Matt Abrahams: evaluation

Transcript context

…So we've talked about three structures so far. What, so what, now what; prep, which is make the point, give a reason example, and then restate the point; and then problem, solution benefit. So people listening to this it's like, "Oh, amazing, all these structures are great." Do you have any advice on how to remember these? You're like, "Oh, Matt, what do you think of this design?" Like, "Oh, shit, which one should I go with?" I try to give each structure a catchy name. What, so what, now what rolls off the tongue. There's a structure in the book for giving feedback called 4Is for Apologizing AAA. So part of it is just coming up with a mnemonic that works for you and you can name them whatever you want, but really the way to get familiar with them and to have them at the ready is to use them. When I coach people on what, so what, now what, I encourage them at the end of a podcast they listen to or something they read, take a moment and say, "What was it about? Why is it important to me and what can I do with that information?" And if you do that, not only do you get better and more comfortable deploying that structure, but you also remember the material better because there's a whole bunch of research that says when we interrogate the material that we listen to or read, we digest it and remember it more. So in 30 seconds you're really helping yourself at least in two ways by getting the structure down and remembering more. So you have to put it into practice. The other way to do it in which we do a lot in my classroom is we have people dissect communication. So you listen to somebody or you see it and you say, what structure did they use? So it's about awareness building and then actually getting the reps. The only way you get better at communication, spontaneous or planned, is the way you get better at anything. Repetition, reflection, and feedback. You got to practice, you got to think about what worked or what didn't, and then you have to get feedback from others. We are not always the best judges of our communication. And in so doing, repetition, reflection and feedback takes your communication to the next level. That's a lot of work, Matt. That's a lot of work. It is work. There is no shortcut. Got you. But that's true with most things in life that are really important. There's no shortcut. That's right. That's right. As people are thinking about this and listening to this, there's your course, obviously that you teach at Stanford and only Stanford students can take that. There's your book obviously. Is there anything else? If there's nothing, that's totally fine, that you point people to to actually practice these outside of the workplace? Are there courses that anyone can take that you recommend? Anything else you can point people to?…

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