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6 Tactics To Talk Effectively To Higher Ups; Be Persuasive Like A Boss · Enhance.training

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Learning how to talk effectively to higher-ups is a big deal for your confidence and career prospects.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Talking to upper management is daunting, scary, and intimidating.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to get their attention.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: They come across as impatient and abrupt.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: If somehow they know exactly which questions to ask to find the weaknesses in your argument, it is almost as if the higher-ups expect you to talk their language to get their attention.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Before they take you seriously, you have to get past the barriers they put up.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: As soon as you learn how to communicate effectively with higher-ups, you instantly get on their radar.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: They take you a lot more seriously, they listen to your ideas, opinions, and solutions, and they start to see you as promotion potential.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: You will also feel a lot more confident.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Your fear and unease will go, leaving you relaxed and yourself, which makes talking effectively to higher-ups a lot easier.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: You'll build better relationships and gain a lot more trust from these senior managers.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: I have six tactics to talk effectively to higher-ups, and these are firstly focus on impact and results, not process.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, get straight to the point.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Third, talk to their top concerns.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, work out the flaws before they do.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Fifth, believe in what you're saying, and then sixth, be open and honest.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: For each of these, I'll be sharing tips and approaches to put each into practice as quickly and as painlessly as possible.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Coles, and if you're new here, Enhanced.training shares people management expertise, resources, and courses teaching you how to build higher performing teams.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: We have lots of free resources and webinars available to add more depth to your knowledge or save you a ton of time.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: So do visit us at enhanced.training to make use of these.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: The first tactic to talk effectively to higher-ups is to focus on impact and benefits, not process.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Bosses care about results.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: They care about the impact or benefit your idea or solution will give to them, their team or the business.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Impacts and benefits are how their personal performance is measured.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Activity only matters to them in terms of how much more likely a result or benefit will be achieved.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Activity and the processes to get the results and benefits are your responsibility.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Hire-ups only want to hear about them if they doubt you'll deliver the results and benefits, or they want to check if they can think of a better or quicker way of achieving the same result.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: To talk effectively to hire-ups, focus first on the impact and benefits that you'll bring to them, their team or the business.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Add numbers to the impact or benefits to communicate effectively with higher-ups.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: You need to make what you say specific, not general.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you can talk financial impacts and benefits with higher-ups, i.e.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: revenue, costs or profits, brilliant.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: If not, talk in terms of sales made, conversion percentage increased, or leads created, or efficiencies gained, or faults reduced.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Be specific and use numbers to clearly define the impact or benefit in a clearly measurable way.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: The second tactic to talk effectively to higher ups is to get straight to the point.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Upper management is time poor.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: They don't have the time or energy to decipher long-winded, unstructured communication.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: They want you to make what you tell them easy to take in, understand, and then action.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Tell the manager or leader what you want.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Talk in terms of a decision, permission, a course of action, or resources needed.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Be clear what you want from them and communicate this at the start.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Then you can go into the context followed by the detail of why you're asking.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: When you communicate with higher-ups, give them time to think and ask questions.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: A clear structure helps you talk clearly and concisely to upper management.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Before you speak to higher-ups, plan out how you're going to summarize what you want to say.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: How to make clear and concise points like a boss would requires you to think through the key and most relevant points before talking to them.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: A good exercise is to write down what you want to say, which forces you to articulate concepts clearly.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Check the structure of what you have written.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Does it flow logically from one point to the next?
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Does it have a start, middle and end?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now try to improve the flow and structure.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Once you are happy, start trying to reduce the words used.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Write and rewrite.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Keep removing words until you start to lose the meaning of what you want to say.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, read what you have written out loud.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: How does it sound?
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  SPEAKER_00: Ask yourself, is it clear and understandable?
