Communicate as a Journalist

“The Art of communication is a language of leadership.”

A leader must know how to communicate. It is an essential skill to obtain. They must know how to communicate with their group and also with executives or other parties to better convey their message and gain more profit as much possible. So a Scrum Master or agile coach also needs to conquer this skill and obtain the trust and respect of their subordinates and executives.

When it comes to communication the attention-grabbing profession that comes to mind is journalism. Journalists are experts in grabbing people’s attention from the very beginning. The journalist mentions a story more precisely and carefully in a way that creates curiosity in others for further parts. It’s not necessary that attention-grabbing skills can only be used in journalism.

Being a Scrum Master and agile coach, this attention-grabbing skill of journalism can improve the potential of these masters and coaches. In today’s article, we will learn about a technique that you as an agile professional can use to convey your message effectively to higher executives.

Wrong-Way of Discussion

It’s always easy to convey a message when you are prepared with complete data or for the questions to be answered. But in cases where the questions are unexpected and you don’t have any particular preparation for the data, it becomes challenging to convince executives or higher authority. For Example, Consider you are completing all your tasks within the timeline and completing your required goals regularly. In between a fine day you get a call from the Vice-President or a stakeholder who ask you about the current status of the project and further required decisions. In an unprepared way everyone will generally describe their till now step and actions they have taken on performing the research and then explains why they have chosen the specific feature or market entry time including every tiny detail taken. Even though this seems like a status update it is not correctly structured and seems like a show-off which may lose the attention of the further person and also may waste their time. Because they don’t care about the details but they care about the results taken.

Using Pyramid Principle

Executives prefer discussion in a top-down communication way. As they have lots of work at hand and less time they prefer to know the results first than any other details. The Pyramid principle is first introduced by Barbara Minto and used by the journalist as a way of communication. In this way, the listener gets the most important information at first and in very few sentences. This will ensure that the stakeholders will get highlights and important information at first so even if they quit in between discussions they can take important pointers with them. Secondly, the less critical information is communicated following the last as the base of the pyramid the regular information and steps or actions taken to reach the results. In short, make ‘what’ your priority instead of who, where, why, when, and how.

Steps required to follow pyramid principles include:

1. Focus on the result- Provide the important information summary within the first few minutes. This will help to hook the attention of the senior executives and everyone in the meeting.

2. Provide supporting details- Before doing so ask the executives if they have time to listen to the other related details and arguments. If yes, provide them with the details and issues related to the results but ensure not to go in too deep.

3. End with bonus details- It’s better to provide the overall summary of the discussion and also provide some bonus details which will help to understand the project better.
   

While the conversation in the meeting you must also involve and participate in others to give their advice and thoughts. This will make them more attentive to the discussion and feel part of it. Along with using this pyramid principle for communication and hooking the audience from the very start of the conversation, you must also be fully aware of the time factor you take for it. Never make the discussions too lengthy. This will take some time to master the art but remember, “Communication works for those who work at it.” About Advance Agility We, at Advance Agility, are the new-age Agile Coaching, Consulting, and IT services company. We enable end-to-end Digital Transformation. Agile execution is integral to our being. We are doing SAFe implementation with small, medium, and large organizations across the globe. Our vision is to be the leading Agile execution player globally. To keep adding value at every process stage. We are on a mission to empower our clients and move from concept to cash in the shortest sustainable lead time by adopting the human-centric approach to business agility. Embracing change is in our DNA. Things that keep us apart are Quicker and Seamless execution with an End-to-end gamut of services. Our Global presence and Stellar Track Record give us an edge over our competitors. Connect with us at advanceagility.com to learn about SAFe and SAFe Implementation. Please write to us at contact@advanceagilty.com for any agile training or consulting needs. We are always looking for competent agile trainers as well. So if you are a good trainer or want to become one, do get in touch with us to that we can learn, grow and achieve together. Connect with us for boosting your work principles and practices as Scrum Masters or Agile leaders https://www.advanceagility.com/scrummaster https://www.advanceagility.com/leadingsafe