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When to use a Close the Gap pattern
Today’s thought emerges from the group coaching session we held just before Christmas.The key...
How to get a yes for out of cycle funding requests
A client of mine once told us about her experience putting storylining into practice, and I...
Iterating from Good to Great
In this morning’s working session, we took a deductive storyline from being ‘good’ to being...
Can pushback be good?
Earlier this week I received some fabulous pushback on a project I am working on. I had got to a...
Who to invite to collaborate on storylines?
It can be hard to know who to ask to help you clarify your messaging. How do you get the right...
How to keep track of storyline structures inside lengthy docs
Do you lose yourself inside the hierarchy of your thinking when preparing long papers in MS Word?...
Why too much background is a problem
A Board Director recently described his problem with Board papers to a colleague of mine. He said:...
How to pitch for more team members
A number of my Australian clients are currently thinking through their workforce planning...
What if you don't have a recommendation or action to share?
Have you wondered how to use a storyline when you don't have a recommendation or an action to...
Optimising your ‘end of year' review for maximum impact
Late November is the time when many of us are reflecting on our progress for the year and updating...
Political Trade-offs
Have you been in a position where you must implement a solution that you disagree with?...
A New Influence Framework
One of my colleagues, Louise, has a treasure trove of practical human relations models. I have her...
What if stakeholders are wedded to out of date views?
I had a fabulous conversation this week with a client who is head of technology strategy for an...
Thinking harder about the context
You will I hope be familiar with the Ten Point Test by now, and may have even used it to check...
A ‘hack’ for helping you synthesise your so what
It’s not often in a working session that we are reflecting on hospital entrances! This morning we...
Another idea for engaging tricky stakeholders
It always amazes me how these emails naturally follow a theme. The last two weeks I have written...
More on nudging indecisive stakeholders
Last week I shared some ideas for engaging indecisive stakeholders by redefining your proposal....
How to handle indecisive stakeholders
Has this happened to you?You put your case multiple times to the decision-making team. They like...
EXERCISE: Strengthen your ‘synthesis muscles'
Synthesis is at the core of everything we do at Clarity First, and so when I saw an example...
EXERCISE: Rewrite this invitation so your grandma could understand it
This week we worked on an email and ended up discussing another truism that can be very hard to...
EXERCISE: Email Rewrite (procurement example)
Notes As with many customer emails, this one focused far too much on the author than on the...
Patterns vs Structures
Do you wonder if every story you need to convey 'fits' within one of our seven patterns?It may...
How to capture more value from an overview presentation
What to do when your manager asks you to ‘give a presentation’ to introduce your team?Perhaps you...
1 Story, 3 Lessons
In our most recent working session we helped Brooke prepare a ‘quick’ storyline. Even though on...
Making time work FOR us not AGAINST us
Do you always have too much to do?It's not entirely surprising since our only finite resource,...
One important consideration for progress updates
As always, my week unearths an interesting conundrum that has some useful insights buried within....
Diving Deeply into Big Picture Thinking and Synthesis
Over the first half of 2022 a small group of us have been working on a conundrum: what process can...
Why thinking into a doc is dangerous
I was reminded this week how we must get our thinking straight in a one-pager before we prepare a...
How to ‘flip' storyline patterns
Sometimes clients tell me they use our storyline patterns exactly as they are. They assume that...
How poor communication and burnout can be linked
You might be scratching your head about this week's topic, but let me ask you this.How often have...