Always Hardtalk: Or, Why Successful Spoken Communications Cant Be a Soft Skill Richard Cooper International Training Consultants All models are wrong; some models are useful. E P Box Indian Association of Investment Professionals India Mumbai, September 13, 2011

The meaning of your message Is the message they understand. Mumbai. September 13, 2011 International Training Consultants. 2 Why Successful Spoken Communications Cant Be a Soft Skill

Leadership Mumbai. September 13, 2011 International Training Consultants. 3 Why Successful Spoken Communications Cant Be a Soft Skill

Listening Two types Listening to prepare an answer Listening to understand the question Time to think. Even a third type Not listening at all Mumbai. September 13, 2011 International Training Consultants. 4 Why Successful Spoken Communications Cant Be a Soft Skill

So how flat is the world? I would rather be a humanist with all his faults, than a fanatic with all his virtues. E M Forster The focus of management attention will be on the areas of the business, from innovation to customer service, where personal chemistry or creative insight matter more than rules and processes. To be successful, companies have to invest in workers and technologies that can drive collaboration and interactions inside and outside the company across the entire value chain of customers, partners and suppliers. Source Foresight 2020: Economic, industry and corporate trends, The Economist Intelligence Unit, March 2006 Mumbai. September 13, 2011 International Training Consultants. 5 Why Successful Spoken Communications Cant Be a Soft Skill

The Five Dysfunctions (of a presentation, talk, phoneconf…) No clear purpose No clear structure No clear benefit Too much detail Too long NOT TO MENTION THE ENVIRONMENTAL DYSFUNCTIONS Time-CRUNCH Multi multi multi-tasking Distract… STRESSSSS Mumbai. September 13, 2011 International Training Consultants. 6 Why Successful Spoken Communications Cant Be a Soft Skill

The Power of preparation: 1 Mumbai. September 13, 2011 International Training Consultants. 7 Why Successful Spoken Communications Cant Be a Soft Skill NOTE Aired on BBC World News. The journalist, Zeinab Badawi, was born in the Sudan.

The Power of preparation: 2 Mumbai. September 13, 2011 International Training Consultants. 8 Why Successful Spoken Communications Cant Be a Soft Skill NOTE Aired on NBC. The journalist is Tim Russert.

Giving reasons SITUATION You arrive 40 minutes late for lunch with an old friend (that is, if he or she is still waiting). What do you say? And what are you doing as you give your reasons? You are renegotiating your relationship. Mumbai. September 13, 2011 International Training Consultants. 9 Why Successful Spoken Communications Cant Be a Soft Skill

Giving reasons Conventions Conventionally accepted reasons for bad news, good news, or any situation: my train was late, hes such a lucky guy, the coffee is cold, Bombay traffic… Technical accounts How an engineer, doctor, pilot or fire expert might describe 9/11… Codes Governing actions such as legal judgments, formal business practice, awarding medals, billing practices… Stories Explanatory narratives incorporating cause-effect accounts of unfamiliar phenomena or exceptional events such as 9/11, the betrayal of a friend, winning something, a chance meeting, changing a booking… Mumbai. September 13, 2011 International Training Consultants. 10 Why Successful Spoken Communications Cant Be a Soft Skill

How we give reasons All four kinds of reasons-giving commonly do relational work. Conventions Codes Technical accountsStories Formulas Cause and effect accounts PopularSpecialized Source: Charles Tilly, Why? Yale: 2006 Mumbai. September 13, 2011 International Training Consultants. 11 Why Successful Spoken Communications Cant Be a Soft Skill

Superior story? Mumbai. September 13, 2011 International Training Consultants. 12 Why Successful Spoken Communications Cant Be a Soft Skill

Punctuate this A woman without her man is nothing A woman: without her, man is nothing. Mumbai. September 13, 2011 International Training Consultants. 13 Why Successful Spoken Communications Cant Be a Soft Skill

Emphasis Try giving this sentence as many meanings as possible via only the stress you give to each word: I never said she bit my dog Mumbai. September 13, 2011 International Training Consultants. 14 Why Successful Spoken Communications Cant Be a Soft Skill

Is fun trivial? Is fun trivial Mumbai. September 13, 2011 International Training Consultants. 15 Why Successful Spoken Communications Cant Be a Soft Skill

Richard Cooper International Training Consultants Saint Gervais les Bains, France We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope. Martin Luther King, Jr. Mumbai. September 13, 2011 International Training Consultants. 16 Why Successful Spoken Communications Cant Be a Soft Skill