This week in the world’s #1 newsletter on leadership communication:

• How to Communicate Up, Down and Across​
• On the Show: How Top CEOs Get 10x More Done​
• Book Recommendation: Why We Talk Funny​

How to Communicate Up, Down and Across

Hi Reader,

“Do certain techniques work better in various situations, e.g., managing up, managing down, working with new contacts, etc?”

Jack D sent me this question, and it's a great one. (thanks for sending me so many questions after Tuesday’s email – please keep them coming)

The short answer is yes. Here is the slightly longer one:

Communicating up

Start by asking if now is a good time. If the answer is no, suggest scheduling a time in the near future.

If the answer is yes, continue by framing the conversation first: What's the topic you want to talk about? What do you want them to do with the information, and what is your key message?

For example: “I would like to discuss our hiring plan for Q4. The team needs clarity about resources, and I believe it's crucial that we fill the vacant positions quickly.”

Then, continue with a structure like GPS:

Goal: What goal are we trying to achieve?

Problem: What's the obstacle in our way?

Solution: How do we overcome the obstacle and reach our goal?

Here’s an example: “As you know, we are trying to grow sales by 25%. But we are not fully staffed, which means we can't follow up on leads fast enough. To fill the vacancies fast enough, we need to move forward quickly with the interviews. When would you be available to speak to the final candidates?”

But avoid these common mistakes:

1/ Jumping straight to the ask without explaining the context and why this matters.

2/ Asking for too much too soon, which often leads to a quick ‘no’.

3/ Starting with a problem (which primes the other person in a negative way). Remind them of the goal first.

This approach also works with your peers.

Communicating with new contacts

When preparing for a conversation, many leaders jump straight to this question: What do you want to say?

Instead, let’s strategize for one minute. This is particularly important when communicating with new contacts, employees or clients.

Before you speak to them, think about character, context, and content.

Character means to ask “how do I want to show up?” Do you want to inform, inspire, or move them to action?

Context means: think about the audience. What do they know? What do they expect from this? What are they worried about?

Content means you are clear about the message you want to deliver.

For delegating

When you delegate, most people jump straight to the task. “Can you do this by Friday?” That’s where problems start.

If people don’t understand the bigger picture, they may deliver the task but miss the outcome.

Here’s a better way to give direction: start with vision, then commitment, then execution.

First, vision.
What’s the goal? What are we trying to achieve and why does it matter?

Second, commitment.
Are we aligned? Do you have buy-in?
What questions or concerns need to be addressed before we move forward?

You can also signal your own commitment – for example, that you’ll protect their time to get this done.

Only then, as a third step, do you move to execution.
What needs to happen next? By when? And what does good look like?

That’s it: Vision – Commitment – Execution.

The order matters, because when people understand the why and commit to it, execution becomes much stronger.

If you want my complete 4-step CEO delegation system, I got you covered.

⬇️

ON THE SHOW

How Top CEOs Get 10x More Done

▶️ Episode 339 on YouTube, Spotify or Apple.

We all get the same 24 hours. So how do some leaders get dramatically more done without working dramatically longer hours?

The answer is delegation. But probably not the way most leaders do it.

Too often, we hand something off, get back something half-right, and end up with two choices: micromanage the work or take it back and do it ourselves. Either way, delegation has failed.

In my new video, I break down the four-step delegation system I use with CEOs to escape this trap.

You’ll learn why great delegators ask “who?” instead of “how?”, the 4 levels of delegation, how a clear Definition of Done prevents work from boomeranging back to you, and the 10-80-10 rule for staying in control without micromanaging.

Let’s start getting your hours back every week!

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BOOK RECOMMENDATION

Why We Talk Funny

Why do we all have accents, and does it matter?

How we sound provides a sense of belonging in every human society on the planet, says linguistics professor Valerie Fridland.

(Accents are endlessly fascinating to me, and I've argued before that your accent doesn't matter, but your articulation does.)

If you enjoy going down communication rabbit holes and understanding, for instance, why the Americans pronounce the R much stronger than the British, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Funny" is for you.

About that “R” – I would not have guessed that the Angles and Saxons once brought it to England, from where it was exported to the American colonies 1000+ years later.

The weaker-sounding "r" – “cah” and “fathah” instead of “car” and “father” – was becoming more and more common in London from the 17th century, until it became the “proper” way to speak.

Countries like Australia were colonized later than the US, when the English “Rs” were already weakened. But Scottish and West Country accents kept their rolling Rs, including Cornwall-based pirates who famously kept their “ARRRs” intact. (Insert your favorite pirate joke here.)

Have an inspired weekend,

Oliver

Eo Ipso Communications GmbH

c/o Mindspace

Uhlandstraße 32, 10719 Berlin

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