Storytelling Bites 10 - Purpose and Positivity
Time may well fly when you’re having fun.
But boy does it drag when you’re listening to someone drone on about actionables, functionality and system rejuvination…
Too often, the mistake in a presentation or update at a meeting is that the speaker is heading in the wrong direction when considering ‘subject – teller – audience’. Their attention is on doing justice to the subject in hand, treating it with the respect it deserves, getting through all the slides, dotting all the i-s and crossing all the t-s. But the information is static. No one's lining up at the starting line, the baton is dropped and the finish line keeps moving.
It is not the subject or message that we need to do justice to, but the people we are talking to: we are asking for their time and attention, and having been given it, we must make sure we use it well to help them have a relationship with the message we’re sharing. What's the purpose of our communication for them?
It is not the subject or message that we need to do justice to, but the people we are talking to: we are asking for their time and attention, we need them to do something and we want them to do it well. What is their relationship with the subject we are communicating to them? What's the purpose that will drive that relationship? The why to listen and to take part.
Agreed, it’s absolutely key to know how a change is going to take place, to give the necessary detail. Without this information, how will anything get done? And the rational behind the need, whether due to technical advances or financial or regulatory requirements, needs airing and should be covered. But in relation to what will ignite interest or will build the energy already present in your audience.
With those answers in mind, the why and how can then be reverse engineered into a compelling message to support the understanding of the execution of what needs to be achieved. So as to lead with commitment not compliance. To get both you and your audience off the starting blocks, taking the baton and over the finishing line.
In our training we have several techniques that will you get to the absolute crux of what you want to communicate. They will break you away from technical/business/managerial jargon and move you beyond data dumping lists related to process. They will allow you to share the positive outcomes and “what’s in it for me" with a conversational ease that is heard, understood, believed and acted upon by your audience.
