How to message finance updates

How to message finance updates

by | - Finance, - Grouping storylines, Finance Reporting

Today I helped a team structure their finance update and wanted to share some insights with you.

Routine reporting is easily overlooked from a communication perspective. Oftentimes it is seen as a governance task rather than a value-add. Analysts preparing these reports are familiar with the data and concerned with it being accurate rather than thinking about how leaders use it.

This particularly so when all is tracking well. The analysts in this case imagined there was ‘nothing to see here’, while the leadership group was pleased that the budget was on track.

So, what to do?

Add insight that tells a simply structured story rather than providing data that the leadership group must then interpret themselves. Here is what we did today to fix a monthly finance update.

  • Replaced the title on the front page to be the main message. This went from ‘March Finance Update – Operational Expenses’ to ‘Operational Expenses 5-9% below budget due to contractor underspend and project delays’
  • Added an executive summary that included the main message as the title and two sub sections, one for each part of the business.
    • Part A – 5% under budget largely due to contingent roles being delayed or unfilled and lower international travel
    • Part B – 9% under budget largely due to lower ABC costs and project delays.

The original version did not have an executive summary at all, but jumped straight into four pages of tables and notes.

  • Used these two messages as titles for one page on each area
  • Added highlights to the right of each table, using colour to code the call-out items. This meant all the information on each topic was on the same page, reducing the need for the leaders to flip from page to page to try and map the comments to the numbers. See the storyboard for illustration.

I hope that helps,

Davina

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How to get good input into a project

How to get good input into a project

by | - Grouping storylines, - Public Health, - Synthesis, Architecture, Blog

This evening we helped Carla prepare for some conversations with senior health researchers that offers some insights for us all. 

The fun thing with this piece is that it doesn’t fit one of our patterns, and so we need to work from first principles. 

I’ll explain in three parts: 

  1. Outline Carla’s situation  
  1. Discuss the options we explored  
  1. Describe first principles approach 

Carla’s situation: Carla was preparing for meetings with experts whom she might collaborate with on her Masters’ Project. 

Carla was seeking input for a research project. As part of her Masters’ program, she needs to collaborate with experts interested in designing acute psychiatric wards in ways that are part of the therapeutic treatment. The idea is that the facility can be designed to deliver some of the treatment. 

For example, access to daylight helps heal those experiencing acute psychosis. Likewise, the right kinds of sound exposure can help some patients. 

She has been overwhelmed with interest from academics and industry leaders and now needs to identify which experts she will work with. The risk is that she is swept up in other people’s agendas rather than balancing those agendas with her own. 

Options explored: We balanced the need to remain open to input while maintaining some control over the research direction. 

Option 1 – crafting a list of questions would have opened her to the risk of needing to reject help and get these esteemed industry experts off side 

We discussed developing a well-grouped (of course!) list of questions for Carla to ask but decided this left the conversation too open. 

While it can be useful to do this on a pure fact-finding mission, her goal here was more specific. 

She wanted to see whether the researchers were interested in collaborating with her within her broad area of interest.  

Although open to their input, she didn’t want to go too far off her desired path to prioritise the researchers’ areas of interest over her own. 

Option 2 – Couching the story as a discussion starter rather than a locked-in proposal offered the right balance 

We limited the frame for discussion to her area of interest while also keeping the door open for significant suggestions. 

Although we weren’t initially aware of this, the order of the points was pivotal to maintaining control. We began with the idea that she was most confident in, which was the area she wanted to focus on. We then moved toward the areas that she needed more input on. 

We built the story together as a grouping that operated from first principles rather than using a pattern. Here’s how that went: 

So What – outlined her high-level goal. This was to find the best way to contribute to making inpatient care more restorative and so reduce the need for restraint and seclusion.  

Top line supports – outlined her preliminary thinking. We worked from the things she was most confident about to the areas where she needed most help.  

Point 1 – Area of research focus 

Point 2 – Research areas she’d already identified and was keen to test 

Point 3 – Initial ideas about research methodology 

Point 4 – Ideas about what success might look like 

Note that I have outlined here the topics she was covering, but not the messages. See the storyline below to review how those came together. 

I did this deliberately to reinforce another idea. We want to make sure all points are fleshed out as messages rather than topics that can be misconstrued. 

First principles approach: We worked from first principles rather than using a pattern as none of the seven fitted the situation 

You can see from the skeleton above and the example below that this does not fit one of our patterns, but rather is from first principles. 

