I have just jumped off a coaching call where we worked on two simple email examples that drew out a new possibility.
Did you know that the so what can actually be phrased as a question?
The key to crafting the so what as a question is to make sure it is a question you are asking your audience and not the other way around. Here I will unpack two examples that illustrate by telling the same story in different ways.
Example 1 – the classic ‘so what as a so what' approach
Context – At Friday's team meeting Matt and I will present a 5-minute case study to give staff a flavour of the work our team does.
Trigger – I need your help to finish the presentation.
AUDIENCE Question – How can I help?
So What – Please open the attached file and fill in the slides highlighted with red text before Thursday so I can complete the deck on time.
Example 2 – the ‘so what as a question' approach
Context – At Friday's team meeting Matt and I will present a 5-minute case study to give staff a flavour of the work our team does.
Trigger – I need your help to finish the presentation.
AUDIENCE Question – How can I help?
So What (YOUR QUESTION) – Could you fill in the slides highlighted with red text in the attached file before Thursday so I can complete the deck on time?
As you can see the emails are substantively the same, although the tone is slightly different.
I hope that helps. More next week.
Kind regards,
Davina
PS – Have you checked out the latest podcast episodes? Head to your favourite podcast player and look for Cutting Through. The last few have been particularly good.
