Build Instant Trust by Mastering This Most Underrated Communication Skill

Welcome to all the new people who just joined this newsletter! I'm excited that you're here. This week I hired a marketer to help me market my upcoming book Data Concierge Agile Playbook (Pre-order on Kindle). The title of the book might change for better marketing results, but the content will be just as fantastic! I also just finished editing my book for the first round. I have it until 4/28 to turn it over to my editor. Editing is a lot harder than writing.

My team needs to do a few Power BI dashboard updates this week. It's just basic maintenance. I'm not too worried about it. We also rolled out our first self-service program ever. It's pretty incredible given that we had nothing but Excel 9 months ago.

This week we’ll talk about paraphrasing level 2!

Paraphrasing is the most underrated secret weapon to understand anyone from any background.

Have you ever felt lost in a meeting? Everyone has.

When working with different stakeholders to build out their data analytics products, it’s even harder because they’re from different departments, and they all have their jargon.

Master Paraphrasing and Build Instant Trust

I’ve engaged over 100 stakeholders from different fields and cultures.

It works every time.

In my last article, I shared the first level of paraphrasing — repeat what they say.

If you want to master anything, start copying successful examples.

If you want to understand your stakeholders, start repeating what they say. (See how you do it the right way here.)

There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Think about this. It’ll be more embarrassing later when they find out you pretended to understand .

Now let’s get to the next level of paraphrase to build instant trust.

Paraphrasing For Experienced Professionals

You’re not only going to repeat what they say right away, you’re also going to add your own words into the mix. It flows a lot better than repeating 90% of the words.

It makes people think you understand them, but you're just getting there. It builds instant trust.

Stakeholder Barbara: “We’d like to build this impressive dashboard that will lead to a better top line and bottom line. The dashboard will show our daily sales, what channel made the sales, and the comparison between actual sales and our targets.”

You don’t know what a top line or bottom line is. You don’t even know what they’re selling. However, you add your own words to make the conversation flow naturally.

You: ”I see. You’d like an awesome dashboard that will lead to a better top line and bottom line. And it’ll show your daily sales, what the winning channels are and compare that to your set daily targets.

Stakeholder Barbara: “Correct.”

You: ”Could you give me an example of a better top line and bottom line? Also, what does your daily sales look like? What does a good-looking dashboard look like to you?”

What you ask here prompts her to describe the business in her own words.

Stakeholder Barbara: “We sell shoes online. Our goal this year is to increase our margin by selling more expensive shoes. We sell about 1000 pairs of shoes every day. A great dashboard will have a trend graph and some bar charts that show our sales by channel. It’ll be great if you can make it look pretty with our brand colors. Add more graphs that compare targets and actual sales.”

You forgot what margin means, and you still need more details. Stay calm and continue.

You: “About margin. How would you like to see that on the dashboard? And what is a good margin for you? I can envision the layout of your dashboard. Do you like everything on one page or do you want to only have focused graphs on one page and some nice-to-have graphs on the next?”

Stakeholder Barbara: “I envision the graph will show me the margin, which is the total sale price minus the cost of the shoes divided by the total sale price, a percentage. I’m not sure what looks better — one page or multiple pages. How about you show me both and we then can pick one.”

You: “Great, I have enough to get this going. I’ll reach out when I have questions.”

This conversation flows better than simply repeating. When you’re more experienced in your field, it becomes easier to fill in the knowledge gap, and you don’t have to rely on repeating their words.

A Visual Example of How Paraphrasing Works

There are people on both sides of the bridge. Paraphrasing has 3 levels. The first level is to just wave back at the people on the other side of the bridge by repeating what they say, which you learned last week. (See here if you missed the newsletter last week.)

The second level is to meet them in the middle of the bridge by adding your own words into the mix. This is what you learn today.

The last level is to cross the bridge and visit them on the other side by using their words in the conversation, which you'll learn next week.

Now you know how to repeat and add your words into the mix. You’re ready for the ultimate level — using their words.

Stay tuned for the last level of paraphrasing next week!

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Besides writing about data project management, I also write novels. I recently discovered this Podcast by Jim Woods. I asked him how to find an editor. He recorded a short episode to answer my question. I'm just impressed by people's kindness online!

If you'd like to give better presentations at work and hone your public speaking skills, let Christopher transform you into star speakers.

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