How to communicate strategically

Imagine 10 senior leaders or perhaps board directors sitting around the table spending 20 minutes debating the meaning of a single paragraph?

It would be annoying for them, but what does it really cost?

Hint: Better ‘writing' and better ‘paragraphs' aren't the answer.

The answer is to think strategically about your messaging and then craft it in a way that is easy to understand.

I'll unpack that a bit more here as well as invite you to next week's free Lightning Lesson on that topic.

The cost of that paragraph is higher than you think for you, your board and your organisation.

A whisker over 3 hours in time sunk around that table means poor quality outcomes for everyone:

• The company is unlikely to get a good decision, let alone a fast one
• The board spends less time adding real value
• The leader presenting it is mortified they missed it in their reviews and is sent off with more questions than answers
• The author is embarrassed and facing into preparing yet another presentation in the hope that this one meets the mark

And all from one poor paragraph.

So, what to do instead?

We need to dig more deeply than the ‘writing' and ‘paragraphs' to find and fix the root cause.

Sure, we can write better paragraphs.

But we need to ask WHY the paragraph was poor in the first place.

The real problem lies as much in the process as it does in the writing itself.

• Lack of clarity on what really needed to be said
• Too much ‘chain of pain’ editing
• Lack of true ownership of the narrative
• A leader reviewing either late at night or on the weekend too close to the due date.

The solution is to think, work and communicate more strategically.

>> Join next week's free Lightning Lesson to learn more.

I hope that helps.
Davina

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