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Driven Dave
Welcome to the 5th in our series portraying different types of internal clients.
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The personDave is General Manager of a major business unit. He is young, ambitious, and will probably become a Chief Executive within the next five years. He is totally focussed on results, has a low boredom threshold, and is impatient with people who are less focussed. Some would say he is cold and totally rational, with little time for emotional argument. He tends to trample on people’s feelings without really noticing – or caring.
The problem
Dave is dominant in meetings, which causes a range of issues:
- People making presentations can get flustered when he makes it clear that he doesn’t want to hear any of the detail but wants to get straight to the point.
- He tends to suppress discussion and questions, which can leave some participants feeling confused by the lack of information needed to clarify issues.
- Some members of the team may feel that they aren’t valued, as they aren’t given a chance to make a contribution – which can also lead to frustration and resentment.
- Dave can become annoyed if presentations don’t have clear recommendations, even when they are meant to be educational rather than directional.
The solution
There are four elements to an effective solution:
1. Management of expectations – Firstly, you need to anticipate any issues that may arise, and address them before they do. So, if your presentation is exploratory or educational and is meant for discussion rather than solving problems, say so at the start. Make it clear even when you invite people to attend, and tell them what, if anything, is expected of them at the end. Then Dave either won’t attend, or if he does, he will know not to expect clear recommendations.
2. A ‘top-down’ approach to presentation – We have all been trained to present the data before drawing conclusions. But Dave will expect you to get the detail right, and will want answers quickly. So start with minimal introduction and context and then go straight to the answers. After that, you can give more of the detail behind the answers. Dave will love this approach, as he can judge straight away whether he needs to hear all the detail, or whether he can leave and let everyone else sort out the actions.
3. Brevity – Waffle is annoying, so always make sure that everything you present is simple, clear, and that you aren’t using two slides if one will do.
4. Think through the implications of your presentation – For any statement or conclusion you make, ask yourself: “What does this mean?” until you reach what really matters (nearly always money for any commercial organisation). Even if you are presenting something for discussion, think through what options might be open, or what further work should be considered.
Whatever you do, if it doesn’t lead in some way towards the organisation’s goals, Dave will give you a hard time!
NB: A formal approach to "top-down" thinking is covered in a book by Barbara Minto called the Pyramid Principle. It is standard reading for consultants, and we will be introducing a training course on it later this year. If you are interested then please let us know.
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