The first time someone handed me a microphone at work, I immediately started to make jokes. It turned out that I loved my words really being heard.
I spent so much of my career behind the scenes doing the often invisible work of product management. Most of my communication took place one-on-one or in small groups. And when I did share something with a large group, it was usually in writing: documenting functionality, writing user stories, announcing a launch, or sharing some recent wins from my product team.
As individual contributors, product folks use words to influence — without authority being implied. But now I was the Head of Product for a new venture within a larger company, and someone handed me a microphone to kick off our division’s meeting. This kind of communication was completely different.
As a leader, I was now in a position to do more — I could set the tone for a room full of my peers and collaborators. And that meant consciously choosing my words and planning my delivery.
Speaking and writing are both critical skills for the modern professional. And both are better when you take the time to prepare. So while I still love to ad-lib and wing it, I have learned that it’s always better to start from a plan and take it from there. And in this case, planning means writing down what you want to convey.
Beyond email, here are five ways I have learned to use my writing skills as a leader.
1. Executive Summaries
Nobody teaches you how to write an executive summary, but it’s an important skill. Distilling a report or presentation down to the most valuable information makes a big difference to your audience.
I once spent a month preparing, iterating on, and designing an annual summary for a portfolio I was managing. The day of the presentation, the COO arrived 15 minutes late and everyone was rushed. I had to quickly assess which info she would be most interested in — and what I wanted to make sure she saw. Getting a 30-minute presentation down to 5 minutes is a skill every leader needs.
With practice you’ll learn how to share the topline data or updates in any communication and you’ll have a TL;DR on the tip of your tongue when you only get a few minutes of airtime.
2. Speaking Points and Talk Tracks
Did you ever wonder how people know what to say when they’re presenting a slide that doesn’t have a lot of information on it? How do they remember key data points or examples of competitors?
Talk tracks and speaker’s notes are relatively unscripted words a presenter wants to make sure to get across when presenting. Call it a cheat sheet, call it cue cards, speaking points, or a talk track…. it is a tool you can use to structure your narrative and make sure you’re telling the story you need to. (And those notes are invaluable if you blank on what you were supposed to say next. Which happens even to the most seasoned speakers.)
As a bonus, in case of emergency someone else can present in your absence. I’ve had to do this to fill in for my managers many times and those notes saved me.
3. Your Elevator Pitch
Always, always have an elevator pitch ready.
Early in my career, I learned that having a voice was powerful. If the President or CEO walks by and asks what you’re working on, you’d damn well better have a good answer ready to make a good impression.
But it took years for me to learn how to give a solid, tight elevator pitch on the fly. I used too many words. I repeated myself. It took me too long to cut to the chase. (See what I mean?)
I remember talking to the CEO of a public speaking school at a networking event he was hosting. He asked what I wanted to work on in my speaking, and I said something like, “My goal is to get better at saying things using fewer words. I tend to ramble, but I want to get good at being more concise so I can have more impact.”
He told me to use half as many words to say the same thing. I did. Then he told me to cut it in half again, and I paused, and I did. The final line? “I want to be more concise.”
The key to a strong elevator pitch is to write it down by hand. I am old school, so I use an index card or a post-it and keep it right next to my keyboard. Practice pitching your work, your team’s focus, your product’s vision, and your ask.
What’s an ask? If someone in a position of power asks you if there’s anything they can do to support you and your team, you should be ready with a polite request or need.
It can be as simple as, “Oh thank you! If you hear of anything related to how our customers use our site search (good or bad), please pass it on. We’re always looking for first-hand customer insights.” Or you could ask for something more direct: “The team has been working hard on this latest initiative. I know they’d love to get some recognition for it in the next Town Hall if you can squeeze it in.”
This is a win-win. The executive gets insight into how things are going, and you get known as someone with the inside track.
4. Real-Time Messaging
Instant messaging is a great way to keep synched up with your team and your peers, but it’s all about efficiency, so keep your sentences short and to the point. Nobody wants to be known as the person who writes paragraphs to say what could be said in one line. (As I am learning, be concise.)
When communicating via Slack or other instant messaging, choose your words carefully to ensure your message is clear and easily understood. Ask follow-up questions and restate information to ensure that others have understood your message correctly.
Slack and the like are more informal than other forms of communication, but it’s still important to maintain a professional tone. Use appropriate language and avoid using slang or emojis that may be misunderstood. That said, I’m a huge fan of “reading the room” and trying to match the tone of a group chat when it comes to light joking that’s not at someone else’s expense or a well-timed giphy that will lighten the mood on a tough day.
Finally, use language that encourages feedback and discussion. You can be confident but still show openness by asking others for their take.
5. Product Artifacts
Or as my clients call them, the dreaded “templates.”
Organizations that work in a Product Management model learn to transition to less documentation than we had “in the old days,” but we still use A LOT of language to convey information to multiple audiences.
Product visions, OKRs, problem statements, customer research scripts and readouts, user stories, acceptance criteria, demos, launch announcements… these are all tools a Product organization uses. What they may not realize is that the way they use these tools brands their work (for better or worse). Using the right words can show the value a team is delivering sprint by sprint and quarter by quarter.
The biggest problem I see in documents like these is that people don’t put enough thought into language. The words we use to talk about our work create an effect — the same way the words a screenwriter uses affect how we feel about a character in a movie scene.
Make sure you’re creating the effect you mean to. Sometimes that’s as simple as asking someone on your team for feedback before sharing out an email about a software release. Or getting a peer to review your user stories the first time you do backlog grooming.
Effective Communication Can Be Powerful
After that first meeting with the microphone, I had many more opportunities to speak in front of a large room. I started to spend time preparing and planning my delivery. Having notes and practicing help me choose my words carefully, so when I step up to a podium or get the spotlight in a Zoom call I feel confident and ready.
Over the years, I have worked on these skills and have felt the energy in a room shift when I speak. Effective communication can be powerful. By using writing skills and choosing language carefully, leaders can inspire their teams and achieve their goals.
Maura Charles is the founder of Keep it Human. As a Product Leadership Coach and Consultant, she is on a mission to help teams and organizations embrace human skills like communication and emotional intelligence in their ways of working.
She brings 25 years of experience as an editor, product manager, and digital business leader to bear on the challenges of building human-centered high-performing tech teams.
If you’d like to develop more human business and tech teams that hum together to drive results, check out Keep it Human and follow Maura Charles on LinkedIn.