October 2022 – James Osborn

Repeat the Message

When I turned on the TV the other day, I was lucky enough to catch the end of a teleshopping segment. These shows are real masters of a particular aspect of communication, repeating the message.

It’s something that I often have to remind myself of. Things that are important to me should only need to be said once. It’s important, so people should be paying attention and they should remember what’s being said.

In reality, this is far from true. People may not recognise that it’s an important statement. They might not be ready to hear the importance of it. Maybe something else is on their mind, or they simply aren’t listening.

Teleshoppers know that you may just switch on to the channel, that you aren’t likely to be be paying attention but they want to catch you and get you to take an action.

They endlessly repeat their core message. Pay attention. This thing solves a problem. It’s a problem you have. It’s good value, it’ll be better for you if you buy this thing today.

They also do it in a range of ways. Someone shows the product. They talk about it. Messages scroll across the screen or take over the entire display. The words change, but the point is made again and again until you have no chance of misunderstanding it.

These are techniques you can bring into use when you have an important message to share. Think about how you’ll repeat it. You need to share it more than once, and you need a plan. Use different channels to help it land.

Say it face-to-face. Broadcast in an All-Hands. Send an email newsletter. Repeat it next time. Follow-up to confirm that people know what’s going on an to confirm the message is landing. Adapt if you need to.

Don’t overdo it, and don’t use this for every message, but if you need something important to be understood, steal a leaf out of the teleshopper playbook.

Helping People

People who aren’t helpful often end up becoming isolated. If you won’t work with others, they’ll find a way to work around you. On the flip side, if all you ever do is try to help others, then you won’t be able to find focus to achieve the things that you are trying to do, so you need to find an effective balance.

The most important thing to understand is that saying yes to every request that comes your way is not going to be the best way to balance providing that help.

Sometimes, it may just be providing a simple bit of info, answering a question that you know the answer to. In that case, just do it! Even better if you can point the person to some extra resources or support so they are able to help themselves in future.

Other times it’s all about making a connection. If you don’t know the answer, maybe you know someone who does and can provide an intro. Again, this is a low effort way to help someone, so you should go for it if possible.

Finally, it might be a request for more time, diverting you from current work. A flat ‘no’ is often unhelpful, but no more so than a ‘yes’ that you don’t intend to actually follow through on. Instead, look at what support you can provide. Is it an important or urgent request that’s worth re-ordering your priorities for? Can you delegate the request elsewhere and provide support there? If you do need to say no, can you still provide guidance on what the requestor may need to do to be successful?

A sincere and thought through response is much more likely to leave someone thinking how helpful you were, even if the immediate answer is no. “I’d love to help, but I’m current working on top priority work that must be completed this week. I can give you some support next week, or I can introduce you to this other team who may have more capacity”.

If you are helpful, people will connect with you, and that really is something that will increase your effectiveness over time.