communicating values before data in a coalition
If you’re leading a Diverse Group of People Doing Something That Matters and you’ve got ambitions for your group, you’re probably going to attempt something that requires more resources than your group has. That may even be the premise of your group doing stuff; it’s the reason y’all are spending time together instead of with your families. You believe you can punch above your weight.
One way you do this is enrolling other Diverse Groups of People Doing Something That Matters in what you’re chasing. You create a coalition.
Inspiring other members of the coalition to do stuff that helps you can be even harder than inspiring members of your own group. You’re likely speaking across differences of culture, vernacular, and incentive. The reasons your Diverse Group and their Diverse Group are in the coalition may differ.
There’s a piece of the coalition’s work that you and your org are the experts in. That’s likely the piece that excites you. You’re fluent in its jargon, using it without even thinking about it. You have metrics and data that illustrate and summarize it.
A failure mode in coalition communication is trying to motivate others with your dialect and data. Your beautiful pie chart may register as an insult. It’s worthwhile to look instead at a) shared values and b) peculiar incentives.
I try to find my way to those by completing these sentences:
Shared values: “The reason we’re all here together is a common belief in ______, which is rooted in an even deeper belief in ______.”
Peculiar incentives: “This other Diverse Group in the coalition does not believe they are doing what they exist to do unless they are ________ and they know that’s going well when they see _________.”
In communication to coalition members, consider leading with the contents of those blanks, making them the thesis you’re providing evidence for. Consider keeping your pie chart in reserve.
People and, by extension, their organizations, feel more seen and understood when you can do this. You are giving evidence of empathy on levels of strategy and organization (among others). This is motivating. Your other Diverse Groups don’t have to spend as much energy defending their flanks against unseen costs and smooth-talking antagonists; they can devote attention to achieving something that is in their own best interest.
-Eric
