Glassy Eyes

One chilly Winter evening I was was on my way to my car and I ran into a colleague in the parking lot. I was leading a task force and wanted him to join as one of the members. The one simple thing I wanted to communicate to him at that moment was what the task force was and that he had been selected to participate.

Easier said than done. For some reason, corporate jargon and acronymns staring spilling out of my mouth. It was like corporate turets. Why use 5 words when you can use 15? Poor guy. I noticed his eyes glazing over and luckily, caught myself and switched gears. I took a brief pause, then finished what I needed to tell him in one last, simple sentence, minus the corporate speak. He seemed to have understood, and we said our goodbyes.

I learned or was reminded of a few EZPZ rules of communication by this encounter.

1. When you see their eyes glaze over, just stop it! Switch up what you are saying or how you are saying it because you are only broadcasting and no one is receiving.

2. Speak simply to avoid people tuning you out. You don't have to use full organizational names, technical terms or corporate jargon to get your point across. In fact, you're probably just obscuring your point.

3. Timing is everything. The worst times of day for attention AND retention are right before lunch and right before leaving work. So avoid these times if possible. This also means, if you need to say something, but don't want to have a huge conversation about it, these times might be better.

Observe a bit more, don't be a bore.

Next post next Saturday, 6:30 a.m.

Easter Egg Memory Aid

I'm famous in my family for having a poor long term memory. One time my wife asked how I felt about buying a new couch and I gave a classic avoidant husband reponse. A few weeks later she asked again I was totally enthusiastic. She would have been happier, but was flabbergasted by the changing winds and asked me why I had been so against it earlier. I told her I honestly couldn't really remember a good reason why and instead encouraged her to ask me the same question periodically until she gets the response she likes the most. In a funny sort of way, my poor long term memory works out okay for us because my wife has a poor short term memory. Yin and Yang, opposites attract and what not. 

On Easter I was in charge of hiding the Easter eggs. With my memory limitations, I imagined findings missed eggs for the foreseeable future. But then it dawned on me. An EZPZ solution to finding all those cleverly hidden eggs. Just take pictures on my phone as I hide each and voila! Instant treasure map.

So the next time you need to hide and later find something, take a picture on your phone to create an EZPZ treasure map. I'm sure there's app for that, too. Happy Easter!

Next post next Saturday, 6:30 a.m.

Make an Impression

Tick-tock, tick-tock...it was 20 minutes till our team meeting and my colleague was a last minute presenter. He didn't have much time to prepare and was thinking about just reading the bullets off the slides. The topic was sharing feedback with our boss on barriers to the team's success and I wanted him to have as much of an impact as possible. I suggested that instead of just reading the bullets, he use a metaphor to maximize understanding and memorability. Is that even a word?

Here are a few examples of famous statements that use metaphor to good effect and a version I've paraphrased myself where I've taken a more literal approach.

My colleague is trained in opera so it was natural for him to use opera examples. In the end, he drew some great parallels between how the challenges at work would affect a performance. Like how a lack of leadership on a team is like an conductor-less opera.

But he didn't stop there. He went beyond the basic comparison and highlighted the feelings of such a situation. Like how an opera is already very long and a opera with challenges is even longer.

So the next time you have a chance to present and make an impression, try these 2 EZPZ tips to go beyond just the minimum of reading what's on the slide. Your audience will be thankful.

1. Use a meaningful metaphor. Meaningful to you or meaningful to your audience. And if you can find one that is both, all the better.

2. Connect your facts to a feeling or emotion. Like how a team with challenges will not operate efficiently and deliverables will be delayed, leading to feelings of frustration or failure.

Good luck!

Next post next Saturday, 6:30 a.m.