The Threes Says of Communicating

Have you ever attended a meeting where the presenter stumbled over his words, using multiple “ums” and “ahs”? Or a meeting where the presenter spoke in a droning monotone? Or a meeting where the information being presented is jumbled and unorganized. This can be very distracting and may leave a negative perception of the speaker’s expertise.

As project managers we spend most of our days presenting or conveying information to our stakeholders and it is of prime importance that stakeholders receive and understand our messages. Our messages may contain critical information about impending risks or information that may positively or negatively impact time to market. It is important to speak well.

I once mentored a project manager--we’ll call her Jenny--who used the words “let’s see” as a crutch. Whenever she was nervous or unsure, she would turn the pages of her notebook or look at her monitor and say, “Let’s see.” When we performed 360 evaluations, the feedback she received from her peers was that she lacked expertise and was unprepared for meetings. Jenny practiced the “Three Says” and after three months the feedback from her peers was greatly improved.

The Three Says represent three things to do to ensure that you speak well and maintain positive stakeholder perception. They are:

1. Say it with excitement.

2. Say it with confidence.

3. Say your core message three times.

Say it with excitement. When you prepare for a meeting whether it’s a sprint planning meeting, a retrospective or an executive status meeting, be excited about your message. The excitement you feel will be conveyed in your body language and in your intonation. An excited speaker will never bore their audience with a monotone voice because excitement naturally fills the voice with high and low tones that grab attention.

Say it with confidence. Speaking with confidence means that you know what you are going to say ahead of time and that you are thoroughly prepared to present your information. This means knowing who your audience will be and preparing for the unexpected. Preparing for the unexpected requires anticipating questions or disrupters and being prepared to speak off the cuff. The more confident and prepared you are the less you will use distracting filler words.

Say your core message three times. Before you step into the room (virtual or physical) know and rehearse the key message you want to convey. Start your meeting with the key message, repeat it mid-way thru the meeting and end the meeting with it. You may have multiple items that you want to convey in a meeting but be sure that the key message is said three times.

For most of us, speaking well takes practice. The good news is, the more you practice the better you will become.