There are many different ways to address any case. Unfortunately, you probably have resources (attention, money, energy, motivation) to try one or two of them at the same time.
The point is then to avoid lengthy discussions about which way is the better (not to mention pointless scenario-building that change the rules of the case), and put some effort instead in identifying what successfully addressing the case looks like.
And then just do, measure and adjust.
Why are bullet points still used in presentations? And what about flow charts? Diagrams? Crammed 11-points text? Evocative pictures that have no relationship with what is being told? Tables that touch the margins of the slide? Icons choosen after googling “icons”? Paragraphs used as scripts?
A presentation is for the presenter, because it helps them refining their thoughts and ideas, making them digestible and appealing, preparing them for further elaboration and improvements. And it is, of course, for the audience, who has allocated time on their calendar to give the presenter attention.
Make the extra effort, the rules for a decent presentation are not rocket science. And they apply to yours too.
If you are victim of an unfair practice.
You can point the finger, call the perpetrator names, shut them off and strengthen the relationships with those like you, tell yourself and others a story of unfairness and one-sidedness, and demand a change.
Or you can extend your hand, empathize with the motives, see if perhaps in similar circumstances you might have fallen in the same trap, start a conversation around identities and opportunities, prove day after day that the practice is not only unfair, also counterproductive, and be an agent of change.
I have been on both ends of the spectrum, I have changed my mind along the way, and I can still see that there is a solid argument one way and the other.
I can also see that it’s a choice you get to do.
Let me know if I can help.
Of course, this is not really establishing a relationship in which one is going to help the other. It is more of a mantra we repeat to be nice, or because we are in a position in which we are expected to help yet we have absolutely no idea how to do that (nor we want to bother figuring that out by ourselves).
In fact, it is not surprising that when an actual request follows, the person originally offering help often fails to give just that. Not because they are mean, simply because they did not intend to help in the first place. Perhaps they are busy, incompetent, unfit, disorganized, sick, committed (to something or someone else).
Let me know if I can help and the subsequent failure to help on a concrete request are two of the major failures of managers in organisations nowadays.
They are perfect, because they work wonders both in case you are one of those managers who believe it is not your job to serve – I am the boss, I can’t bother, and in case you are one of those modern managers that are all for freedom and flatness – I am very hands off, I am giving your freedom.
Next time try: Here is what I am going to do.
Figuring out what’s to be done is a job for you to complete before showing up in the conversation.
The story you want to tell is under your control.
Of course, people might misinterpret, maliciously distort, simply not understand. And yet, at the end of the day, the story you are trying to spread (about yourself, your work, your product) is something for you to first figure out and then to consistently put out there. No matter your mood, the negative feelings, the bad beats, the facts of life, the injustice of the world, the obtuseness of others, the latest trend.
Sitting at your table hoping that others will eventually get it is fruitless.
Actually, it is most likely that by doing so the misinterpretations, the distortions, the misunderstandings will just keep growing out of proportion, until communication is no longer possible.
Always be deliberate in the way you tell your story, the seeds you plant with your actions, the way it translates in how you treat others. It’s the sole way it might eventually get through.
You've got this 