How I herd cats - teamwork, persuasion and communication

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Rick Robinson, IBM

rick_robinson@uk.ibm.comtwitter.com/dr_rick

How I Herd Cats

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Achieving something often involves communicating

(successfully)

© 2011 IBM Corporation

I will have succeeded in communicating with you today if

I persuade you that communication is important I hold your attention I teach you about some insights and techniques about communication that I have learnt I persuade you to pay more attention to communication

© 2011 IBM Corporation

When communication fails life is frustrating and unproductive

© 2011 IBM Corporation

© 2011 IBM Corporation

How am I doing so far?

I hope I have persuaded you that communication is important I will try throughout this lecture to hold your attention Next I will try to teach you about some insights and techniques about communication

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Stages of effective communication

Getting attention Establishing rapport and credibility Having a meaningful conversation Staying in contact

© 2011 IBM Corporation

© 2011 IBM Corporation

How true are the following statements of something you spent attention on?

I was happy and excited to spend time on it I paid attention to it because it was in my best interests I couldn’t avoid it; it was necessary or imperative I might have suffered otherwise – it wasn’t necessarily positive It was a subconscious decision I had been waiting for something to occupy me

© 2011 IBM Corporation

How true are the following statements of something you spent attention on?

I was happy and excited to spend time on it I paid attention to it because it was in my best interests I couldn’t avoid it; it was necessary or imperative I might have suffered otherwise – it wasn’t necessarily positive It was a subconscious decision I had been waiting for something to occupy me

(rarely happens)

© 2011 IBM Corporation

How true are the following statements of something you spent attention on?

I was happy and excited to spend time on it I paid attention to it because it was in my best interests I couldn’t avoid it; it was necessary or imperative I might have suffered otherwise – it wasn’t necessarily positive It was a subconscious decision I had been waiting for something to occupy me

(only really applies to mechanical activities such as driving a car)

© 2011 IBM Corporation

How true are the following statements of something you spent attention on?

I was happy and excited to spend time on it I paid attention to it because it was in my best interests I couldn’t avoid it; it was necessary or imperative I might have suffered otherwise – it wasn’t necessarily positive It was a subconscious decision I had been waiting for something to occupy me

(applies to things the police or your boss tell you to do)

© 2011 IBM Corporation

How true are the following statements of something you spent attention on?

I was happy and excited to spend time on it I paid attention to it because it was in my best interests I couldn’t avoid it; it was necessary or imperative I might have suffered otherwise – it wasn’t necessarily positive It was a subconscious decision I had been waiting for something to occupy me

(all require you to persuade your audience why they should pay attention to you)

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Establishing rapport and credibility

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n'ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.

I have made this [letter] longer than usual, only because I have not the time to make it shorter.

– Blaise Pascal

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Having a meaningful conversation

Teaching or learning something Persuading someone or being persuaded Creating or agreeing something Whatever you’re doing establish a common language

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Staying in contact

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Elements of effective communication

Self-awareness Choosing an appropriate style Using media effectively

© 2011 IBM Corporation

How we see the world

Events

Del

etio

n

Dis

torti

on

Gen

eral

isat

ion

Thoughts

Filters

(Thoughts = Reality)

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Events Deletion

Distortion

Generalisation

Thoughts

Actions

Motivation

WorkingTrai

ts(Your actions = your thoughts)

How we interact with the world

© 2011 IBM CorporationDeletion

Distortion

Generalisation

Thoughts

Actions

Motivation

MotivationTrai

ts

You

What you can change

What you can’t

Deletion

Distortion

Generalisation

Thoughts

Actions

Motivation

Motivation Trai

ts

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Deletion

Distortion

Generalisation

Thoughts

Actions

Motivation

Motivation Trai

ts

Deletion

Distortion

Generalisation

Thoughts

Actions

Motivation

MotivationTrai

ts

You

(Avoid write-only mode!)

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Choosing an appropriate style

© 2011 IBM Corporation

“I’m sorry I was talking on mute”

We often need to communicate with people who are in a different place, or who work at different times

The technologies we use to do that are not perfect

Unless we are careful our communication will be incomplete or confused

Never write if you can speak; never speak if you can nod; never nod if you can wink.

– Martin Lomasney

(Although, carefully used, these technologies can be extraordinarily effective)

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Visual explanations can be compelling

© 2011 IBM Corporation

(But remember that while a picture may be worth a thousand words sometimes what you really need are a few carefully chosen ones)

© 2011 IBM Corporation

The youth of yesterday played football, bought My Little Pony

and watched Grange Hill

The youth of today are defining the usage patterns for the most sophisticated communication

media the world has ever seen

(and in some cases learnt to code Z80 assembler)

(and now they’ve got jobs)

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Use the right techniques

© 2011 IBM Corporation

Did I succeed today?

By persuading you that communication is important? By holding your attention? By teaching you about some insights and techniques about communication? By persuading you to pay more attention to communication?

© 2011 IBM Corporation

A few related ways you can spend your attention

The Attention Economy – Davenport and Beck Visual Explanations – Edward Tufte Leadership and Self-Deception – The Arbinger Institute