Here’s what I mean by that. 

We have a short introduction (as usual) with a context, trigger and question. 

There is one main message, a ‘so what’ which provokes a single question. In this case, that question is ‘why?’. 

We then answer that question with a set of reasons, each one covering off a different topic. 

The Pitch and Traffic Light patterns are based on this generic ‘why story’ structure. Both put forward an idea and then support with a list of reasons. 

So, even when you can’t find a pattern, you can still use the storylining principles to build your story. 

I hope that helps. More next week.

Kind regards,
Davina

PS You can watch the full session below to see us using first principles in action.

 

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What if you don’t have a recommendation or action to share?

What if you don’t have a recommendation or action to share?

by | - Articulate your Answer (So What), - Grouping storylines, 2 - Develop your storyline, Options

Have you wondered how to use a storyline when you don't have a recommendation or an action to share?

One of my clients asked me this terrific question during a workshop last week, and I thought it worth unpacking for you also.

The easiest way to think about this is to view the ‘so what' as a point of view rather than always being a recommendation or an action. You could do that two ways, which I have unpacked below.

Sharing your findings to stimulate a discussion

Context – We have been analysing a supermarket full of breakfast options to decide which one suits us best.

Trigger – We are now ready to share our findings.

Question – What did you find?

So What – All available options have sufficient merit, making it difficult to choose one over another.

Sub question – why is that true?

Nutrigrain cereal offers a higher carb, low protein option that includes plenty of nutrients

  • includes lots of vitamins and minerals
  • offers plenty of fibre
  • is low in fat
  • includes a moderate amount of sugar

Porridge is lower carb but not as tasty or high in protein
  • includes lots of vitamins and minerals
  • offers plenty of fibre
  • is low in fat and can lower cholesterol
  • is low in sugar


Omelettes are high in protein but potentially high in fat

  • includes lots of vitamins and minerals, especially if vegetables are included
  • offers plenty of fibre when vegetables are included
  • is higher in fat and cholesterol than the others
  • has virtually no sugar



Explicitly asking for help to decide which is best

The difference between this option and the previous one lies in the trigger and the so what. The rest of the story remains almost the same. I have adjusted the tense slightly to reflect the difference in the sub question that ‘falls out' of the so what, but kept the supporting points the same.

Context – We have been analysing a supermarket full of breakfast options so we can decide which one suits us best.

Trigger – We need your help to decide which one is best.

Question – How can I help?

So what – Please help us weigh up these equally suitable breakfast options so we can decide which one to choose.

Sub question – what options?

Nutrigrain cereal, which offers a higher carb, low protein option that includes plenty of nutrients

  • includes lots of vitamins and minerals
  • offers plenty of fibre
  • is low in fat
  • includes a moderate amount of sugar


Porridge, which is lower carb but not as tasty or high in protein

  • includes lots of vitamins and minerals
  • offers plenty of fibre
  • is low in fat and can lower cholesterol
  • is low in sugar


Omelettes, which are high in protein but potentially high in fat

  • includes lots of vitamins and minerals, especially if vegetables are included
  • offers plenty of fibre when vegetables are included
  • is higher in fat and cholesterol than the others
  • has virtually no sugar


You would then follow on to outline your reasoning about each of the options to support a healthy discussion around your analysis.

Please note that we have not provided a list of pros and cons. We have listed how each breakfast option stacks up against key criteria.

I hope that helps. More next week.

Kind regards,
Davina

PS – Do check out the podcast series inside the portal. We have now uploaded all that we have recorded so you have early access. I think you will enjoy the discussions.

 

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Political Trade-offs

Political Trade-offs

by | - Articulate your Answer (So What), - Grouping storylines, - Project Management, - Stakeholder Management

 

Have you been in a position where you must implement a solution that you disagree with?

This is the situation Anya found herself in recently, which set up a great discussion around trade-offs, politics and what to do when your CEO is one of your objectors.

In tonight’s working session we helped Anya craft a story that has some useful lessons.

In sum, respectfully documenting disagreement can place responsibility where it belongs while also providing one last chance to reverse the decision.

  1. Disagreement can be respectful
  2. Feeling pushed into a taking a poor decision may signal that you are taking on someone else’s responsibility
  3. Communicating your disagreement can put that responsibility back on the decision makers

Disagreement can be respectful

We played around for quite a while to work out how to present this story so that it both gave the leaders what they were insisting upon while explaining the costs of this approach.

