed with).
Here is what is wrong with this approach. It
See what I mean?
Here's a challenge for you: the next time you go to sketch an outline for a substantial piece of communication try focusing it around messages rather than topics.
I hope that helps and look forward to bringing you more ideas next week.
Kind regards,
Davina
Course: Clarity in Problem Solving
In my Clarity in Problem Solving course I use my own experience using these techniques in my business as a case study, combined with a simple, high-level structure for you to follow in your own work.
The 7 module course includes detailed notes and exercises with solutions.
Learn more here.
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
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.
I was recently asked a wonderful question:
The client and I had a terrific discussion and I mapped the outcome as a decision tree to share with you all.
The tree offers a series of decision points that we must navigate if we are to deliver a story that gets the result we need.
In this particular case, the issue centred around around a common problem, which was how to handle ‘the story' when key stakeholders don't agree with it. Do we ….
Tell the same story regardless?
Edit the story to accommodate that person (or those people) only?
Ask someone else to present on our behalf?
Create a separate story that deals with the objector's specific concerns?
Scrap the story and start again?
There are lots of alternatives, each of which might suit a different situation but none of which suit all.
Hence, the decision tree. I hope you find it useful.
Cheers, Davina
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
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.
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 found the same.
I encourage you to take the time to watch the recording below and to consider working with him further.
Grab a copy of his new book Building a Winning Career, which launched today. He is offering the Kindle version for about $10 for the coming two weeks to make it affordable to everyone, as well as physical copies which Australians can order directly from him, or those overseas can access via online book stores.
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
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.
We are always delighted to hear success stories like this from our participants.
Elle was recently promoted because she improved her communication skills after just 3 months in the Clarity First Program.
Naturally she was delighted to move from director to senior account director. She had been in her role for a bit over a year and was ready.
Her boss told her that to move to the next level, she had just two things to conquer and that Clarity First was ‘all she needed’ to get over the line.
Hear what Elle has to say about how Clarity First has helped her succeed…
Learn how Elle achieved this.
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
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.
Have you noticed how easy it is to spot the tiny errors in communication, particularly when it was prepared by someone else?
When our stakeholders read our paper, watch our presentation or lose the thread of our message when we speak, they focus on the things they can understand.
This is, I think, why feedback often doesn't help us much.
We are asked to improve things that are easy to fix but sit on the surface of our communication: our ability to write, prepare charts or to find ways to become more confident in front of the room when presenting.
Feedback around the substance comes in the form of generalities that are hard to pin down such as ‘be more strategic' and ‘focus less on the detail' without specific advice on how to do that.
The challenge is to work out how to communicate so you get fewer:
My number 1 suggestion for combatting this is to spend more time than you think you need to in clarifying two things before you prepare your communication:
Your purpose: What do you want to achieve with this specific piece of communication?
Your audience: Who are they really and what information do they really need from you to get the outcome you seek?
These two areas are foundational in nailing your messaging so you get less of the wrong kind of feedback, deliver more value … and enjoy your work more.
One of our clients summed it up beautifully this week:
“The magic about storylines is that they don't often get noticed or stand out unless you've made a mistake and it is harder to make mistakes when you use them”
Have a great week, everyone,
Davina
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
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.