In my last post, I talked about using the “What, Why, But, And” approach for telling your story simply and effectively.
However, sometimes you are doing more than telling a story.
Sometimes you are making a recommendation.
Just as people often over-explain their story, sometimes we over-explain the recommendation as well.
Your goal should be to get your recommendation out simply, clearly, and quickly. Then, you can open it up for discussion, clarification, and deep dives into the data (if needed).
The key is switching from a push approach, where you provide every detail, to a pull approach, where you let your audience guide the conversation.
Here is a simple format that will let you make your recommendation in six slides (or paragraphs if you are writing a memo).
Slide 1: What’s the problem? How is the problem impacting the audience?
Answering these two questions is critical. Most people skip them or spend too little time on them. No one cares about your recommendation if he or she doesn’t believe there is a problem that is worth fixing. And, don’t just state the problem and impact, PROVE THEM!
The more your audience relates to, understands, and “feels” the problem, the more likely they are to buy-in to your recommendation.
Slide 2: What’s causing the problem?
Stating the cause is also critical. This sets up the recommendation. If the cause of an attrition problem is low salaries, then your recommendation should be to increase salaries.
Sometimes people jump from the problem to the solution. That’s a mistake.
Think about the example above. The problem was poor attrition. However, jumping from that to a recommendation of increasing salaries will confuse your audience. How did you get there? There are a lot of ways to decrease attrition. If you don’t identify the cause (low salaries), your audience won’t see a logical connection between your problem and your recommendation.
More importantly, when you state the cause clearly, your audience will “predict” the recommendation before you even get to it. When that happens, you’ll almost always win them over. After all, in their mind, when you state the recommendation, you are agreeing with them rather than the other way around. However, if your audience comes to a different conclusion prior to you making your recommendation, you’ll have a very hard time changing their mind.
Slide 3: What is your recommendation?
Remember, your recommendation should tie directly back to the cause. Don’t introduce new ideas here or you’ll confuse and lose your audience. Try to mirror the language used in the cause section.
State your recommendation simply as a ten (or fewer) word statement starting with “We should” or “We recommend”
Then, provide 3-5 high level statements of evidence to support your recommendation.
Slide 4: What benefits will we see if the recommendation works?
Tie this back to both the problem and impacts on slide 1. A good recommendation should resolve the problem. Don’t forget to remind people of that. More importantly, it should also reduce the impacts. If you said that the impact of the attrition problem is that recruiting costs are going up, then on slide 4 you should state that recruiting costs should drop. (Note: You aren’t just “saying” that your recommendation will resolve the problem and impacts, it has to actually be true! Otherwise, it’s not a very good recommendation)
Slide 5: Are there any data that do not support the recommendation?
Wait! What? Why would you want to provide data that do not support your recommendation? Well, there are four reasons:
- It keeps you honest. No solution is perfect. If you haven’t found data that do not support your recommendation, you might have only been looking for data to make your case.
- It’s ethical. Your decision-maker should be given all of the relevant information necessary to make a decision. Withholding information is manipulative.
- It gives you credibility. Being able to argue both sides of an issue demonstrates that you did your homework. It shows that you understand the issue. It also makes you look more confident. After all, you must really believe in your idea if you’re willing to admit that it’s not perfect.
- It keeps you in control of the conversation. By presenting the counter-argument, you decide how and when it will be discussed. If you let your audience bring it up, you give away control of the conversation.
However, there’s one more important step. After you provide the data that do not support the argument, you need to explain why your recommendation is still valid.
Slide 6: What are the next steps?
The good news is that this is the part most people get right. The bad news, is that often, this is the part that we focus on the most. Next steps are important. But, before you get to them, make sure you’ve convinced your audience that your idea is worthwhile.
This approach really isn’t that new. You’ve might have seen similar approaches in other places. That’s because this approach like many others shares the same great, great, great, grandfather. It’s based on Aristotle’s approach[1] to making an argument.
If you’d like to try this out, download our free Business Driven Story Template (no email address required).
Following these six steps will help you make a simple, logical, and clear recommendation.
The easier it is for someone to understand you, the easier it will be for him or her to make a decision.
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Brad Kolar is an executive consultant, speaker, and author with Avail Advisors. Avail’s Driving Decisions workshop will help you turn information and data into action. Contact Brad at brad.kolar@availadvisors.com
[1] You can read Aristotle’s original approach to making an argument in his writings, Rhetoric III
