Get To the Point Already – Influence Insiders and Jon Wortmann

Have you ever sat in a meeting wishing someone would get to the point? They’ve been rambling for an hour, telling a story about something (you lost the train of thought 1 minute into their rant) and you are getting more frustrated by the minute.

Or – have you found yourself listening to someone make point after point but wondering where the other information is that supports that point of view?

If so you have experienced one of the main differences in how people communicate – the deductive or inductive style.  

Jon Wortmann and Influence Insiders

Jon Wortmann joined us last Wednesday for our March episode and helped us understand and apply some of the techniques for communicating in ways that empower teams, serve clients, and develop stronger relationships.

It’s Not About You

Figuring out how to communicate effectively starts with building trust and one of the first steps to building trust is to communicate in the way your audience is most comfortable.  

That was the start of our most recent Influence Insiders episode.  And it only got better.

Key points in my mind from the conversation:

• Listen for your audience style – this is easy to do but not done enough.  I found myself all weekend listening to see if the person was inductive or deductive.  Just knowing about the styles helps you manage your reaction to opposing styles making you more effective.
   
• Good communicators know their style and change it when needed.  Don’t try to change your audience – you can’t – but you can change your style.  Focus on that and you immediate begin to build trust and ultimately influence.
   
• Leadership isn’t about being direct (deductive) in your communication – it’s about matching your style to the audience.  This is a big one – most leaders think being to-the-point is a symptom of being a leader – being a leader is getting folks to follow – and that’s influence and that’s driven by your communication skills.
   
• Get a handle on your ethos – while the root of this work means “ethics” what it is really about is your style, reputation, presence, everything that is “you.”  The key to this – and what was a bit enlightening after reading Jon’s book – is that your “ethos” is a relative thing – not absolute.  Too often we forget that at work we may have a high-paying Sr. VP role – dripping with an ethos of authority and competency – but in the in the computer aisle at Best Buy the kid in the multi-colored socks has more ethos than you at that point in time.  Check your ethos and begin building trust and communicating for influence.

Read It Twice

I read this quickly to get up to speed for the call – and that was unfortunate.  There is so much good advice in this book that I have to go back and re-read it to make sure I get as much out of this as I should.  

I recommend it, and I recommend you invest an hour of your time listening to our show (link here.)  I know Jon would appreciate it and all of us at Influence Insiders would too.

Below is an embedded player for listening to the show.  (Email Readers may have to click through to see the player for the episode.)  Let us know what you think!