Have you noticed that we live in a work world that is consistently presenting us with a thorny communication challenge? Tasks are more complex, while people seem less able to focus. In the face of this challenge, how do you build your credibility and stand out as a thought leader? Revisit these cornerstone concepts from Precision Q+A: Crisp, clear, and concise. They will help you successfully present your best thinking, even in a distracted world. Speed is at a premium in our communication … [Read more...]
Credibility
Conquering the fear of the stupid question
Ever catch yourself saying something like, "I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but..."? We all use mindless preambles, usually without thinking about the impact on our credibility. But as with many things in Precision Q+A, preambles can become more precise and powerful. A preamble is a short statement preceding a question, that makes our intent or motivation clear. Preambles are useful because they defuse a potentially awkward moment (such as the worry about a "stupid" question) and they do … [Read more...]
Taking Precision Q+A personally
Vervago recently worked with a young CEO—we'll call her Ramona—whose technology startup company had failed. We suggested that after the standard technology post mortems and business analyses were over, Ramona could benefit from an additional review, this one completely personal. We asked her to work her way through some of the slide decks that had provided foundations for key decisions, asking herself in relation to each: "What questions did I ask?" "What questions didn't I ask?" "Was my style … [Read more...]
How to soften impact without losing precision
Suppose we are meeting with a customer to understand their requirements for a solution to a complex problem we are trying to solve for them. As Precision Questioners, going into the situation we know two things: once we understand the big picture, most of our questions will need to be precise, and we will often need to ask follow-ups. In a situation like this, there's a third parameter. When a working relationship isn't firmly established, it's also important to preserve rapport and perhaps even … [Read more...]
Giving bullet-point answers in response to list questions
The challenge of Precision Answering is to think before we speak so that we can structure what we say. As a result of this structuring we communicate more effectively and our credibility is higher. Learning to give bullet-point answers is classic Precision Answering, forcing us to become more disciplined in how we think and how we communicate. … [Read more...]
Sharpening your answering skills
In the Precision Questioning workshop we often describe PQ as a way of learning how to get the question out of our mind and into our mouth. The challenge is making this happen at the speed of discussion. If we are too slow to formulate our question, then the opportunity is lost, or we end up asking a question that is poorly formulated. … [Read more...]