Workplace Communication Issues reflection #7

SMR764

How to Get Others to Adopt Your Recommendation

S P R I N G 2 0 1 9 I S S U E

Vol. 60, No. 3 Reprint #60311 https://mitsmr.com/2EUKtMe

Nancy Duarte

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This document is authorized for use only by Rosendo Ramos in EMGT 6010 UPDATE-1-1-1-1 taught by STEPHEN FLAHERTY, Ohio University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.

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Progression of a Recommendation

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How to Get Others to Adopt Your Recommendation NANCY DUARTE

As my company grew, I’d periodically be accused of

making decisions slowly. I couldn’t fgure out why, until

one day it dawned on me: While employees thought they

were asking me to weigh in on a choice that had to be

made, I thought they were making small talk at the coffee

machine. It wasn’t always clear that I’d been asked to

decide anything. I simply fgured I’d been listening to colorful commentary about issues that team members

were working to resolve.

When a business is growing fast, decisions can get lost in

the fray — especially if it’s unclear that a decision even

needs to be made. The result, for our company, was that

initiatives would stall without my input.

That got me thinking about the most effective ways for

people to present their ideas and get the responses they

need to either take action or go back to the drawing

board. Clarity about how to communicate and what

strategies to employ gives people a better chance of

getting approval for their recommendations.

Research, Then Tailor Your Message There is a process for how actionable recommendations

evolve. You explore data and fnd a problem or

opportunity. You craft a well-structured

recommendation. Then, once it’s approved, you lead by

infuencing others to act on it. (See “Progression of a

Recommendation.”)

Progression of a Recommendation When you’re making a recommendation, keep in mind

your fnal goal: to make change and get people to act.

There are four audiences to whom people in the

workplace bring recommendations: those who approve a

recommendation (a manager or top executive) and those

who execute a recommendation (peers or a broader

audience). It’s important to understand the different ways

to speak to each group. (See “Making a

Recommendation? Understand Your Audience.”)

Sell the Deciders After identifying a problem or opportunity, your frst

audience is the person or team who has the authority to

approve your recommendation. Your job is to shape your

message.

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To sell your manager, provide lots of detail.

To get a decision from an executive, provide a clear

recommendation.

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To get your peers on board, speak your geek.

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To sell your manager, provide lots of detail. To get a

recommendation approved, you’ll inevitably be

communicating up. Your manager may be the one to

make the decision, or she or he might sponsor the idea to

your executive suite. In either case, you need to show that

you’ve done your homework. Many times you’ll want to

prepare a document that outlines the problem or

opportunity, builds your case for action, and includes a

comprehensive appendix with research and other

material that supports your decision. We use (and give

away for free) a presentation tool we developed called

Slidedocs, which is designed for creating something to be

read and referenced instead of projected. It’s a resource

that makes it easy to blend text and visuals and gives you

the space to shape your idea. Whatever presentation

software you use, your manager must feel confdent that

you’re well-informed and that the idea is defensible ?

because both of your reputations will be on the line.

To get a decision from an executive, provide a clear

recommendation. For a C-suite audience, you need to get

to the point quickly by crafting a recommendation with a

sound structure and skimmable content. Many of my

CEO friends spend one full day per month listening to

and approving or declining recommendations as a key

part of their executive function. Some executives give a

half-hour time slot to each idea, but if you’re scheduled

for 30 minutes, formally prepare only a solid 10 minutes

— because you will get interrupted. Lots of senior

executives can swiftly “see” most of the idea, and they will

cut in either to gain clarity on the bits they cannot see or

ask what you think they need to do. If you want to show

visuals, keep your executive’s pace in mind and have an

interactive table of contents so you can easily jump

around your deck and appendix to show supporting

evidence.

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Here’s an example of how this can work effectively: At my

company, we created an extended leadership team made

up of 12 executives who are next in line to manage and

drive change. At an offsite meeting, we asked the team to

make recommendations about where the company

should head and how we should get there. The 10-minute

presentation they came up with was stunning.

The frst part proposed that we operate more like a

hospital, with a diagnosis center and specialists with

distinct skills to solve client problems. This would address

a pain point of senior team members feeling fatigued

from having to be all things to all clients ? the metaphor

they used was that they felt like they ran all over the

foors of this hospital. The second part spelled out six

structured recommendations with clear actions that

would get us to a different kind of organization.

