Move the Needle Conversations
Have you ever felt like you’re super busy – meetings, Zooms, texts and emails – but not much is happening? You may feel super productive, but when you look at the scoreboard, results are somewhat lackluster…
Well, I’ve been there. And having been studying it lately, it really comes down to one thing: having “move the needle conversations”. Conversations that are driving productive, committed action and results. And regardless of how effective you’ve been, what industry you’re in or what part of the world you’re from, there are 4 types of conversation that really move the needle.
Fernando Flores, author of the appropriately titled: Conversations for Action and Collected Essays, (Can you guess that he’s a professor with that title?) has spent decades studying and learning how humans communicate. And how they can best communicate. Having considered conversations of all types, Flores shares that the best and most effective kinds of conversations are: requests, promises, declarations and offers.
Let’s break these down…
Request: The speaker asks the listening party(ies) to take some action. Will you sign the deal? Can you book the flight? There’s a request with a question mark (not inferring, not assuming, but truly requesting) that opens space for someone to respond.
Promise: Making a commitment to take care of something that may or may not be requested. I will increase my sales 15% this quarter. You can count on me to send a follow up email tomorrow. Do yourself a favor and take yourself out of the trys, mights and can’ts and either commit (promise) to do something or do not.
Declaration: Sharing a new world of an idea, a view or a possibility. We’re starting a new company. Or, I value integrity. You’re creating (i.e. declaring) something for those listening that helps share your perspective.
Offer: An offer is exactly that: offering something up. Can I buy you dinner tomorrow? Here’s a free book. Things you’re putting forward for the listener.
Great, we have the 4 kinds of conversations for action that can move the needle. The real question is: How often are you using them? If you start tracking it and really paying attention, I bet you’ll find something similar to what I did: A surprisingly small amount of conversations had are really geared around getting anything done. There’s a lot of suggesting, posturing, gossiping, ungrounded assessments and small talk to be sure…
Figure that you are either having conversations for action, or you’re wasting your time. Ok, maybe it’s not quite that bad. I’m all for chit chat and non-generative conversations (time and place for everything)– but aren’t most of the conversations you’re having – at least during the work day – supposed to get things done?? Many businesses I’ve seen try to limit meeting times and cut back meetings in an attempt to foster productivity. Maybe that works, but why not just make sure you’re (or your company) committed to having conversations for action as a way of getting more things accomplished better, sooner and/or faster?
From my own experience and from people I’ve talked with about this, conversations for action take you from “feeling positive” about conversations to positive momentum. They take you from “good conversations” to driving new results. And they take you from conversational waste to the most productive conversations you’ve ever had. If you try this out, please join me in the #NoMatterWhat Community Facebook group and share with all of us how it’s going for you.
If you want to play soccer, it necessitates kicking the ball.
If you want to be healthy and fit, you must have some regimen of diet and exercise that works.
If you want to get things done, it requires conversations for action.
No ifs ands or buts about it.
So by all means, keep the conversations rolling – but don’t just have regular, old “conversations”. Now, you can start having conversations for meaningful action and actually move the needle.