Connect before you communicate - WasteMINZ€¦ · Keys for mastering difficult conversations Mark...

@BayerStrategic

Connect before you communicate:

Keys for mastering difficult conversations

Mark Bayer, President

Bayer Strategic Consulting

bayerstrategic.com

25 September 2019

@BayerStrategic

• Engage and effectively communicate with your stakeholders

through a deep understanding of the essence of connection

• Avoid common mistakes that undermine your communication

efforts -“The Jargon Trap” and “Shoot the Messenger Syndrome”

• Tailor your communication and build trust by uncovering key

connection points with each stakeholder group

Goals for Today

This keynote will help you:

@BayerStrategic

Get “S.E.T.”

1. Similarity starts it

2. Empathy is essential

3. Trust is a must

Today’s Main Message

@BayerStrategic

• What it means to “connect” with stakeholders

• Why connect?

• Connection challenges

• Case study 1: Missed Connection

• How to overcome barriers to connection

• Case study 2: Masterful Connection

• Where to find stakeholders’ key connection points

Roadmap

You will learn:

@BayerStrategic

Observe these principles:

1. Connection Manipulation

2. Be Authentic, Honest, Curious

3. Listen and Follow Through

Rules of the Road

TMWhat It Means To “Connect” With Stakeholders

@BayerStrategicWhat It Means To Connect with Stakeholders

• Feelings of similarity and mutual understanding

• Recognition of shared values and interests

• Grasp of stakeholder needs gained by listening, asking

questions and showing empathy

Connection is:

TM

Why Connect?

@BayerStrategic

Reflection-Affection-Connection

• People often are drawn to others with similar traits

or backgrounds

• “[W]hat causes one person to like another?

T There are 3 important factors. We like people

who are similar to us…”

• “People prefer to say yes to those that they like.”

Why Connect?

*Robert Cialdini, Ph.D., “The 6 Principles of Persuasion

https://nfluenceatwork.com/principles-of-persuasion/

*

*

@BayerStrategicWhy Connect?

Connection builds trust

• “People who cannot evaluate the assessed risks and promised benefits…will rely on the assessments of experts.

• Lay-people will have social trust in experts who appear to hold similar values.

• People…accept as true the risks and benefits identified by experts who share their values.” *

Salient Value Similarity, Social Trust, and Risk/Benefit Perception

Michael Siegrist, George Cvetkovich, Claudia Roth

© 2000 Society for Risk Analysis

*

TM

Connection Challenges

@BayerStrategic

“The Jargon Trap”

• “…impairs people’s ability to processscientific information…”

• “…leads to greater motivated resistanceto persuasion, increased risk perceptions…”

• “undermines efforts to informand persuade the public…”

Connection Challenges

*

Jargon as a Barrier to Effective Science Communication:

Evidence from Metacognition

Olivia Bullock, Daniel Amill, Hillary Shulman, and Graham Dixon

Annals of the International Communication Association

*

Jargon:

@BayerStrategic

“Shoot the Messenger Syndrome”

Connection Challenges

440 BCE:

Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare

“So here I stand, as unwelcome to you as I am unwilling…

For no man delights in the bearer of bad news.”

MESSENGER: “Gracious madam, I that do bring

the news made not the match.”

CLEOPATRA: “Rogue, thou hast lived too long.”

(draws a knife)

The Greek tragedy Antigone, Sophocles

1606:

@BayerStrategic

“Shoot the Messenger Syndrome”

Connection Challenges

April, 2019:

•“[N]ot much that can be done to change the deeply ingrained

tendency to shoot the messenger.”

•“Messengers can take measures to avoid the likability penalty through

the way they convey bad news.”

•“[R]ecipients are less likely to dislike bad news messengers when

those messengers…convey the benevolence of their motives —

….such as: “I’m really hoping for the best for you.”

*

Harvard Business Review, April 16, 2019,

Leslie K. John, Hayley Blunden, Heidi Liu

*

TMCase Study 1:

Missed Connection

The following video shows a meeting to discuss

environmental contamination and health effects suffered

by residents of a large, mostly African-American, public

housing community in Los Angeles, California.

Built in 1972, Ujima Village had community gardens, a

fitness center, computer labs, fruit trees and ponds.

The community was called “Ujima Village”, using the

Swahili term for collective work and responsibility.

It was meant to be an oasis

in an impoverished part of the city.

But 30 years after Ujima Village opened, soil and groundwater tests

revealed the land was contaminated with gas and crude oil

from an oil tank storage facility on the site from the1920s to the mid-1960s.

Health officials said the contamination did not pose a risk to residents.

But they promised further testing.

@BayerStrategic

@BayerStrategic

Missed Connections…

Case Study 1: Missed Connection

Count the Ways:

TM

Overcoming Barriers to Connection

@BayerStrategic

Toeholds for Connecting

• Determine the “native language” used by your

stakeholders

• Pick messengers who are similar and relatable

• Identify key individuals well known or respected

(“gilt by association”) by your stakeholders

• Understand stakeholders’ level of knowledge

of your subject to guide your presentation

Overcoming barriers to connection

TM

Case Study 2:

Masterful Connection

At the same community meeting,

a former Ujima Village resident used powerful techniques

to connect with both residents and health officials.

@BayerStrategic

Missed Connections…

Case Study 1: Missed Connection

Count the Ways:

@BayerStrategicCase Study 2: Masterful Connection

Masterful Connections…Where?

TM

`

Finding Stakeholders’ Connection Points

TM

•Close colleagues who are members of group you’re addressing

•Leaders of organization who can describe knowledge level of their members

•Previous speakers to person or group you’re addressing

•Individuals respected by, influential with person/group

Finding Stakeholders’ Connection Points @BayerStrategic

Talk to people:

TM

• Twitter to see what they’re tweeting and who they’re following

• YouTube channel/videos to see what they may be posting and/or interested in

• LinkedIn posts to see level of knowledge of the group, type of language used

•Press releases/news stories/bios for individuals or organization

Finding Stakeholders’ Connection Points @BayerStrategic

Do your research:

@BayerStrategic

Get “S.E.T.”

1. Similarity starts it

2. Empathy is essential

3. Trust is a must

Today’s Main Message

TMConnecting with Me

@BayerStrategic

Email:

mark.bayer@bayerstrategic.com

LinkedIN:

https://linkedin.com/in/markdanielbayer

Podcast:

https://WhenScienceSpeaks.com

Website:

https://bayerstrategic.com

Connecting with me

@BayerStrategic

Upcoming Online Course (January 2020):

“How to Effectively Communicate with Any Audience”

• 4-week intensive course to help engineers become skilled communicators

using jargon-free, everyday language that engages stakeholders while

preserving accuracy

• Learn to confidently develop and deliver persuasive messaging to

policymakers and other important stakeholders

• Register by the end of the conference (Thursday, 26 September at 1pm) to get

a special bonus: FREE, one-on-one, 30-minute consulting call with me included

in the course investment

Connecting with me

Special Offer for WasteMINZ Attendees

Details and Registration:

CommSeminars.com