We decided to

  • Avoid going in ‘all guns blazing’ and recommending the Clarity solution given it would get the general manager, executive director and CEO offside.
  • Stick with the leaders’ preferred recommendation but help educate them about some areas where they were ill informed. For example, they were conflating ‘on prem Clarity’ and ‘Cloud Clarity’. Their high-cost experiences were based on the on prem version of Clarity being used for project payslips, not the Cloud version Anya preferred to use for project management.

Feeling pushed into a taking a poor decision may signal that you are taking on someone else’s responsibility

Part of the difficulty in crafting a story like this is the emotional frustration that can get in the way. As Anya said, she had expected to sit down over the weekend with a couple of gins and tonic to work out what to say to her leaders.

The reason it felt difficult is that she was feeling the heat of a poor decision that would be costly and time consuming to implement in comparison with her preferred solution.

Laying out the trade-offs for the leaders gave her an opportunity to pass the responsibility for those trade-offs back up the chain to those who were making the decision.

If the reports were costly or late, it would no longer be her problem.

Communicating your disagreement can put that responsibility back on the decision makers (and protect you too)

Leaders are charged with making decisions with the whole organisation in mind, which can lead to unpopular decisions. Sometimes, however, these decisions can also be ill informed simply because they are not close enough to the trade-offs incurred.

This is where a delicate effort to convey those trade-offs while respecting someone’s position is essential to return the responsibility for the costs of a decision to the decision makers.

 

Tonight we took two steps to achieve that. We

  • Balanced curtesy with a directness that meant they could not avoid seeing the cost to the business they were recommending. For example, we edited the so what …
    • From this … Given our existing relationship, I recommend proceeding with Service Now for the 5 PMOs, despite delayed reporting and greater cost when compared against Clarity.
    • To this … I recommend proceeding with Service Now for the 5 PMOs, prioritizing our existing relationships over delayed reporting and greater cost compared against Clarity.
  • Structured the story to compare the two options by factually comparing them to draw out the trade-offs they were making.

I have laid out the storyline below for your use, but do encourage you to check out the recording further down. It was a great conversation.

I hope that helps. More next week.

Davina

Download Storyline

EXERCISE: Rewrite this invitation so your grandma could understand it

by | - Emails, - Exercises, - Grouping storylines, - Human Resources, - Q&A Recording, - Synthesis, - Test your structure, 2 - Develop your storyline, Calendar Invite, Writing

This week we worked on an email and ended up discussing another truism that can be very hard to execute on.

This morning’s one was: ‘Write it so your grandmother could understand it’.

As an idea it is both good and infuriatingly difficult to execute on.

How to do that?

The key to this morning’s example was to focus on the substance of the message, rather than on the ‘process’ required to gain accreditation.

Here are two steps to take to transfer the learnings into your own work:

In general, focus more on the ‘why’ …

  1. Introduce not just the topic but why it matters. In the example below you can see there is an embedded assumption that the audience knows why this accreditation process matters. I have added some definitions on the slide for those unfamiliar with the human resources landscape.
  2. Dig further into the ‘why’. Ask yourself why you are communicating to this specific audience about this specific topic that they now understand is important.

Practice this by leveraging the example we used in the working session.

  1. Take note of the graphic below that highlights some of the problems with the original.
  2. Download the original, be inspired by these problems and rework it yourself.
  3. Review the recorded working session where we wrangled with it as a group
  4. Check out an enhanced version of our ‘after’ for your reference. I took what we did in the group (which was helpful but not ‘finished’) and refined it further using my knowledge of the actual situation.

I hope you find that useful.

Have a great week.

Dav

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Patterns vs Structures

Patterns vs Structures

by | - Deductive storylines, - Grouping storylines, - Patterns, 2 - Develop your storyline, Examples

Do you wonder if every story you need to convey ‘fits' within one of our seven patterns?

It may shock you that I don't think they will!

I do think the patterns are a fabulous guide, but encourage you to use them as a starting point that enables you to finesse them using the core storylining principles.

But … how to do that?

I suggest you ‘hack' your structure first using our storyline planner as a guide and then tweak using first principles. Here are some thoughts on how to make that work for you:

Step 1 – Use the planner for all major communication! Work through this process from start to finish so you land your messaging before you waste time editing and potentially rewriting a lengthy document.

I was reminded of the importance of this when – not joking – I was packing my bags to return from the US last week. It was so much easier to pack for the return trip than it was on the way out. The bag was also much more neatly packed. Why?

