In Part 1, you’ve taken the time to expand, create, and document your vision and strategy. Now it’s time to communicate it and enroll others in it.
This is a big responsibility, and just as important as the vision or strategy itself. Unless you are an army of one, your vision/strategy needs others to become real. Investing the time to communicate well saves you a lot of heartache later.
Here are the best keys to effective communication that my clients and I have learned over time.
Get Crystal Clear On Your Desired Outcomes
This is a critical first step because crystal clarity will impact how and what you communicate in countless ways.
- What’s your desired outcome for sharing your vision/strategy with others?
- What do you want them to take away?
- What actions do you want them to take?
Write For Them
Part 1 was for you; communicating it is for them.
- What do they need to hear?
- How do they need to hear it?
- What fears/concerns will arise for them? How can you address those or allay their fears?
- How can they best experience the value and impact of what you are sharing?
Consider a Story or Metaphor
When faced with a new vision or process, many people struggle to imagine what it will be or look like. It will feel obvious to you because you are the one who created it. But it won’t feel obvious to them. A story or metaphor can help it become real in your audience’s mind.
Here are some examples:
- Tell a story about what it will be like when the vision is executed
- Tell a story about how your customers/clients/stakeholders/etc. will benefit from this
- Tell a story about why this matters to you (help them connect to you and your why)
- Use a metaphor as a quick visual to help them quickly grok what you want to make real
Choose the Time and Place
I’ve seen leaders barrel into a room and vomit their latest, greatest vision onto their team, only to evoke overwhelm and anxiety. If you want to ensure success, intentionally choose a time when your audience can be most open and receptive.
Prepare Your Team/Stakeholders to Hear It
Unless the element of surprise serves you strategically, plant seeds and prepare your audience to receive what you need to share. You can do this in several ways, including but not limited to: 1) letting them know what you’ll be covering in advance, or 2) creating an intro to your presentation that gets them in the right mindset.
As a facilitator, I’ve learned how important it is to ease people into new ideas. This doesn’t have to take a lot of time, but it does require steps. Here are a few tools I use:
- A short preview of what we’ll be discussing
- A short story about why this is important
- Questions that get the audience engaged in the content
- Any expectations or requests that I have for them.
Invite them to engage
How do you want them to engage in your vision/strategy? Do you want their input? Or do you want them to brainstorm how they will execute the vision/strategy? At the very least, consider the audience’s first next steps; I find all groups ask, “Now what?”
Once you’re clear about how you want them to engage, consider the best method to activate them. Is it a large group discussion, quietly writing their takeaways/to-do lists, or brainstorming in a breakout group? Or something else?
Process feedback
Whether you elicit it or not, you will likely get feedback. It might take the shape of gossiping in the literal or virtual halls, but people will talk about the changes you want to make because that’s what humans do. Hopefully, they speak to you directly. If not, you’ll hear about it through the game of telephone. Depending on how senior and mature your employees are, they may avoid giving you difficult feedback.
In some situations, you can ignore feedback, but in this case, I advise processing the feedback thoughtfully. Even if it’s wrong or a misunderstanding, it’s still informative. If there is a misunderstanding, how can you bring them into alignment? If there are fears and concerns, how can you work with them to problem solve, or who can help them problem solve? If there’s enthusiasm but some confusion, how can you shine a light on the path ahead for and with them?
What are other ways you’ve learned to successfully communicate your new vision or strategy? I’d love to hear it.
As always, if you know someone who could benefit, please forward this to them!
If you need more attuned 1:1 support, schedule a session. New clients can start with a 30-min free intro session. I look forward to connecting with you.