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Make your final amendments.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: This process will feel long-winded to start with.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: The more you practice doing this, the quicker and quicker you'll get at it.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Eventually you'll be able to create clear, concise communications which get straight to the point in a few minutes, largely in your head.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Keep practicing so you speak clearly, concisely, and get straight to the point.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: The third tactic to communicate with higher-ups is talk to their top concerns.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: The better you know your audience, the more effectively you'll communicate with them.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Start talking about how you can solve a pressing problem a manager has, and they will eagerly listen to you.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Talk about a high priority for you but a low priority for them, and you'll be lucky to get any of their attention.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Always make the time to work out what the boss's priorities are.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Ask colleagues who know them better.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Find out what activities and projects they or their teams are working on.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Look up their team's objectives.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Figure out how they are helping the company achieve strategy, targets and goals.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Align your work, ideas, and solutions with these goals if you want to get heard by senior management.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Frame what you want in terms of how it helps them or their teams.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Don't communicate the benefits to you, communicate the benefits to them.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: The fourth tactic to talk effectively to higher-ups is to work out the flaws before they do.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Senior management and bosses have this uncanny knack of spotting any flaws in ideas, solutions, arguments and data.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: They have learnt how to ask the right questions to expose problems and issues.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Bosses will nearly always ask a few questions to check that you have spotted the obvious issues and hopefully the less obvious ones too.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't give good answers to their questions asked, don't expect to get any further.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Put in the time to look at your idea, solution, argument, and data from different perspectives.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Try to put yourself in their shoes and work out what questions they might ask.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Work out how you're going to answer these questions.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: When you spot any flaws or weaknesses, work out how you will avoid or mitigate these.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Being aware of the potential problems is half the battle.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Work out the flaws before the higher-ups do, and you instantly will gain more credibility, trust and confidence in their eyes.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you can't answer a question, make sure that you get back to them quickly with the answer.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Don't try to bluff your way through.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Preparing in this way does take time.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: It takes a lot less time than having a flaw spotted that you didn't know about.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: You'll then have a ton of extra questions to answer.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you get through these, you'll then need to work out solutions and changes under pressure.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, and hardest of all, you'll need to rebuild their damage confidence in you.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Consistently spot the flaws before they do, and you steadily reduce the questions and challenges while gaining a lot of trust and respect.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: The fifth tactic to talk effectively to higher-ups is to believe in what you're saying.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Most bosses know that the more belief you have in what you are talking about or asking, the higher the chance you've done the hard work to arrive at a great idea or have built a good solution.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Your bosses have been in your shoes and have learnt these lessons the hard way.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Bosses look carefully at a person's confidence.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: The more confident you are, the less your bosses will question and challenge you.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: The best way to gain confidence is to do your homework before talking to higher ups.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Carefully put together the impacts and benefits of what you're communicating or asking for.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Go through everything and work out any flaws in your idea, data or arguments.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Plan out solutions or mitigations to these.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Summarize so that you can talk clearly, concisely and with an easy to understand structure.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Gather and organise the data to back up what you're talking about or asking for.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Then get straight to the point.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: To talk effectively to higher-ups, do the work to build your confidence so that you really believe in what you're saying and you're prepared for their questions.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: The sixth tactic to communicate with higher-ups is to be open and honest.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Building trust and credibility with upper management takes time and effort.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Try to pull the wool over their eyes and you can lose it all in seconds.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Good bosses can smell BS a mile away, so be honest with what you say.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Answer their questions truthfully and accurately rather than evasively.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: The minute you start trying to hide things or reduce their visibility of what is happening, you lose their trust and confidence in you.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: I guarantee you this will leave you worse off.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: When you have done the background work properly, you don't need to hide the issues, omiss information or be dishonest.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: The long-term damage to your credibility and senior management's trust and confidence in you is just not worth trying to fool bosses.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Try and your career progress will stop.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, put the work in and create strong ideas, solutions, arguments and data sets.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: You will be massively better off in the long run.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Always be open and honest.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, in summary, talking effectively to higher ups is a skill to be mastered.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Communicating with upper management starts off feeling scary, intimidating, and daunting.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Implement each of these tactics we've been through today, and it won't be long before you start feeling a lot more comfortable to talk clearly and concisely to upper management.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Your communication will become a lot more interesting and persuasive to your bosses.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: We've been through these six tactics to talk effectively to higher ups.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Firstly, focus on the impact and benefits, not the process.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, get straight to the point.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Third, talk to their top concerns.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, work out the flaws before they do.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Fifth, believe in what you're saying, and then sixth, be honest and open.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions on the six tactics to talk effectively to higher ups, please email me at support at enhance.training and I'll get back to you.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to check out the links to the resources that I've put in the podcast description.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much for listening, and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.