Career
What Journalists Can Teach Us About Influencing Up
- by Holly Burton
Ever wished you had some kind of magic you could use to get your boss to do what you wanted? Like some special way of approaching them that would get your ideas recognized and implemented? A fast track to creating more impact at work?
Uh, yeah. Me too.
And friends, even though this sounds super click bait-y, I do have one weird trick that you can use to get recognized as the badass you are. And don't worry, it's not sketchy. It's an old journalism hack!
Get More Influence: Journalism Edition
I know you're probably a bit confused: What the hell can journalists teach me about building influence at work? Am I meant to....start a local paper for my office? Put my idea on the front page of my new paper and yell out "Extree Extree! Read All About It!" on the company Slack channel?
In a word, no. I'm totally skeptical about the ROI of buying and installing printing presses, so what I'm going to tell you is much simpler. Ready to hear it?
Voila:
Huh? What Even Is A Lede?
Don't bury the lede is an old journalism idiom & practice that helps writers remember to put the important stuff that the reader cares about right up front in an article.
The "lede" you're meant to avoid burying is the most interesting and important part of the news story. And you "bury" it by talking about a bunch of other, less relevant details first (figuratively burying it in a pile of text the reader has to sift through).
In journalism, burying the lede is an excellent way to ensure that your readers get bored and abandon your article, or maybe your whole newspaper, taking their attention (and hence their ad revenue) with them. Readers get frustrated and move on before they even have a chance to hear the best part of the story.
OK, So Now I Know How to Save My Failing Newspaper. What About Work?
Pretty much all of my coaching clients have the bad habit of burying the lede when they talk about their work. Like seriously, at least 95% of my clients do this on the regular.
It goes something like this:
zzzzzzZZZzzzzzz......
Whoops, sorry you caught me napping. I was so uninterested in what that person had to say that my brain turned itself off and decided it was time to saw some logs instead.
And you can bet if I'm dozing off, every person who matters at work was too. Yikes. Not exactly a recipe for recognition and influence.
What if, instead, they said this.
It's like night and day, right?
The second version of that is way more compelling, and actually helps the big bosses you want to impress digest the key information you're trying to convey: That you're a genius who is going to save the sales department during a giant virus-driven economic crisis.
Putting the lede (aka: the most important part of the story) at the beginning helps to focus people's attention and gives them the right lens to view your work through.
Old Lens:
Marketing is up to their usual whatever, fussing around the margins like always, and I don't really understand or care about it.
New Lens:
Marketing is helping the business with their biggest problem and I should really know more about this.
The magic of not burying the lede means that you've given people tools to listen to you, understand how awesome you are, and then implement your cool ideas accordingly.
OK, I'm Convinced. Gimme The Formula!
You don't have to ask me twice. Here you go:
(That's literally the whole trick. It's super easy, right?)
So, it's super simple to avoid burying the lede. Just put the important stuff first.
In practice, this will probably be more difficult, especially if you're not used to doing it this way. You'll have to break that "hide the great news" habit of yours piece by piece. But I know you can do it if you just get a little bit of practice.
Here's Some Homework to Help You Be a Lead-Exposing Pro
HOMEWORK #1 - Email
Every time you write an email this week, double check that you put the important stuff first. If you've buried it down at the bottom of the 15th paragraph, move that sucker up to the beginning and rewrite it until it fits nicely.
Think of this as Level 1 homework because it lets you practice this skill and work on the wording when you're not put on the spot by a room full of living breathing humans waiting for you to speak.
HOMEWORK #2 - In Person (Pre-Planned)
Anytime you're going into a meeting where you have a specific message you know you want to deliver in advance (eg: a presentation, a meeting with your boss to pitch a new idea, your weekly management update, etc), plan what you're going to say. Make sure you plan to put the important stuff first. Then message it that way in the meeting.
Think of this as Level 2 homework because you get to practice doing this out loud, but still gives you a bit of brainstorm room as you're still learning the ropes.
HOMEWORK #3 - In Person (Spontaneous)
Once you've gotten good at exposing the lede (ugh, is there a less creepy way to say that?) with some pre-planning, it's time to go rogue. Test out your ability to message anything like this.
Try to convince your honey to have cake for dinner instead of broccoli. Tell your colleagues about the cool project you've been working on. Convince your kids to stop collecting worms every time it rains. Whatever. Pick a moment and dive in with your newly acquired skills!
When you get to this level, you've really arrived. With just this tiny tweak, you'll be making sure that the people you're talking to definitely understand the best parts of what you're saying. And they'll be more likely to be interested (because it will actually be more interesting)! Amazing.
Enjoy the new superpowers.