On the way over I was packing quickly for an uncertain environment. I didn't know what the weather would be like and wasn't sure whether I needed only casual gear or more formal also.

As a result, things went in and out as I worked it through.

The process was I think a bit like working out what ideas fitted into a storyline.

So … I can't emphasise enough the importance of landing those messages first.

Step 2 – ‘Hack' at least two high-level structures for your story. Be guided by the So What Strategy book (pages 50 and 51) or your desk reference. Pick one and ‘fill it in' inside the planner using your own material but copying the structure.

Step 3 – Tweak these high-level, skeletal structures as needed making sure you stick to the overall storylining principles. This means that whether the story veers away from the chosen pattern, it still includes
  1. a short introduction that explains what you are discussing and why. Reference the 10 Point Test for definitions of the context and trigger etc.
  2. one single overarching thought that is powerful and articulated in 25 words or less
  3. one of two top-line supporting structures. Use a grouping or deductive structure where the relationships between the ideas are locked tight. This, of course, is where the challenge lies.

Step 4 – Prepare your communication, following the storyline structure to ensure your document conveys your thinking as clearly and concisely as possible.

I thought a schematic of the different generic structures might help so have included it below.

>> Download the reference here.

I hope that helps. More next week.

Kind regards,
Davina



PS – We will be opening the doors for new participants soon. Here is the latest brochure (refreshed today!) in case you would like to tell your friends and colleagues about the program.
One important consideration for progress updates

One important consideration for progress updates

by | - Grouping storylines, 1 - Design your strategy

As always, my week unearths an interesting conundrum that has some useful insights buried within.

This week's insight came from helping a team update their Board on their progress over the past year.

Here's my number 1 takeaway that I want to share with you also.

Your ‘update' will be more useful to you and more interesting to your stakeholders if discuss what you delivered rather than what you did.

I have included the before and after below to illustrate what I mean while also offering three suggestions.

Firstly, you may note that the ‘after' uses a variation of the Traffic Light story, which I think is very useful for this kind of update.

This is where we focus the storyline around the different measures for success, or KPIs if you will.

Secondly, the supporting points in the ‘after' are again skeletal, but follow a useful pattern. They enable us to explain what our own view is on our performance and then support that by offering external validation.

Thirdly, ‘sketching out' a storyline in the way we have for the ‘after' is just the start. This helps surface the broad themes. The real value comes in being highly specific and drawing out a message for each point as a fully formed thought.

I hope that helps. More next week.

Kind regards,
Davina

PS – We will have a working session this coming week. Do register on the Sessions Registration page . We will offer only one during July as I will be taking some time away. Sheena will, however be on deck to help with any logistical questions you may have.

BEFORE

AFTER

The difference between being ‘clear’ and being compelling’

The difference between being ‘clear’ and being compelling’

by | - Board communication, - Compliance - audit, - Grouping storylines, - Not for profit, - Prose, - Q&A Recording, - Stakeholder Management, 3 - Deliver your communication

This week's working groups provided an excellent opportunity to think about the difference between being ‘clear' and being ‘compelling'.

I have drawn out three key takeaways that highlight that although being clear is a useful place to start, it is often not enough.

Making the leap from being clear to being compelling required us to lean into my favourite question: why?

Did the ‘trigger' really describe why we were communicating about the information in the context? For example:

Version 1 – The Board has used this as an opportunity to review the Constitution and governance practices to ensure compliance and to identify opportunities for improvement.

Version 2 – We are proposing some amendments for your consideration ahead of the coming AGM

Did the ‘so what' synthesise the items together and explain why this group of actions was necessary?

Version 1 – Amending the Constitution will ensure it is able to reflect community expectations, provide flexibility, allow for technological advances and meet best practice governance standards.
 
Version 2 –The Board seeks Members' endorsement at the AGM to amend the Constitution to meet best practice governance standards and maintain full funding.
Did each top line point explain explain why each group of actions was important?

Version 1 – With one exception, was a list of topics rather than messages
    • Reflect community expectations [the exception]
    • Clarification and flexibility
    • Technological advances
    • Governance best practice
Version 2 –A list of outcomes that each group of amendments would deliver
    • Reflect community expectations by being more inclusive
    • Clarify lines of responsibility to tighten governance and qualify for future funding
    • Allow for technological advances
    • Update timeframes around the voting process

Here is the video from the working session.

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