1. What voice do you
communicate in?
By Al Diaz, MBA, PMP, CBA
October 2013

2. Different Voices for different
Stakeholders
• Decision Maker
• Executive
• Influencer
• Corporate Buyer
• Technologist
• Peers
• End User
• Sponsor
• Project Team
• Individual Contributor
• Project Team
• The Customer!

3. Let me share a little secret …
• Your key stakeholders, customers, boss
– They are never wrong…
• WHAT ! NEVER ?
• In their minds they are never wrong…its your
job to set them straight when they are.

4. Communication
Styles

5. Clearly you don’t …
There is no way …
I can’t do that …
Unacceptable …
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

6. • I can see your point…on the other hand we might
be able to
• I can see the benefits …the only question
I have is…
• I can do that…all I need is
• Can we both agree on …
• YES!

7. Who is the most
important person we
communicate with?

8. No; its not your boss…
they just
write your review

9. • Its Your Customer;
–Why? Because they are the company's best
consultant.
–Their feedback can hurt the bottom line or help it!
• So best we listen to them
–We want
• customers to collaborate with us
• to get as close as possible to the customer
• drive the customer experience from the front
– …don’t walk in with a blank sheet of paper!

10. What does the customer want…
Make it easy
Be a good listener
Limit customer touches
Anticipate their needs
Take action
Be Available
Sit on the Cactus
Golden Rule
Say…Yes!

11. What voice do you
communicate in?

12. • I did not say he stole the money.
• I did not say he stole the money.
• I did not say he stole the money.
• I did not say he stole the money.
• I did not say he stole the money.
• I did not say he stole the money.

13. Communication is one business where
you do not want to become Exclusive
Be Inclusive

14. Identifying whom to share
information with
Broaden the depth of your
communication network
Share information as broadly and
deeply as possible

15. When people don’t understand
they will not ask,
they don’t want to appear ___
The sender is responsible for making information
clear and complete so that the receiver can
receive it correctly, and for confirming that it is
properly understood.
SenderSender
Encode
Decode
Encode
Decode
Noise
Noise
Medium
Noise
Noise

16. What voice do you
communicate in?

17. I didn’t receive it
so
I didn’t do it

18. WOW!
REALLY

19. The fact that you did not receive the
code
file
numbers
report
Does not get you off the hook

20. This behavior is called
Hanging it up
Like Hanging up your shirt or blouse
after clubbing all night and
forgetting about it…
Its still dirty

21. Think like a CEO…
“The CEO is the link between the Organization and
the Outside World” -Peter Drucker
Peter Drucker; invented the concept known as management by objectives (MBO)
process of participative goal setting and measurement back to the standard
1954 Book The Practice of Management

22. What does a CEO do
when they are not setting strategy?
They are communicating with their
stakeholders

23. Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com, He
changed the way people shop
and read.
W. Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway,
brilliant value creator for
almost 50 years.
Morris Chang, Taiwan
Semiconductor, Built Taiwan's
largest company, w/a
market value of $88 billion.
Larry Fink, BlackRock, World's
biggest money manager.
Carol Meyrowitz, TJX, (TJ Maxx)
Number one in off-price retailing
w/ $26BB in sales
Larry Page, Google, market value
is up $100 billion on his watch.
Howard
Schultz, Starbucks, Revolutionized
what America means by coffee.
Serving 70 MM customers a week
at more than 18,000 stores in 62
countries.
Fred Smith, FEDX, He continues to
innovate and $45 BB in sales

24. "Invention requires a long-term willingness to be
misunderstood," says Jeff Bezos.
“Do something that you genuinely believe in, that you have
conviction about, for a long period of time well-meaning
people may criticize your effort, and when you receive
criticism … it pays to say…are they right?
And if they are you need to adapt what you're doing.
If they're not right, …then you need to have the
long term willingness to be misunderstood."
Source : http://www.businessinsider.com

25. Let’s Breakdown Jeff’s Statement
1. Do something that you genuinely believe in
2. Well-meaning people may criticize your effort
3. When you receive criticism … it pays to say…are they right?
4. If they are you need to adapt
5. They're not, …then you need to have the long term
willingness to be misunderstood.

26. Speaking in the voice of the customer
or stakeholder is not
parroting back what they are saying
or
telling them what they want to hear

27. To speak in the voice of the stakeholder
is to
understand what is important to
them, to have empathy for their
issues, and to speak to them in their
terms.
Build Trust!

