The Stake in the Ground

Last time we saw how important it is to know what you are trying to communicate. “If you don’t know where you are going, any path will get you there”, but no one is likely to follow you. So for today let’s start with the assumption that you know what your point is, and that you have a forum for making it. This could be a meeting, a speech, a document or even an email. So go ahead and say it. Keep in mind, though, that just saying something doesn’t make it so. “The world is round” didn’t make much sense without a Columbus to prove it. Generally you are going to have to convince your audience. This is true whether you are at the top or the bottom of the hierarchy.

If you are trying to convince people of something, having a big title or being the boss may ensure you are listened to, but they are no guarantee that you will be believed. In many cases, distrust of management or “elites” is such that you will have to work even harder to be believed. So the bottom line is that whoever you are you have to back up your message if you are going to get through to your audience.

There are generally two ways of organising your proof: the stake in the ground and the primrose path. I’ll concentrate on the stake in the ground method for this post, and deal with the primrose path in the next one.

The stake in the ground means tell them right up front what your main points are, then go about proving them. This can be thought of as the classic advice given to presenters: tell them what you are going to say, say it, then tell them what you said.

Using this method, a CEO might announce to the company’s engineering teams that they are to start on a new, totally different project. “I need your support to develop a crash program to produce a product to not only get us into the XYZ market, but put us on top”. There is the key message. The CEO has their attention, but now comes the hard part: overcoming their scepticism and transforming it into enthusiasm. “Our market has changed, deep and fundamental changes that mean customers who loved our ABC product will NOT be looking for a next generation version but for a transformational change”. The CEO has painted a picture of the need for change. He has to be careful here not to paint too bleak a picture. The “bad news” about the troubles they face must be immediately followed up with a forceful explanation of how they can get to where they need to be: “the experience you have in ABC design is directly applicable to this new market. In fact, senior engineer John Smith tells me that some of you have already suggested to him ways we could leapfrog the market . . .” The CEO needs to build up enthusiasm by appealing to something that excites the audience. For engineers that may be the technical challenge of being on the cutting edge, for sales people it may be the temptation of a hot selling product, for teachers the satisfaction of putting their own personal touch into a standard curriculum. Whatever it is, it is important to a) know what will excite the audience and b) address scepticism early and forcefully.

The stake in the ground is a very effective format for getting people to follow you. It lends itself to generating excitement and enthusiasm. It does, however, depend on the credibility the speaker has with the audience and their willingness to listen.

How do you deal with an audience that isn’t open minded? We’ll talk about a useful technique next time.