Well, I am back home as you read this (just!) so have again prepared in advance.

Following along the theme of using emotion when communicating, we come to getting people to ‘actually do things'!

Storytelling Insight #3 – Nudging people toward action is, I think, where emotion can be more useful, especially in the face of resistance of some kind.

Here are a couple of thoughts on that:

When people need a strong push to do something, revert to the strongest persuasive levers which I discussed last week.

Fears, big and small as well as belonging are the strongest motivators of all.

This possibly explains why the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is ‘quite a thing'. It blends both fear and belonging into the one bundle.

When people need just a bit of a nudge, try a softer touch using aspiration, habits and analogies.

1. Make it aspirational by pointing out the benefits of doing something.
2. Make it easy by grafting a new idea or behaviour onto an old one.
3. Make it clear by using analogies.

I hope that helps. More next week.

Kind regards,
Davina

PS – Clarity Hub members receive more actionable ‘how to' emails. Learn more here.

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1. Risk Management = Change Management
2. Richard Medcalf – Making Time for Strategy
3. Baking Learning & Growth into BAU
4. Helping Leaders ‘shift testing left' to derisk projects
5. A Case Study in Digitial Transformation
6. How to help a senior leader come back from a misstep
7. How to hit the ground running in a big new role
8. How to communicate during great change
9. How to turbo charge your transformation

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I am away on leave this week, so writing this email early to follow up on last week's discussion about story arcs and storytelling. Pop back and check your inbox for that note if you have not yet read it.

Scott Adams in Win Bigly unpacks persuasion at a masterful level, so I thought I'd share some insights to help you.

Storytelling Insight #2 – Intriguingly, he suggests that all three of the three most powerful persuasion levers are, or have the potential to be, fear-based.

1. The top motivator is a big fear. This suggests that if we want our decision-makers to move, we need to find a way to scare them into it. Naturally, this needs to be done carefully!
2. The next most-effective motivator can be positive: belonging. This can be tricky to navigate in relation to stakeholder management and group think. How to add value to the conversation without following the herd and, equally, not being kicked out of it?
3. The third most-effective motivator reverts to fear, but in a smaller scale. My hunch is that smaller fears are easier to use at work. However, as with anything: not too often or you dilute the effect.

The trick will be to get the tone just right. Going too far may come off as false and so become ineffective.

I hope that helps. More next week.

Kind regards,
Davina

PS – Clarity Hub members received a similar message, but with more specific ‘how to' detail for each point. Join now if you want more, the first month is free.

Elevate, the book – helps leaders set their teams up to set up a new dynamic across their team that will elevate everyone’s skills, helping the team get better, faster decisions.

Engage, the book – helps individual contributors prepare papers and presentations that leaders can approve without reworking.

Engage, the self-paced course  – supports both individuals and leaders prepare more insightful papers and presentations for senior leaders and boards.

Extreme Clarity, the 2-hour workshop – introduces techniques for structuring your messaging.

Board Paper Bootcamp, the 2-week program – helps you clarify and convey complex ideas to senior leaders and boards.

WANT TO LISTEN?

1. Risk Management = Change Management
2. Richard Medcalf – Making Time for Strategy
3. Baking Learning & Growth into BAU
4. Helping Leaders ‘shift testing left' to derisk projects
5. A Case Study in Digitial Transformation
6. How to help a senior leader come back from a misstep
7. How to hit the ground running in a big new role
8. How to communicate during great change
9. How to turbo charge your transformation

RELATED POSTS

I am now back in Seattle and ‘getting my head straight' again.

Travelling to some far-flung clients over the past three weeks has been fun (if exhausting!) and given me lots of opportunity to read.

I used my flying time to dive into Scott Adams' excellent book, Win Bigly, in preparation for the February Clarity Hub MasterClass on using logic and emotion in storytelling and business communication.

I'd love to hear your experiences as I mull on this topic, and thought I'd share one insight today to share how my thinking is evolving.

Insight #1 – Story arcs are well suited to high-stakes communication but less so for day-to-day business communication.

_______________________

Please email me and let me know of your experience … particularly if you disagree!

_______________________

Story arcs, where the communicator takes their audience through a hero's journey involving the ‘valley of death' that then leads toward a prize at the end are powerful. (See illustration below). Novelists and movie makers use these, and I see many communication experts talking about using them in a corporate setting too, particularly for sales pitches. The idea is that they engage an audience's emotions strongly, in a way that other communication might not.

They are, however, I think limited in their day-to-day business use because they require an audience to hold on to the end to get the ‘big idea'. They ask the audience to sit on the edge of their seat, using suspense to make the big reveal at the end ‘feel' big.

This is, in my experience, risky as corporate audiences are short on time and patience. Decision-makers want to get the gist of what you are saying quickly so you can all discuss and decide. Team members want to know what you want them to do so they can get on with it.

So, I suggest saving story arcs for high-stakes situations where you are well supported by communication experts and structure your messaging elsewhere.

I'll share other ideas for leveraging emotion in business communication during the coming weeks and in the February MasterClass too.

I hope that helps. More next week.

Kind regards,
Davina

PS – Join the Clarity Hub if you'd like to attend a live MasterClass. The first month is free.

Elevate, the book – helps leaders set their teams up to set up a new dynamic across their team that will elevate everyone’s skills, helping the team get better, faster decisions.

Engage, the book – helps individual contributors prepare papers and presentations that leaders can approve without reworking.

Engage, the self-paced course  – supports both individuals and leaders prepare more insightful papers and presentations for senior leaders and boards.

Extreme Clarity, the 2-hour workshop – introduces techniques for structuring your messaging.

Board Paper Bootcamp, the 2-week program – helps you clarify and convey complex ideas to senior leaders and boards.

WANT TO LISTEN?

1. Risk Management = Change Management
2. Richard Medcalf – Making Time for Strategy
3. Baking Learning & Growth into BAU
4. Helping Leaders ‘shift testing left' to derisk projects
5. A Case Study in Digitial Transformation
6. How to help a senior leader come back from a misstep
7. How to hit the ground running in a big new role
8. How to communicate during great change
9. How to turbo charge your transformation

RELATED POSTS