Stand Up, Speak Up, Persuade

Have you ever thought about something for too long without acting on it?

Well, this post is mine.

I realized this as I completed my address to the police sergeants of major US cities who had gathered for a conference in Nashville. I was invited to speak by their president whom I coached extensively last year. Through our work together, he became a confident, articulate, and concise speaker.

My presentation focused on persuading their respective memberships to understand and accept their ideas/recommendations and convince politicians and government representatives to agree with their strategic plans.

From this talk and previous interviews with the sergeants, I realized they all struggled to communicate their ideas with their constituents. Painfully so. This really impacted me. It also reinforced my north star of helping others communicate with confidence no matter the audience.

The best part of the talk was illustrating, through one of their members, how to control a large meeting when presenting a controversial course of action. To succeed with the coaching make-over, I met with the sergeant virtually several times so that I could understand the challenges he faced with his constituency. He had to deliver an important, highly controversial recommendation to his fellow sergeants and position it from their perspective. He practiced it multiple times. He then delivered it to his constituency a few months before the Nashville meeting and got approval!

In Nashville, now having the confidence to deliver this message, we simulated his original meeting to illustrate the essence of the message and how he controlled the crowd. I realized from the extensive Q&A portion of my talk how important, mastering these skills were to everyone who attended.

The epiphany I’m sharing is that if they can master this, so can you!

Here’s what it takes.

Step #1: Know your audience/listener and what the benefit is to them from agreeing with you

Step #2: Briefly state your recommendation.

Step #3: Restate the benefit to THEM from accepting your idea

Model your recommendation on these three steps and you’ll have newfound confidence in what you’re delivering…a key ingredient to having anyone get on board with your insights!