Creative Streak

What Good Listeners Do

Funny how some advice from the stone ages – say, 1971 – can remain relevant. This morning I found an article using the anagram SAFE, from What Good Listeners Do, by Karen Middleton at the American Management Association. Similar to Peter Drucker's SMART objectives, it has many forms and renderings. Here's my own variation, broadening it slightly from its original area of client service.

The best listeners are "SAFE." They ...

Support the speaker, encouraging he or she to tell their story, using their own words, from their own perspective.

Ask open-ended questions, to keep the speaking talking, to elict more information to add depth and detail, and to understand what the speaker is truly trying to say.

Focus completely on the speaker. They don't allow any distractions – especially their own opinions, positions, agendas or egos – to prevent them from hearing the speaker.

Empathize with the speaker, their feelings and their concerns.

Empathize is the most vital aspect of listening. In his book The Lost Art of Listening (perhaps the best overall book on the subject), Michael Nichols says: "Listening is the art by which we use empathy to reach across the space between us. Passive attention does not work."  Elsewhere, Nichols paraphrases himself when he found himself not listening to a client: "I wasn't interested in them, I was more interested in me."

If you were listen more closely to one key person in your life – personally or professionally – how might your relationship with that person change?

Communications Rule #1

This popped into my in-box this morning. Funny how spam can sometimes be insightful.

Need more explanation? Go here.

Want To Show How Intelligent You Are?

Perhaps it's because my body doesn't know what time zone it's in, but one thing has been sticking in my craw since I got back to Chicago. I've sat in a dozen workshops and meetings over the past few weeks, and among all of the presentations, one element was consistent.

Of the time allotted to them, many presenters filled up the agenda with themselves – I call it “ME” time – leaving little room for Q&A and/or keeping audience interaction to a minimum. These meetings looked like Drawing A.  

In contrast, a few presenters chose to use the agenda to get their organised points across quickly, spending the remaining time with key people discussing and debating the recommendations. These meetings looked like Drawing B. 

I understand why the A people chose to facilitate the meeting the way they did. They wanted to get the maximum amount of information across to their audience, to show how much they knew their topic or recommendation, to show they were thorough and comprehensive.

Afterwards, when I asked why, the reasons were various. One said they reported to someone who was anal-retentive and controlling. Meetings were meant to agree on decisions: instead, they turned into opportunities for their boss to micro-manage information. Others realised they were justifying their employment or position in uncertain economic times. Most admitted that the idea of editing their thoughts never occurred to them.

Ironic, isn’t it? What they ultimately wanted to achieve (to show value, get promoted, keep their job) was in direct opposition of what they actually did in their PowerPoint presentations.

I applaud the B people who elected to facilitate their meeting differently. They chose to convey their recommendations in messages which were clear, succinct or prioritised. They’d learnt that distilling a sea of information down to its essential points demonstrates as much (if not more) command of the topic as filling up a slide up with charts, graphs and detail. Their response to the anal retentive boss was to show they could differentiate between strategic data and minutiae. Their response to a tenuous position was to show their efficiency and effectiveness.

How to Tap Employee Ideas

A great article from Inc.com entitled "How To Tap Employee Ideas."

"Encouraging your employees' creativity can not only create an engaging work environment, but create new business. Seven experts share their tips on getting employees to share their ideas."

 

How to Retrieve Self-Confidence

There isn't a single person I've coached over the years - and I'd include myself in this group - who've lost their confidence at one point or another. It might be a momentary slip, or something that lasts longer than a few weeks. But it happens. The important thing is to call it for what it is, realize it's natural and probably inevitable, and take appropriate action.

Here's another excellent post from Dawn Lennon's blog Business Fitness, entitled "Self-Confidence Lost? Five Steps to Getting It Back." Her steps are wise and practical.

If I may add a personal point to this, I'd offer a favourite retort from my Grandma Eklund - the doyenne of common sense. Other people's opinions of you are none of your business.

 

What Happened to Obama? A Case Study in Storytelling

An opinion piece on Barack Obama - What Happened to Obama? – in the New York Times on Monday is also a magnificent primer on the power of stories. It’s a short read and worth your time, regardless of whether you think it’s an accurate portrait of the US president.

It’s often said that language is the greatest invention of man. But well before literacy emerged, stories were the primary way people transmitted knowledge, values and context to others. In other words, life is stories, and vice versa. Whether we like it or not, they’re an integral part of who we are.

Stories help us understand the continuity of life: from re-capping what has happened to us (and why), to assessing where we are today, to imagining how our tomorrow may be different.

Meaningful stories are comprised of key ingredients: above all else, protagonists and villains. One plays off the other, to show context. The protagonist may not be like us, but they must be someone we can identify. This element of putting ourselves in the story demonstrates our need for emotion. Emotions are what truly inspire us to act and change. Facts persuade, but emotions motivate.

By their very nature, stories are dynamic. They allow the storyteller to connect with their audience: to influence, mentor and guide. They allow the audience to connect with the storyteller: to consider what's been said, be inspired and learn, to change.

The Secret of a Good Presenter

At dinner last night with some old colleagues, someone asked if the years had taught me the "best secret" to being a good presenter. I don't often give away secrets for free, but lean in kids, here's my best tip:

Make sure you're prepared.

Disappointed? Alas, many people are. Too simple. Not sexy. Needs to be an anagram or some other psychobabble marketing term.

That's not a secret? It is to a lot of people. Thankfully, otherwise most of us wouldn't have a consulting business.

I'm wrong? You say "rehearsal" is the best secret? I disagree. If the speaker hasn't linked the communications to both objectives and outcomes, considered the expectations and mindset of the audience, clarified and simplified the message to make it relevant and compelling, then all the rehearsal in the world will not help.

I've written a post previously on the importance of a creative brief, but it's name relegates it to brainstorms. The basic elements of a brief - adapted slightly - are as invaluable to anyone facing an important communications to a key audience.

Here are the six essential questions of a creative brief adapted for communications.

Quality vs. Conciseness

From Fast Company, here's an article about Shortmail.com, an e-mail system which limits messages to 500 characters. 

Says a company spokesperson: "[The] length limit on messages is long enough to express most coherent points or ask a colleague a question, while filtering out much spam, newsletters, promotions, and dissertations. Thus [Shortmail] becomes the place for the to-the-point messages in sizes and quantity you can digest and respond to quickly."

I'm not sure if I'm irked at the concept, or hoping they find a better PR person to re-position their product. I'm all for people being more succinct when they talk, but wouldn't it be better to suggest the service forces people to think more intelligently about what they're trying to communicate, not just say it in less words?

In other words, shouldn't quality first, conciseness second be more valued/valuable than simply using less words?

Want To Get Heard? Say Less

An excellent post by Dawn Lennon from Business Fitness. In particular, her four techniques to say the right thing at the right moment makes it well worth the read.

1. State or re-state the problem.
2. Synthesize ideas.
3. Summarise key points.
4. Simply.

The Value of Criticism

  Going through lots of old stuff again today. Here’s a brilliant quote, from Creative Management by William Marsteller, who with Harold Burson started their eponymous agency. Not so easy to find today, perhaps because people don't keep books like this around anymore. It's from the antique age of communications - in 1981. Anyway, it's still a great book, written in a style that I'd like to try someday. It's what I generally call "intelligensitrivia" - an insight collection of stuff, stories, thoughts, truths, testimonials, narrative, quotes, tra la la.

"All of us by nature easily fall in love with our own ideas, our own words. Excellence is born of intelligent criticism. And maturity is the product of the self-confidence that seeks, accepts and benefits from criticism. To avoid it is a symptom of personal weakness or low ability or both."