How versatile are you in your communication? How many different techniques are you willing to try on to help you achieve better outcomes? I’d like to deal with one of those today, which I have called “drip feeding”. It is another concept I frequently share with my executive coaching clients.
Background
One of the presuppositions of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) is the “Law of Requisite Variety” which suggests that “the person or system with the greatest behavioral flexibility will control the system / conversation outcomes”.
In our busy world today everything seems to have become more short term: “I want it now” focused. However, sometimes the shortest way to an outcome isn’t necessarily the best approach. Sometimes we need to lay a longer term plan to the end outcome we strive for; to plan a path with multiple steps that will get us there.
As the term may suggest, drip feeding is a subtle, small steps approach to an end game. One of my clients recently referred to it as “planting a seed”. Both imply the nurturing of an idea through to a desired result. In financial terms drip feeding can be compared to the continuous, consistent saving of a small amount over a long period of time adding up to a very large sum of money in the end because of the compound growth factor.
We have probably all experienced the need to plan and more carefully execute the delivery of a sensitive message, right? You know, one where we perhaps expect the listener to balk at or to react badly to. Diplomacy suggests that a more “softly, softly” approach will work better than “coming right out with it”. So introducing the topic slowly and carefully, little by little could be one of those, couldn’t it? Preparing the soil; making it fertile so to speak for the impending message.
The approach
What I mean by drip feeding is the introduction of the topic in small, seemingly unrelated steps; leaving the other person to digest each little piece of information on its own, without necessarily appreciating the whole picture (yet). I’m not suggesting anything surreptitious or misleading here. Whilst I appreciate this may be misconstrued as blatant political behaviour, this approach can be applied in very specific situations where you simply have to influence the achievement of a specific and important outcome, and apply different methods to assure it.
Maybe the use of a metaphor will also work. That way, our communication isn’t directly to the point, but uses the character in the story to “make our point for us” and let the listener adopt it by association.
Of course drip feeding needs to be planned and executed very carefully, so it doesn’t backfire on us. Expect that those you are dealing with are intelligent people that will quickly see through anything contrived.
Like my blog: Planning in scenarios looks at picturing the desired end state and then planning, assessing and mitigating likely obstacles or options as well as selecting the appropriate steps to get there, this does much the same, as if planning a chess move.
Considerations
I have learned there are a few key considerations in this planning:
- To understand who my audience is.
- Who are the stakeholders and how might they need to be informed differently to one another to suit my approach?
- Who are the influencers amongst them that I can leverage to best further my message or end outcome?
- What elements or “snippets” of information left with the right people would have the smartest effect for me?
- When might be the best timing to introduce them?
- And the right sequence?
- Who is likely to “spread my word”?
- What do I want them to do with it?
And so we plan out a range of steps, players and scenarios by which we “engineer” a plot that will ultimately lead to the outcome we want to achieve, “leading the process from behind” to our outcome. Of course, if you have been following my blogs, you will no doubt appreciate that preparation is the key to outcome achievement. And this technique is just what I do for and with my clients: Planning and preparing our outcomes.
I teach my clients to always have a few key recent “snippets” of achievements or facts about their work and successes that they can “drop” when in contact with key individuals in their company – those that have Presence. The ones that will want to use this information to further their agenda’s and enhance their visibility or standing by being able to tell others of note: “have you heard…?” thereby furthering your agenda for you in places you might not be able to get to (yet)
By the way
Whilst I avoid “name dropping” purely from an ego perspective, I do selectively use it in the appropriate situations whereby dropping a name can add credibility to my cause by creating the right associations in my listeners’ mind.
What next?
So if you are planning an outcome that is important to you, why not engage in some “behavioural flexibility” in your communication and look at applying the “drip feeding” approach if it lends itself to helping you achieve more likely or a better end result?
Tags: diplomcay, presence, Scenario planning, versatile communication