28. What are Four of the most
powerful words you can use?
What do you think?

29. In the following slides
We look at your project
communication

30. This beautiful project you
put together
Months of work and
dedication falling apart

31. WAIT
How did this happen?

32. It's not that you're not smart…your smart
It’s not that you didn’t work hard…you did
You've got a bazillion things on your
mind, working feverishly while thinking
I don’t have time
for these people that
keep trying to take me
away from my work...

33. If you don’t have
time for your
customers or
stakeholders
Your project is
coming down like
a house of
cards…

34. Hero’s
Are always waiting in the sidelines
To save your project
Take the credit
And make you look like a …

36. Project hero’s are
effective because
they sit and wait!
Vulturus : Latin for
Highly Effective
Communication Vulture
Ready to take all the credit!

37. Don’t be a Victim to
Project Hero’s
You only have yourself to blame
If you decide to let yourself be victimized

39. Communication Methods
• Interactive Communication
– Most efficient way to ensure a common understanding
– E.g. meetings, phone calls, Instant message, smart
watch, video conferencing
• Push Communication
– No traceability of understanding
– E.g. letters, email, press release, faxes, voice
mail, instagram, twitter, social media
• Pull communication
– For large volumes of information and large audiences
– E.g. SharePoint, drop box,
You cannot control all communications but should try to prevent
miscommunication, and unclear directions.

40. • Actively managing the expectation of stakeholders.
– Increase the likelihood of acceptance.
– Influencing their desire to achieve & maintain goals.
• Addressing concerns that have not
become issues yet (anticipation).
• Clarifying and resolving issues that have been
identified.
Managing Stakeholder Expectations

41. Be clear and concise …Don’t Assume
anyone understands…
Brevity with Senior Staff
Managing Stakeholder Expectations

42. Unless Specifically Asked No Yes
Methodology X
History X
Approach X
Marketing X
Facts X
Qualification X
Yourself X
Building Personal Rapport X

43. C Suites are impress by the quality of
the question
Challenge conventional thinking
Be Passionate about Curiosity

44. Communication
Starts with YOU

45. BUT I’M RIGHT
I’m standing on principal
I will not yield
Worked for Patrick Henry
Not for most people
Be flexible, willing to compromise,
be pragmatic

46. My Perception of the world is…
So this is the way; I expect things
to happen

47. What voice do you communicate in?
Integrity
Mean what you say…life your values
Be Patience
Be positive to all around you
Speak well
Dispel Myths

48. Never Give Up
Building a strong
Foundation - Education - Experience
Don’t just go through the motions
Have staying power!
And
Give Back

49. Communication Starts with Inner Dialog
YOU HAVE TOO
YOU SHOULD
JUST GET IT DONE

50. Dreadfully Done

51. Cultivating Curiosity
Helps us align the contradictions
Leads to meaningful work

52. Aligning the Contradiction Resolves
Self Sabotaging Behavior
Fear of Failure
Inner Doubts
Perfectionism
Nurtures Compassion

53. Why Settle
What do you think
about most?

54. Perfection is the Enemy
of
Good

55. So much of your success is dependent on you
Yes we’ve all heard it before
Its not what you know…It’s who you know
Right place…Right Time
Money or Luck
I am not here to tell you life is fair, it’s not
but it’s what you do…with what you got
don’t sit there and tell me you can’t
if you do… you won’t last

56. NOW…
GO OUT
AND SOLVE
REALLY HARD PROBLEMS

57. Books to Read…
• In Search of Excellence
– By Tom Peters
• The First 90 Days
– By Michael D. Watkins
• The 5th Discipline
– By Peter Senge
• The Future of Management
– By Gary Hamel
• Influencer – The power to change
anything
– By Kerry Patterson, Joseph
Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron
McMillan, Al Switzler
• The Why of Work – How great
leaders build abundant organizations
that win
– By David Ulrich, Wendy
Ulrich, Marshall Goldsmith
Books to Read…
• The Tao of Psychology:
Synchronicity and the Self:
- By Jean Shinoda ...
• Emotional Intelligence
- By Daniel Goleman
• Authentic Happienss
- By Martin E. P. Seligman
• Original Blessing
– By Mathew Fox
• A Gift of Positive Thinking
– Gill Farrer-Hall