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4 Tips for communicating complex ideas
Let me help you communicate better.
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.
Davina has helped smart people all over the world clarify and communicate complex ideas for 20+ years.
She began this work when she joined McKinsey & Company as a communication specialist in Hong Kong where she helped others use the Minto Pyramid PrincipleⓇ.
She continued helping others when living in New York, Tokyo and now back in Australia where she was approved by Barbara Minto herself to teach Pyramid.
Her clients include experts across many disciplines across Australia, Asia Pacific, New Zealand, the UK and the US. She currently coaches a number of C-suite executives as well as many mid-level folk and the occasional graduate.
Get her 4 Tips for Communicating Complex Ideas here.