Hey all, I found some more information regarding the “so what?” framework if you all are interested. According to mindtools.com, the framework is actually called ‘Appreciation.’
- Appreciation helps us uncover factors that we might have ordinarily missed
- Originally developed by the military to help commanders gain a comprehensive understanding of any fact, problem or situation that it was faced with in battle
- You use Appreciation by asking “So What” repeatedly. This helps you to extract all important information implied by a fact.
- What are the implications of that fact?
- Why is this fact important?
- Word of caution:
- Can restrict you to one line of thinking. For instance, once you’ve answered your first “So what?” question, you might follow a single line of inquiry to its conclusion. To avoid this, repeat the appreciation process several times over to make sure that you’ve covered all bases. Alternatively, consider using other problem solving techniques in conjunction with this one to ensure a broad-based approach
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_01.htm
One area that I want to improve is my ability to tell good stories. I tend to rely heavily on my ability to connect with the audience by using numbers/figures but do not spend enough time preparing simple stories that effectively relate my points. Here are a couple pointers to improve your story-telling. Here are 2 simple rules that I found from the executive coaching sit: Essential Communications. Please see below for the link to the website. Stories soar when you follow two rules:
- Tell us details of what people did, said and felt. Don’t hover over the forest telling us about the landscape; bring us down onto the forest floor so we can enter the landscape. Give us the leaves and roots and dirt. Details of what people did, said and felt pull us into the story.
- Connect the details to other details. The details of what people did, said and felt must connect to and influence other details of what people did, said, and felt. The details you tell us need to feel important. In order words, the details you include must affect the outcome of the story.
Other Tips:
- If the details don’t connect to other details, cut’em out.
- Does everything in the story have to be true? The answer is no. But everything in the story has to feel true. The details what people did, said and felt have to create a truth that feels authentic.
http://www.essentialcomm.com/tips/execcoachtips/making-stories-soar-030311.html
A big part of my job requires me to put together and give presentations on financial results, cost-saving measures, strategy etc. I do not consider myself a poor public speaker, so it is perplexing to me that I often find myself in situations where I have trouble clearly & effectively communicating my thoughts to the group. I ran across a website that has an archive of various executive coaching tips. Among them, there was a short podcast entitled “Sounding Well-Spoken,” which gives listeners suggestions on how to better articulate themselves.
- Performance improves after you’ve done something at least once. Think before you speak.
- One minute of thoughtful planning, increases performance ten-fold. Even if you are walking to a meeting, it is not too late to prepare your mind.
- Here are 3 questions to ‘think’ about before you speak:
- 1. What idea am I trying to communicate?
- 2. Exactly how many ideas are there?
- 3. What would be good one or two-word labels for each idea?
By asking yourself these 3 questions before you speak, you are mentally preparing yourself, which should help you become more articulate.
Please see below for the link to the website:
http://www.essentialcomm.com/tips/execcoachtips.html
MEMBA learning community, Fall 2016- Spring 2017