I read this blog by Matt Abrahams and it reminded me of the hack that I have found useful for leaders who want to become leaders worth following.
Moving from Complexity to Clarity:
First, the framework that Matt refers to is fairly straightforward and helps us communicate with impact.
The structure is comprised of three simple questions:
- What: Describe and define the facts, situation, product, position, etc.
- So What: Discuss the implications or importance for the audience. In other words, the relevance to them.
- Now What: Outline the call-to-action or next steps, such as taking questions or setting up a next meeting.
Sense-making:
While this hack is from the perspective of the leader communicating to the team, here is the hack that it reminded me, which is from the perspective of the leader being communicated to. I learned this from Matt Church.
This has 4 questions:
- What happened?
- What did I make it mean?
- What did they really mean?
- What can I create from here (My addition to the framework)
In order to know what to communicate, we need to make sense of the world around us and this framework helps us do exactly that.
When we are able to use this framework on a regular basis, we end up creating an environment of psychological safety, as our teams can communicate with us without having to worry about how we would respond.
Shifting Energy and Possibility thinking:
One of the key things for leaders to learn and remember when making sense of what they hear is to not react but respond. Here is a simple way to switch ourselves from react mode to response mode:
Ask a simple question – Instead of “What do we do now?” switch to “What can we create from here?“
This simple switch in question helps practice radical acceptance and at the same time, moves us to look at potential and possibilities from where we stand rather than being limited by what we have experienced. This also generates momentum.
In combination:
When you combine all three frameworks, you get a powerful way to make sense of what we see and hear, process them in a way that helps us respond with possibility, generate momentum and help us communicate this in an impactful way.