The team nailed it.

Engage the Implementers Once your recommendation is approved, you start the

harder part. Every recommendation requires a group of

people to act, whether it’s peers in your department or a

broader audience if the recommendation is company-

wide or client-based. You need different persuasion

techniques for each group.

To get your peers on board, speak your geek. When

explaining a new project to people in your department,

you already have a common language. The people closest

to you organizationally may already understand why

you’re making the recommendation and how it may play

out; there’s a high probability they helped you craft the

recommendation. With them, you can refer to the shared

Copyright © Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. All rights reserved. Reprint #60311

For the exclusive use of R. Ramos, 2021.

This document is authorized for use only by Rosendo Ramos in EMGT 6010 UPDATE-1-1-1-1 taught by STEPHEN FLAHERTY, Ohio University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.

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To spread enthusiasm to a wider group, add emotional

arguments.

Making a Recommendation? Understand Your Audience

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visual and verbal shorthand you use on a day-to-day

basis. Acronyms, departmental verbiage, and complex

charts are all OK, as long as your visual and verbal

density is familiar to all involved.

To spread enthusiasm to a wider group, add emotional

arguments. If your recommendation has corporate-wide

appeal and becomes a key organizational initiative, or if

it’s an idea that you’re taking to a client or an external

partner, you’ll need to rally a larger group of people. This

requires you to modify your day-to-day way of

communicating and use a more empathetic approach,

especially since those affected by the decision may resist

change. Adding a layer of emotional appeal will help your

audience understand why something needs to get done

and fnd meaning in doing it. Consider how close your

audience is to adopting your idea and create content with

the appropriate amount of emotional appeal to reach

them where they are.

We worked with a client, a vice president of human

resources at a Fortune 50 retail company, who had this

challenge. She was new to the company and had to give a

hard speech to 3,000 people at the organization, telling

them that they needed to change how they operated with

the business in fux. We urged her to fnd common

ground by talking to her audience about their shared

experiences of their frst days at the company. They all

had felt the pride and excitement of working at a

company their customers love. This was the feeling they

would continue to aspire to, even as the company

underwent difcult transformations.

Making a Recommendation? Understand Your Audience Always consider what your audience needs to hear. When

your audience changes, so should the language you use to

make yourself understood.

Leaders: Clarify the Process Communicating clearly what is being recommended, and

why, will get to decisions faster. Those who are seeking an

answer should not hesitate to be unambiguous when they

need a decision — and acknowledge what the impact will

be if they don’t get one.

With hindsight, I can see that part of the reason I made

decisions slowly is because my company didn’t have a

formal recommendation process. Employees didn’t know

how decisions were made or when a decision was

approved. Leaders can change this from the top. They can

make it clear how employees should propose

recommendations and be transparent about when a

major decision is made and when it’s rejected. Having a

well-defned approval cycle for recommendations will

add metaphorical grease to the decision-making gears,

rendering the process smoother and more efcient.

Copyright © Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. All rights reserved. Reprint #60311

For the exclusive use of R. Ramos, 2021.

This document is authorized for use only by Rosendo Ramos in EMGT 6010 UPDATE-1-1-1-1 taught by STEPHEN FLAHERTY, Ohio University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.

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Editor’s Note: An adapted version of this article appears in the Spring 2019 print edition.

Copyright © Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. All rights reserved. Reprint #60311

For the exclusive use of R. Ramos, 2021.

This document is authorized for use only by Rosendo Ramos in EMGT 6010 UPDATE-1-1-1-1 taught by STEPHEN FLAHERTY, Ohio University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.

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About the Author

Nancy Duarte (@nancyduarte) is CEO of Duarte, a creative

consultancy and training frm specializing in communication. She’s the author of three best-selling books; her latest is Illuminate: Ignite

Change Through Speeches, Stories, Ceremonies, and Symbols (Portfolio, 2016).

Copyright © Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. All rights reserved. Reprint #60311

For the exclusive use of R. Ramos, 2021.

This document is authorized for use only by Rosendo Ramos in EMGT 6010 UPDATE-1-1-1-1 taught by STEPHEN FLAHERTY, Ohio University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.

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For the exclusive use of R. Ramos, 2021.

This document is authorized for use only by Rosendo Ramos in EMGT 6010 UPDATE-1-1-1-1 taught by STEPHEN FLAHERTY, Ohio University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.