The Fire
As I write this, wildfires are raging across 45 square miles of Los Angeles County. Over 100,000 people have been displaced and at least 25 have died. The Santa Ana winds are whipping up to 100 mph and the scenes of catastrophic loss and destruction are unbelievable to look at, let alone absorb. I hope you, your families, friends, colleagues and clients are all safe and not in harm’s way.
The Ice
On the other side of the country, in my little corner of New England, today’s wind chill temperatures are running at 11 degrees Fahrenheit. There’s light snow on the ground and last night’s full moon, the so-called “Wolf-Moon,” hung weirdly bright white in the perfectly still, icy air.
Could these two geographies be any more different in this one moment of time?
Be Prepared
I think the Scouts got it right. Whether it’s preparing a go bag of crucial personal papers, medications, electronics and chargers to be ready for a sudden evacuation. Or keeping a carton in the car with snow brush, ice scraper, small shovel and bag of sand to be ready for winter driving. The goal is to Be Prepared.
What About Communications?
As communicators, Being Prepared means being ready for anything. It’s about staying calm and on top of things, so you can readily respond to a difficult personnel situation, surprising questions, a revised agenda or a sudden shift in your allotted presentation time. Bottom line: expect the unexpected. Have your words ready.
Your Presentation Time Is Suddenly Cut
I can’t tell you the number of executives I have worked with as they prepare their 20-minute remarks for a Board meeting, only to end up with 5 minutes. It’s almost a given. Unless you are presenting at the very beginning of the program, you will have less time than you planned on. How to Be Prepared? Always have a 5-minute version ready-to-go. One client now prepares a 2-minute backup version! Every time.
A Question Comes Out Of Left Field
Sports analogies are great because they provide a clear visual image. This term comes from baseball. It’s an unpredictable play when a ball is thrown from left field to home plate, seems to come out of nowhere, and catches the runner off guard.
When preparing executives to speak to the media, I always ask them to come up with a list of questions they think they may be asked. Questions they expect, questions they want and questions they dread. The key is to spend time on those dreaded questions. Practice answers out loud, get used to the awkwardness, grapple with the verbiage. In other words, struggle during your preparation, so that in real time, you sound better.
Whoops, The Scene Has Changed
Our worlds (and our words!) are in constant flux. There’s nothing worse than last-minute changes that you knew nothing about which now impact what you’d already planned to say.
In light of this new information…
Let me rephrase our idea as we’re now looking at…
Bearing in mind this fresh approach…
Taking note of the new strategy, I’d like to…
Being mindful of the changed agenda…
Given the recent shift in focus…
Getting Caught Flat-Footed
Being flat-footed means your weight is back on your heels; you can’t quickly move, adjust or pivot. You’re less nimble. These are all ways to describe that feeling when the words don’t come easily. One way to prepare for this is to envision how your information might be received. Do you know some people will argue the point? Do you know what biases might be in the room? Do you know what preconceived notions your listeners might have? The goal is to think this through ahead of time, rather than ignore it and hope it doesn’t happen.
The Dreaded Walk-By Question
When I was the National Advertising Manager at the Boston Herald newspaper, I was totally caught off-guard one day when the publisher unexpectedly stopped me in the corridor to ask about one of our advertisers. Nothing could have been further from my mind as I was heading to the ladies’ room! I did not have a quick, concise answer. I’m sure I mumbled something, but when I got back to my desk, I promised myself I would find a way to do better in the future. Thus was born my CBA technique.
CBA’s give you a quick and easy framework to answer any question. For maximum impact, try using just one sentence for each C, B and A. It really works! And please note: most senior leaders usually only care about your A.
C = Current Climate: snapshot view of the issue, situation, challenge
B = Brief Background: how we got here
A = Action Agenda: what’s the plan moving ahead.
If you work in a large organization, you can never be ready at every minute for an unexpected question that might come your way. But at the very least, this simple construct will help you sound clear and coherent, and you can always follow up with more information later.
Your Boss Likes Wide-Ranging Discussions
Don’t come into these meetings or discussions empty-handed. Consider having a theme for the week (or maybe the month, depending on your work) where you already have in your back pocket some nuggets of information to share. Maybe you plan this on Sunday night as you review your upcoming meetings for the week.
You might choose some Key Messages tied to your work, a simple anecdote about an ongoing project, or an interesting point made by a stakeholder in a recent conversation. The idea is to become an active, rather than a passive, participant. It’s more fun to figure out how to jump into a conversation when you already have an idea of what you want to say!
An Ounce Of Prevention Is Worth A Pound Of Cure
This quote is attributed to Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of this country, who apparently used it in 1736 to warn citizens of Philadelphia about the dangers of fire. How deeply ironic. It seems Ben was all about preparation. He also had this to say, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” I couldn’t say it any better.
Happy Prepping!
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