Thursday, January 22, 2009

Get to the Point

People often kid me because I have the ability to say in 20 words what others might say in 10. But when it comes to making a request for a decision from your manager, a good idea is to get to the point quickly.

In my early years as a manager, when I wanted my manager to approve a particular important request, I would tend to “make my case” by providing a long and detailed overview of the entire situation, giving far more background information than was necessary BEFORE getting to the point where I stated my request. I was concerned that if I did not overwhelm my manager with data and compelling details about how thought out my request was, I would get shot down.  I wanted to “stack the deck” in my favor before stating my request and thought that by giving all sorts of detailed “supporting” information before getting to the point, this would more effectively persuade my manager to the natural conclusion that my request was well-thought out and the only possible response must be “APPROVED.”

In reality, what I learned over time was that the other person often had no idea where I was heading with all of my information and was actually annoyed and frustrated by the long, rambling monologue. I later realized that they typically were getting impatient wondering “Where is this guy headed? What’s his point?” As a result, instead of supporting my case, the overly detailed overview was actually hurting it.

People are usually busy and as a result, they typically have a very short attention span when others intrude asking for help or decisions. When you give the other person a fire hose of information, without clearly telling them where you are headed with all this information first, you can leave the other person confused, annoyed or both. If you have an important request, start by getting to the point. Tell them up front what you’re requesting and be prepared to provide supporting information about the reasons behind your request if they ask for it. By telling your manager upfront exactly what you want him or her to approve or decide, then the supporting data will have a much clearer context and will have more impact when you “fill in the gaps.” But in many cases, they may not ask for nor need all this supporting information.  Your manager may be inclined to side with you from the outset.

Let’s say that their initial response is “No.” It is at this point that you can reasonably begin to outline the various benefits of approving your request – the background data. You may still not get the decision you want, but it’s more likely that they will be listening from a perspective of understanding than confusion about “where are you heading with all of this.”

And the same applies to email communications. If there is something you want to ask – or information you want to impart, start upfront by making the point of your message clear. State it in the subject line of your email. Don‘t bury it until the third paragraph. Emails that start with vague subject lines like “question” or simply continue the subject line of a previous email chain even though the focus of your email has taken a different direction, don’t help the reader quickly grasp what you’re trying to communicate or ask.

So the next time you want to make your case, in person or in an email, start by getting to the point clearly and concisely, and then providing the supporting documentation and reasons afterwards. It will increase the chance that your request is understood, received favorably and gets the response you want.  

Posted by Tim Jones at 12:04 pm

Labels: communication practices  effective communication  influence  success factors